Inside and outside TfL

Today we published research we've conducted on how shoppers feel about when Oxford St was closed to traffic before Christmas. As a result of the survey, we're now calling for Oxford St to be permanently pedestrianised. This is something that's been talked about for ages but has yet to happen and TfL aren't keen on revisiting the issue.

Also today, London Living Streets had its quarterly liaison meeting with TfL's surface transport division. It's a good example of balancing outsider campaigning (publishing research and seeking media coverage) to pressure TfL with insider lobbying through regular catch-up meetings. I think we're striking the right balance and not just rolling over in agreement. Through the meetings we do get to be better informed in what we're calling for and can achieve some things. But the decision about pedestrianising Oxford St is always going to be a political decision rather than one for officials. Which explains why Simon is also attending the New West End Company's hustings with the Mayoral candidates tonight.

Meeting the new CEO

Our new CEO came in yesterday to meet a couple of the managers, as a first step in introducing him to his new role. The two areas he thought needed attention were our communications and our relationship with our local groups. So it's good that those are already two areas that we're already working on improving. A lot of organisations can get hung up on policing their identity and lose all sense of innovation and interestingness about what they do. But there's a lot more we can do to try and feel like one organisation and to create the right impression - a bit like dressing in the right clothes for the occasion. At the moment, we can be a bit too much of an ill fitting anorak but I'd be concerned if we became too much of a pinstripe suit...

The other danger is that we become too focussed and therefore too boring. Since I started I've tried to narrow down our focus to "walkability" but the danger is that we so stifle creativity and the ability to try new things that we become really boring and no fun to work for. So lets hope we still have time for trying silly ideas and classic voluntary sector (and Lib Dem) silly photo stunts.

Meeting MPs

Haven't done much on my phud recently so a bit of diversification...

So today my colleague Lucy and I met with Norman Baker, who's been the Lib Dem transport spokesman since NIck Clegg became leader. In my experience of meeting MPs they're either completely bored and uninterested (like James Purnell), distracted by what else is happening that day (like Norman Baker today) or else actually very polite and engaged in what you've come to talk to them about (like Vera Baird).

Anyway, today's meeting was of the high speed variety though we tried to get our views across on the local transport bill and 20mph, and we're getting a PQ put down about the Manual for Streets. But the meeting brought up the problem we face in trying to improve streets for pedestrians and encouraging more walking, in that for most politicians what we say is either motherhood and apple pie and therefore not really for them to act on (like improved street design or improved walking links to public transport), or else it'll just never happen (often because of perceptions of the views of car drivers) - as with some of the demands for 20mph limits.

Which leaves us with the challenge of turning around those perceptions and demonstrating how government action impacts on what we're talking about, and how starting with walking and pedestrians is necessary when considering wider transport issues. But it was a first meeting so let's hope we can keep talking...

And as we headed out, the masses from the Campaign for Better Transport arrived to get their message across in their allotted time.