Category: Uncategorised

On Sunday 21 April, starting from 08:30, the 2024 London Marathon will commence from three locations on Blackheath in South East London and then cover a distance of 26.2 miles finishing in The Mall, Central London. Approximately 50,000 entrants are expected to compete or take part this year.

Roads traversed from the start points are:

Shooters Hill Road Blue Start
Shooters Hill Road, Charlton Park Lane, Ha Ha Road, Grand Depot Road, John Wilson Street (east side) and Woolwich Church Street.

St John’s Park Green Start
St John’s Park, Langton Way, Old Dover Road, Shooters Hill Road, Charlton Park Lane, Ha Ha Road, Grand Depart Road, John Wilson Street (east side) and Woolwich Church Street.

Charlton Way Red Start
Vanbrugh Park, Charlton Road, The Village, Charlton Park Road, Little Heath, Hill Reach, Artillery Place, Wellington Street, John Wilson Street (west side), Woolwich High St (south side).

All Marathon routes join at:
Woolwich Church Street, then via Woolwich Road, Trafalgar Road, Romney Road, King William Walk, Greenwich Church Street, Creek Road, Evelyn Street, Lower Road, Redriff Road, Surrey Quays Road, Canada Street, Quebec Way, Salter Road, Brunel Road, Jamaica Road, Tooley Street, Tower Bridge Road, Tower Bridge, Tower Bridge Approach, East Smithfield, The Highway, Narrow Street, Limehouse Causeway, Westferry Road, Eastferry Road, Limeharbour, Marsh Wall, Heron Quay roundabout, Heron Quay, South Colonnade, Cabot Place, North Colonnade, Churchill Place, Cartier Circus, Trafalgar Way, Cotton Street, Poplar High Street, Ming Street, West India Dock Road, Commercial Road, Butcher Row, The Highway, East Smithfield, Tower Hill, Byward Street, Lower Thames Street, Upper Thames Street, Blackfriars Under Pass, Victoria Embankment, Bridge Street, Parliament Square (north side), Great George Street, Birdcage Walk, Spur Road, Queen’s Gardens to The Mall.

Road closure times, (roads will be reopened once the participants have cleared, cleansing, removal of infrastructure completed, and it is deemed safe to do so).

Charlton Way, Shooters Hill Road from 04:00
City of London and Westminster from 06:30
Greenwich & Woolwich from 07:00
Southwark (including Tower Bridge) from 08:00
Tower Hamlets from 08:00

Vehicles MUST be clear of the event footprint and all road closures as stated.

There are just over 3 months to go before the next step in the minimum levels of compliance required for those who have a ‘Special Authorisation’ for vehicles used on Home to School (HTS) and Rail Replacement (RR) services.

From 1 August 2024, the following levels of compliance will be required:

• Band A – For fleet sizes between 1 and 5 vehicles – At least 50% of the fleet partially compliant;
• Band B – For fleet sizes between 6 and 9 vehicles – At least one fully compliant vehicle and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant;
• Band C – For fleet sizes between 10 and 29 vehicles – At least 15% of the fleet fully compliant and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant;
• Band D – For fleet sizes of 30 vehicles or more – At least 25% of the fleet fully compliant and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant;

The ‘fleet’ is just those vehicles that are used on HTS and RR duties; vehicles that are never used on this work (or are used on HTS services that do not carry any paying passengers) can be excluded from the fleet totals.

Partial compliance requires vehicles to comply with parts of PSVAR schedule 3 as follows:

• paragraph 2 (floors and gangways)
• paragraph 3 (seats)
• paragraph 4 (steps, excluding sub-paragraphs 1d, 1e, 1f, and 5)
• paragraph 5 (handrails)

i.e.: it does NOT include any requirement for a wheelchair lift or destination equipment.

If, since you applied for your exemption from PSVAR, your fleet used to provide HTS or RR services has changed (either increased or decreased) which has moved you into a different ‘band’, you must notify the Department for Transport (DfT) at [email protected].

These are important changes; for coach operators who are Band B or C it requires you to have fully compliant PSVAR coaches for the first time, and for Band D there is a significant uplift in the number of coaches that need to be fully compliant. If you don’t already have plans to meet these requirements by 1 August, we suggest you make this a priority in the immediate future, as the demand for fully compliant PSVAR vehicles is likely to be high over the next few months.

Contractors working on behalf of Vodafone will be carrying out telecom works requiring lane restrictions on Piccadilly at the junction with Hyde Park Corner

 

From 05:00 on Tuesday 2 April until 21:00 Tuesday 16 April 2024 roadworks will be taking place at the junction of Buckingham Palace Road and Victoria Street.

The impacts are as follows:

• Buckingham Palace Road bus stop P and coach stop 16 also closed. Operators normally using coach stop 16 should use stops R or Z5 as an alternative throughout the works.
• Only one lane open on Buckingham Palace Road through the Victoria Street junction, offside lane three.
• Only one lane open on Victoria Street, nearside lane one.

Please note: On Buckingham Palace Road, as Victoria Street is crossed, there is a tight manoeuvre required in order to re-join Buckingham Palace Road southbound and avoid the contra-flow bus lane (see worksite plan below). Coaches (and HGVs) have passed this location without issue.

Operators therefore have two options:

• Remain on line of route via Buckingham Palace Road but ensure drivers take extreme care when negotiating the area around the worksite (if in doubt drivers should turn right on to Grosvenor Gardens and head back around the one way system and join the diversion below).
• Divert via Bressenden Place and Victoria Street before re-joining Buckingham Palace Road southbound – see below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coach Bay on Park lane northbound, to the rear of Apsley House, will be closed from 18 to 29 March 2024 inclusive. This is part of the wider Hyde park Corner pavement renewal works.

 

In order for works to be undertaken on the carriageway, Leman Street and Prescott Street will be either fully closed or will have weight limits (permitting vehicles less than 7.5T only) between Friday 8 March and Tuesday 16 April 2024. Coaches and tour buses are advised to avoid these roads as a result.

 

To allow scaffolding to be erected around 200 Buckingham Palace Road building lane restrictions will be in place at the coach entrance to the Departures Terminal on Semley Place.

These restrictions will be in place 08:00 Monday to 19:00 Friday each week but will not apply at weekends or over Easter (19:00 Wednesday to 08:00 Tuesday).

Monday 19 February to Friday 1 March 2024
Lanes 1 and 2 closed (these are the lanes normally used by coaches) – all coaches to use lanes 3 and 4.

Monday 4 March to Friday 15 March 2024
Lanes 3 and 4 closed – all coaches to use lane 1 and 2.

Monday 18 March to Friday 19 April 2024 (excluding Easter)
Lane 4 closed.

Pall Mall East and Trafalgar Square westside will be closed from 17 February to 13 April 2024 for gas main works.

During this time tour buses will need to divert via Cockspur Street and serve bus stop B as an alternative to tour stop Z.

 

Contractors FM Conway on behalf of TFL we’ll be carrying out a program of
pedestrian crossing and footway resurfacing works around the area of Hyde
Park Corner and Park Lane and Grosvenor Place

These works will be carried out in three phrases which will include lane
restrictions.

Phase 1: 21 February 2024 – 31 March 2024
1 lane maintained on northbound approach to Hyde Park Corner.
Lane 1 closure northbound on Piccadilly & Park Lane.
Lane 5 & 6 closure northbound on Grosvenor Place.

Phases 2 & 3: 31 March 2024 – 05 May 2024
2 lanes maintained on northbound approach to Hyde Park Corner.
Lane 1 closure northbound on Piccadilly & Park Lane.
Lanes 5 & 6 closure northbound on Grosvenor Place.

To accommodate roadworks on the full length of Park Lane northbound there will be overnight (22:00 to 05:00) lane and stop closures as follows between Monday 19 and Thursday 22 February 2024:

Night of Monday 19 February 2024

• Bus Lane closed from Hyde Park Corner to Stanhope Gate
• One coach bay closed (north of stop Y)
• Bus Stop Y and Tour Stop X closed

Night of Tuesday 20 February 2024

• Offside general traffic lane closed on approach to Grosvenor Gate
• Bus Lane used by general traffic in the vicinity
• Coach parking next to Car Park retaining wall remains open

Nights of Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 February 2024

• Closure of Bus Lane from car park entrance to Marble Arch (only one lane will be available for all traffic).
• Coach parking (4) next to Car Park retaining wall will be closed
• Bus stop W, Coach stop 14 and Tour stop at Speakers Corner will be closed (as will bus stands).
• Alternative stops (Those operators impacted please let me know of your alternatives so publicity can be produced):
  • Bayswater Road, bus stop A
  • Portman Street, bus stop M
  • Park Lane, bus stop T (prior to car park)