Meetings with motorcycling representative groups
Request ID: FOI-1305-2021
Date published: 03 November 2020
You asked
Please provide details of which motorcycling representative groups TfL officials have met with in the last six months; what was on the agenda for discussion at the meetings; and on what dates those meetings took place.
We answered
TfL Refs: FOI-1305-2021 and FOI-1306-2021
Thank you for your requests received by Transport for London (TfL) on 8th October 2020 asking for information about TfL meetings with motorcycle representative groups and motorcycle safety.
Your requests have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. Your questions are answered in turn below:
Please provide details of which motorcycling representative groups TfL officials have met with in the last six months; what was on the agenda for discussion at the meetings; and on what dates those meetings took place.
Note that during the last six months upwards of 7,000 TfL staff were on furlough due to the coronavirus pandemic, and our work across that period has largely focussed on essential activity to keep London’s transport running safely.
Notwithstanding the above, on 17th July 2020 our Strategic Communications Lead, Air Quality, and two other TfL officials met with the Motorcycle Action Group and London Assembly member Keith Prince - at Mr Prince’s request - to discuss their request for TfL to exempt motorcycles from the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
On 23rd October 2020 TfL hosted its regular Freight Forum to update industry on a number of key policy areas. Logistics operators who manage powered two wheeler fleets were invited to attend.
Outside of the timeframe of your request but of particular note, in December 2019 TfL hosted the Vision Zero Reference Group, with the session focused on the safety challenges experienced with regard to powered two wheelers on London’s streets. Motorcycle representative groups attended this session. A key outcome from this meeting was the need to better understand powered two wheeler collision data. TfL has been working to better understand powered two wheeler collision data, and to combine this with other insights received at the session to determine the next steps in improving the safety of powered two wheeler riders.
On how many occasions in the last 12 months have any TfL committees discussed motorcycle safety?
Our Secretariat has run a search of the TfL Board and Committee meetings that they service and provided the following returns where motorcycles were mentioned. Links are provided to the online material that exists in relation to those meetings. Note that motorcycle safety may have been discussed at lower-level meetings and project boards, not captured by this search:
Please provide information about how the impact of the streetspace programme on motorcycle safety is to be assessed.
And;
Please provide information on how TfL plans to monitor the impact of the streetspace programme on motorcycle journey times.
The safety of all road users is a critical factor in the evaluation of the London Streetspace programme, and this includes powered two wheeler riders. Collision data will be used to understand if schemes are impacting the safety of particular road users. Note that TfL has recently extended the operating hours of more than 80 kilometres of bus lanes across the Transport for London road network. In most cases, powered two wheelers will also be able to travel in the bus lanes at all times. The evaluation of this initiative will include understanding the safety impacts of this change on both powered two wheelers, and other road users accessing the bus lanes. TfL is monitoring how general traffic, which includes powered two wheelers, adjusts to schemes, in particular where changes to road use are significant - for example, at Bishopsgate.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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Yours sincerely,
David Wells
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
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