Car Exclusion Zones around schools

I'm glad to see the Standard picked up the Sustainability Task Force's proposals on Sustainable Schools:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23415904-details/School+run+exclusion+zone/article.do

Car Exclusion Zones around schools are an idea that came from the Institute for European Environmental Policy:

http://www.ieep.eu/whatsnew/newsitem.php?item=123

As with our proposals, which you can read on the Task Force website (www.camden.gov.uk/susforce), car exclusion zones are just one item in a long list of proposals including more separated cycle lanes, no primary school children having to walk across a main road to get to school, better access to public transport for parents with buggies, helping private schools to relocate to where their pupils actually live etc etc.

Research shows that children are healthier and happier when they walk or cycle to school. Add to that the reduced carbon emissions. It feels like a no brainer to me.

Buses - not quite as good as Ken makes out

Ken Livingstone wrote a column in the Ham&High last week praising his own bus policy. Of course it's good that there are more buses in London, that they no longer arrive four at a time after a long wait, and that the price of using them has dropped. But Ken could help us all by taking on board three concerns that I hear from bus users all the time:

• Bus drivers seem to be so much worse at driving than they used to be. They need be given more training in elementary skills like waiting for elderly people to sit down before they accelerate away from a bus stop like a Formula One driver. And they don't they ever smile any more.
• Access is still not good enough for parents with buggies and/or young children and there should be no limits on the number of buggies allowed on board.
• Bus lanes are still not policed effectively and should only be accessible to buses and bicycles and not taxis.

If Ken could resolve these issues, then life would be immeasurably improved for bus users across London.