A summary of my correspondence with Merton Council about the recent
"improvements" :

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E-mail to Merton Council Environmental Services Department, 18 April :

I thought the main idea of all the work being carried out in Coombe
Lane at the moment was to improve the traffic flow by moving the
station bus stop into the mouth of the "Cattle Arch"? At the moment,
it looks as though the stop is on the main part of the carriageway as
before, except on the other side of the station. Isn't this just
going to cause more traffic congestion? (Not that I have much
sympathy with car-drivers who complain about being held up by buses ;
this is usually due to other car-drivers parking at bus-stops, e.g.
outside Sainsbury's in Worple Road. Get some wardens down there in
the early evening!) Or is the idea that only buses will be able to
come down Pepys Road?

Bringing the cycle lane more or less level with the pavement, so that
there is no longer a "double kerb", is certainly an improvement (if
you have to keep the cycle lane at all - it always seems fairly
pointless to me, but I understand that it's part of some London-wide
"strategy" over which you have no influence). At least getting on or
off the bus by the Thames Water offices will no longer be such a
steeplechase. However, could you explain the status of the cycle lane
at this point? The pattern of paving suggests that it is temporarily
interrupted (making it even less worth having in the first place
...). Are cyclists required either to dismount while passing the
bus-stop, or (if they're travelling in the appropriate direction) to
move into the road ; and what signs and enforcement measures are
there going to be to prevent them from cycling across the gap on what
seems to be meant as ordinary pavement, putting pedestrians and bus
passengers at risk?

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Reply from Ray Puddy, 23 April :

Bus Stop outside Raynes Park Station.
The new position of the bus stop has been marked out on the road
surface. To achieve this the area in front of the Cattle Arch has
been filled in. Other traffic will be able to pass waiting buses
(you can see how this will operate by vehicles passing cars still
parking in this area at the present time - and yes we need more
enforcement in this area). Thus this will remove one of the
obstructions to traffic.

Cycle lane
The footpath around the bus stop by the TWA offices is designated as
a shared surface. This is in accordance with the Cycle Route design
manual prepared by the Mayor's Cycle Centre of Excellence. In effect
it means that cyclists cycle round the back of the shelter but must
be prepared to give way to pedestrians.

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Further e-mail to Environmental Services, 1 May :

I still think a great opportunity has been missed to use the Cattle
Arch entrances as bus-stops and/or a taxi rank ; it looks as though a
great deal of money has been spent to no obvious benefit. I'm also
still concerned about cyclists passing the Water Board bus-stop : a
"shared surface" sounds okay in theory, but I do wonder how much
notice some cyclists will take of pedestrians, and it's odd to expect
them to cross the main pedestrian route twice. There are still no
signs advising them where they should go, and wouldn't it be better
if the ridges on the paving at the end of each part of the cycle lane
ran across their path rather than parallel to it ? (That would be
more likely to discourage them from carrying straight on without
slowing down.)

I would also like your comments on the division of the carriageway in
the Amity Grove area into three lanes. Although there are markings
suggesting that traffic heading west should use the centre lane when
preparing to turn, there seems to be nothing to prevent eastbound
traffic from using it for e.g. overtaking. This strikes me as
especially dangerous either side of the zebra crossing (or whatever
you call it now), particularly since there is no longer a central
pedestrian refuge - it is already taking longer to cross there than
it used to.

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I haven't received any reply to this second message so far, but to be
fair, the Council staff have been busy with the election, and tonight
I've noticed that there is some more work going on at each end of the
zebra crossing, so perhaps some improvements are imminent. I'll find
out what the Merton Cycling Campaign think of it all, too ; some
comments on their website (at http://homepage.ntlw
orld.com/richard.m.evans/boronews2002.html#jun) suggest that they're
not too impressed with the changes either.