Cash free bus travel

TfL confirms introduction of cash free bus travel from Sunday 6 July

£130m savings to 2022/23 will be reinvested in improving transport

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that cash fares will no longer be accepted on London buses from Sunday 6 July.

The decision to move to cash free bus travel follows a considerable drop in the number of people paying their bus fare in cash. 

In 2000 around 25 per cent of journeys were paid for with a cash fare, today that figure stands at around one per cent. 

With extensive use of Oyster and over 11 million journeys now made using contactless payment cards, cash usage is expected to fall even further as more customers take advantage of the convenience and cheaper fares these provide.

This change will not affect 99 per cent of bus passengers who already pay for their journeys using Oyster, prepaid tickets, contactless payment cards or concessionary tickets.

The latter group represents a third of all customers and includes children and young people, older and disabled people and the unemployed. 

TfL research shows this change is also unlikely to affect tourists as the vast majority use Oyster or a prepaid ticket to get around the capital.

Removing cash fares will also speed up boarding times, leading to faster journeys and will also ensure customers benefit from the best value fare for each journey they make. 

As TfL moves to a cash free bus service a number of initiatives are well under way to ensure there is a smooth and trouble free transition for customers. 

These include:

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A new 'one more journey' feature on Oyster that will allow passengers who do not have sufficient credit for a bus fare, but who have a positive balance on their card, to make one more bus journey

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The Oyster Ticket Stop network has been subject to a review and additional locations added - particularly in outer London

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Refreshed guidance on vulnerable passengers will be provided to all 24,500 London bus drivers

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A major public information campaign will launch in May to provide passengers with advice on the changes

Leon Daniels, Managing Director for TfL Surface Transport said: `As Londoners and visitors change the way they pay for goods and services in the capital I am proud that we at the forefront of that change. 

`Customers will not only benefit from a quicker, cheaper and more convenient method of paying their bus fare; it will also enable us to save millions of pounds each year - which will be reinvested in further improvements to the capital's transport network.

`We have listened to the views expressed in response to the public consultation and have delivered a range of measures to ensure a smooth transition for our passengers. 

`These include the 'one more journey' feature on Oyster, more Oyster Ticket Stops in outer London and we are also providing our 24,500 bus drivers with refreshed guidance for dealing with vulnerable customers, which has been developed with the help of key stakeholders.'

House Martins return to St George's hospital

I have been advised that the House Martins have now returned to St. Georges Hospital in numbers.

Birds are on site and will either use there old mud nests or build new ones, please note that as part of the Wildlife Laws, these

nests, as they are now becoming occupied cannot be removed.

Furthermore House Martins are known for 2 brooding and this will very like run to August.

Rock bands at Fairkytes

Don't miss the chance to see the last band standing at Fairkytes

​The Young Bloods - will this be the Last Band Standing?

Residents of all ages will next week get the chance to see some of the borough's most musically talented youngsters rock-out in a battle to be the 'Last Band Standing'.

The highly-anticipated music event is the first of its kind for young people in Havering, and will see six bands compete against each other and showcase their eclectic talents to be crowned the winner at Fairkytes Arts Centre​ on Friday 2 May.

 

The event, from 7pm to 10pm, will see young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years old in bands perform two songs each.

 

The bands include The Broken Strings - who's influences include My Chemical Romance and Green Day, The Walking Method - who describe their music as fast-paced rock and roll, The Young Bloods - with members who have performed at the Molly Fest festival, Uprising - with upbeat punk tunes, Anonymous - who prefer gentle, slow rock, and GP5 - who will display their version of alternative pop rock tunes.

 

The winners of the competition will be given three days in a local recording studio at myplace community centre to further enhance their talents and give them the opportunity to record their own material.

 

Tickets are selling fast and cost £5 or £4.50 concessions. They can be bought from Fairkytes or by calling 01708 456308. 

St George's Day

Don’t miss St George’s Day celebrations this weekend in Romford’s historic market

Monday 14 April 2014

There’ll be a whole host of family fun at this year’s St George’s Day celebrations in Romford Market on Saturday 19 April.

​The celebrations, in honour of England’s patron saint, promise great fanfare through the famous and historic street market all day from 9am to 5pm.

 

Shoppers will be treated to entertainment including performances from the Royal British Legion Band and the Hornchurch Drum and Trumpet Band​.

 

Children will be able to enjoy circus acts, free face painting, an inflatable ride, a climbing wall and bucking bronco rides all day.

 

There will also be a range of hot food stalls offering various delicacies all day.

Romford’s Town Crier will also be around and in full voice encouraging everyone to get in the spirit.

 

The festivities will see the market clad in red and white bunting on Saturday 19 April, and also on Wednesday 23 April, which is the day that St George’s Day falls on this year.

 

A breakdown of the day:

 

Town Crier: 10.30am to 3.30pm
Royal British Legion Band and Corps of Drums Romford: 11.30am to 12.30pm
Hornchurch Drum and Trumpet Corps Band: 2pm to 3pm
Circus acts: 11.30am to 3.30pm
Free children's face painting: 11.30am to 3.30pm
Inflatable ride: All day
Climbing wall – All day
Bucking bronco – All day

Raphael Park kiosk

New Raphael Park kiosk opens

​The new kiosk at Raphael Park is now officially open. The kiosk, Milli’s Coffee House, is a family-run business on the far side of the park, and is part of the £1.87million Heritage Lottery Fund restoration of the park.

The park will also soon have a fully-operational Café overlooking the lake near to the entrance of the park off the Main Road, which has been built and awaits an operator.

 

More than 18,000 trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, ferns, hedging plants and bulbs were recently planted to add a burst of colour to the park.

 

The above image shows Cllr Curtin with the Friends of Raphael Park with the operators of the kiosk and Frankie the Lion from the St Francis Hospice charity, which the kiosk is supporting.

National AAA Screening

I am attending the launch event of the North East London (NEL) AAA Screening Programme in Havering, Barking & Dagenham on Monday.

The National AAA ( Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) screening program started in 2009 and has been rolled out in NEL since 2013. The program involves all 65 year old males to have a single Ultrasound scan. Depending on if the aorta measures greater than 3cm, the patient is kept under surveillance until a threshold of 5.5cm is reached. At that size surgical intervention is considered.

Havering has largest cohort of 65 year old males, and our screening in this area finished in December 2013. Barking & Dagenham was completed in November and our uptake for the CCGS were 84% and 74% respectively but we would like to improve this by engaging the local stakeholders as the next cohort for screening eligible men will commence from April 2014.

Drink and drug enforcement

Measures to improve the enforcement of drink and drug driving offences

 

The Government is introducing a range of measures (detailed below) to improve the enforcement of drink and drug driving offences.  These measures are included in the Deregulation Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 23rd January 2014. The Bill had its second reading debate on 3 February 2014, and a committee debate on 11 March 2014.  The Report stage: House of Commons, is still to be announced.

In addition to these measures, portable evidential breath testing devices are expected to be available in late 2014 and will offer significant time savings in enforcing the drink driving offence.

 

Removal of the ‘statutory option’

The statutory option entitles a suspected drink driver to have their specimen of breath replaced by a specimen of either blood or urine.  This entitlement is available if the lower of the two breath specimens contains no more than 50 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.  

There is evidence to suggest that convictions are being lost as suspected drink drivers seek to exploit this loophole.  Delays occur in obtaining an evidential specimen when the suspected drink driver exercises this entitlement, allowing them to ‘sober up’ and evade conviction.

The statutory option was originally introduced owing to concerns over the reliability of evidential breath testing devices.  Advances in evidential breath testing technology mean that the reliability is no longer a concern and the statutory option is no longer necessary.

 

Removal of the requirement for a preliminary breath test before a roadside evidential breath test

A preliminary breath test is a pre-requisite to taking evidential breath specimens at places other than a police station or a hospital.  For example, a preliminary breath test would be required if evidential breath specimens were to be taken at the roadside.

The removal of this requirement will avoid delays in taking evidential breath specimens, and will avoid an extra test in what can be difficult operational scenarios for the police.  This measure will have no effect until portable evidential breath testing devices have been type approved.  These devices are currently being type approved by the Home Office are expected to become available in late 2014.

 

Extension of the role of registered health care professionals to take evidential blood specimens in hospitals

Currently, both medical practitioners and registered health care professionals can take evidential blood specimens in police stations for drink and drug driving investigations.  However, only medical practitioners can take blood specimens in hospitals.

Allowing registered health care professionals to take evidential blood specimens in hospitals for drink and drug driving investigations will be consistent with other police investigations and other medical contexts.  In practice this extension of the role of registered health care professionals will apply to nurses and paramedics.

 

Extension of the role of registered health care professionals to advise whether a person has a condition that might be due to a drug

A medical practitioner’s opinion on whether a person has ‘a condition which might be due to a drug’ is a pre-requisite to requiring a blood specimen from that person, if that person is suspected of a drug driving offence.  

Allowing registered health care professionals to form the opinion whether a person has ‘a condition which might be due to a drug’ will save police time and costs as a medical practitioner is not always readily available to provide advice.  This will reduce delays in obtaining an evidential specimen from a person suspected of drug driving.  Appropriate training for registered health care professionals in forming this opinion will be ensured through the inclusion of a set of competencies in NHS England’s commissioning standards.