Walking in Jersey

Jersey is known for its large number of cars (70,000 vehicles for a population of about 85,000) and locals and visitors cite traffic congestion as a major criticism of the Island. We need to make walking more attractive, and redress the balance for the pedestrian.

How many people walk regularly in Jersey?

Increase in population, increase in leisure and increase in commerce has led to ped congestion in St. Helier on narrow footways never designed to take such traffic. The existing ped precincts are congested and do not provide a high-quality ped experience.

The almost total lack of walking statistics in Jersey simply reflects what has been the prevailing attitude over many years. Transport statistics generally ignore the shortest journeys - which are also the most common and those most likely to be done on foot, by the young and the elderly.

The length of ped journeys appears to have decreased markedly, with most journeys being between car and destination and destination and car. But with the increase in numbers of journeys, with walking being a major component of journey mode, there would appear to be an increase in raw numbers of walking journey components.

Tourists are major walkers. The Island is marketed as a place for walking, and yet our facilities are not up to European standards in urban areas.

The lack of figures on ped commuting mean that the identification of the major ped commuter routes is currently difficult.

• Georgetown-Route du Fort
• Val Plaisant-New Street
• Val Plaisant-David Place-Bath Street
• Midvale Road-Val Plaisant-New Street

would appear to be significant routes. Some even longer routes have been observed, for example, ped commuting down Trinity Hill.

Public and political attitudes

We lack a proper acceptance of transportation hierarchy.

Walking currently seems to be at the bottom of the heap in our disorganized transport system. It should be recognized as the primary mode. Many politicians deny that walking is transport at all - it is just 'something everyone does'.

A possible transportation hierarchy as a basis for planning could look something like this:

Pedestrians should be valued as a primary mode rather than (as is usual) regarded as a nuisance that "holds up the traffic".

One of the biggest problems with political attitudes is the absence of any consideration of integration of modes of transport within a hierarchy. This should include people walking to and from bus stops, to and from car parks, bikes on buses, the walking/cycling interface, modal interchange, car to bike etc. The integration of transport is one of the prime factors in sustainability. A transport system should offer choice, but if the modes fail to provide proper connectivity, the choice is illusory (as it is at present). We need an integrated transport policy.

The important thing for the success of any new transport system is that it be integrated. People should be able to switch modes easily and freely. The discussion document is perhaps a little hazy on the importance of this concept, and ease of pedestrian movement is crucial to switching modes of transport.

Modes of transport should promote each other. Safe pedestrian routes should link car parks to main shopping areas, the bus station should be at the centre of a network of pedestrian and cycling routes, and bus shelters should be linked with footpaths. The new bus routes Islandwide should connect with other means of transport.

Currently, the transport system is fragmented, and consequently inefficient. Car parks have no safe pedestrian routes to lead people onwards on their journey. The bus station also lacks a sense of safe and convenient pedestrian access, and its current proximity to the notorious Mulcaster Street does little to promote bus/pedestrian integration in its present location.

Ease of transfer from one mode to another is vital if people are to be persuaded to try, and stick to, alternative modes. The interconnectivity of the system is what will make it organic, living, workable, sustainable and popular. Pleasant, safe and quick pedestrian routes from existing parking will help to persuade people to walk a little further. Pedestrian and bus integration in town will help commerce. The success of al fresco dining depends on the liveliness that pedestrian movement gives the street, and on the reclamation of road space to pedestrian space.

Since we are pressed for road space, there are problems in the provision of comprehensive high-quality walking and cycling routes. The obvious way is by reducing traffic and thus reclaiming road space from the car in accordance with a transportation hierarchy. In St. Helier, the provision of ped and cycle and public transport routes will require areas of shared space. The experience of the New Cut fiasco suggests that the existing policy regarding shared space is confused and contradictory.

We should look at the integration of public transport and pedestrianization à la Cornmarket in Oxford, where a city centre street is dedicated to buses, pedestrians and taxis in a semi-pedestrianized environment. Cycle contraflow will be needed in order to put cycle routes through motorized one-way systems in Town, following the example of Basel, and this will require planning and education. All these are part of integrating transport.

Walking is a vital component of children's mobility. Children are disproportionately impacted by a car-dominated transport system, whether through health, mobility, freedom of movement and association, or safety. Pedestrian congestion is also unpleasant for children, being much shorter in a crowd. The exploration of a walkable environment is a necessary part of human development, and yet for many people children are seen as a threat when using public space (as though they were not part of the public). In general children's transport and mobility are marginalized in our society, and a car-dominated transport system marginalizes them further. If car driving is equated with power, and walking with weakness, then it is hardly surprising that adulthood is automatically linked with car ownership in many minds. This is a link that should be broken, and the balance between walking and other modes should be redressed in favour of the pedestrian.

Education and information are vital so that all road and pavement/cycle track users are aware of their respective and common duties. Confusion is not only dangerous, but puts off those who might want to change their mode of transport for appropriate journeys. We need ped- and cycle-friendly alterations to the Highway Code and consequent changes in driver education. In residential areas and at junctions, pedestrians should have priority.

Just how good is ped provision?

The level of ped provision has arguably been reduced in recent years. The minimal number of pro-ped improvements have been offset by the worsening traffic situation. The loss of ped-friendly corners, the introduction of gyratories, the increase in motorized traffic levels, the increase in perceived danger - all have impacted on walking and on the connectivity of pedestrian routes. The introduction of safe and convenient crossings has not kept pace with ped-unfriendly developments and the grudging attitude of the authorities towards providing an acceptable level-of-service for pedestrians has only served to underline the low status currently afforded to pedestrian transport.

The trend towards delocalization of entertainment, work, shopping has impacted on general levels of walking and yet places of entertainment, out-of-town supermarkets try to provide high-quality walking environments once one has left one's vehicle. This is a factor in fragmentation of transport, but arguably involves a multi-modal element. The lessons should be learnt for our urban areas.

Do we have good ped routes?

In law, all highway users have equal rights and obligations. Special provisions for people on foot include regulations for pedestrian crossings which give legal precedence to pedestrians and advice in the Highway Code to drivers 'to give way to pedestrians when turning'.

Some would argue that in reality might is right and it is pedestrians, seeking to protect their lives, who invariably give way to motor vehicles. This may have helped to confer low status on pedestrians and so create physical and psychological conditions that discourage walking. It is usually a surprise to even experienced drivers that they are supposed to give way to peds when turning at junctions. Drivers assume they always have priority on the roadway, even though the Highway Code expressly contradicts that assumption. The astonishment of car drivers when faced with a pedestrian who actually asserts his or her priority is testimony to the low level of awareness on our roads.

The fact that existing ped priority is not publicized at junctions, let alone enforced, means that walking routes are de facto interrupted at every junction. We have a dense road and street network so this means that motorized transport has a highly connective series of routes, while pedestrian routes are highly disconnective. A good example of phenomenon is the St. Mark's Road-David Place junction where a minor vehicular turn-off interrupts a major pedestrian route. Because vehicular feeder routes currently take priority over pedestrian routes in current planning thinking the proposal for a continuous pavement at this junction has been blocked.

The pedestrian precincts are, in effect, pedestrian ghettos rather than routes because they fail to connect up with actual pedestrian routes. The tourist experience is of wandering along a precinct and then being dumped in a confusing and difficult car-oriented space. This accounts for tourists wandering up and down the precincts rather than exploring St. Helier and further afield. The current system confines pedestrians rather than releases them.

Traffic lights should be adjusted to allow pedestrians to cross as quickly as possible at all locations, and should allow enough time for people to cross. Roads should be uniters of people rather than dividers of people. There is never really any such thing as a one-way road, or one-way system, since pedestrians always require to move across or back or along in both directions. The objections to cycle contraflow are a symptom of walking's forgotten status: we already have pedestrian contraflow in so-called one-way systems.

The zone-of-influence effect can be noticed on Midvale Road and Hill Street/Mulcaster Street which have the potential to carry much more pedestrian traffic.

Green Lanes, while being a useful nod in the direction of pedestrians, especially rural pedestrians and tourists, are not a continuous network, have too many hills and not direct enough for a transport network. Safe Routes to Schools should be incorporated in the network.

What are the main problems?

The primary problem is the lack of connectivity of routes. The ring road forms an effective barrier to potential routes connecting town and country, as well as developing Safe Routes to Schools. The longer the continuous route the more likely one is to increase walking. The recent census analysis regarding the Urban Park proposal for Gas Place used the figure of 400m as a maximum walking distance - this is surely too low by historical standards. Longer, more pleasant routes will lengthen acceptable walking distances. People will feel happier about walking longer distances, whether from a car park or from home or work or shops if the distance is more of a pleasant experience, rather than a battle with turning vehicles, congestion on the pavements, obstacles such as signboards or sign poles, air pollution and speeding traffic.

In many historic towns pedestrian routes have been created for tourists. Elsewhere they are less common and even in cities where large numbers of people walk into the centre from nearby residential streets, few have developed priority radial routes for pedestrians. The lack of well appointed and signed walkways is a measure of the neglect of walking as a form of urban transport.

Virtually all urban road signs and routes are aimed at drivers. Signs for pedestrians are generally confined to central precincts and walkways used by visitors and rarely includes the distance to the posted destinations. Signs for pedestrian are most helpful if they include the distance or walking time to posted destinations. St. Helier is astonishingly devoid of maps, bus timetables and other information sources suitable for tourists and residents alike.

Roundabouts and gyratory systems are ped-unfriendly, cycle-unfriendly and are primarily used by traffic planners to promote vehicular flow. When our planners here in Jersey want to put in a roundabout it is normally a case of removing crossing points, making pedestrians walk further (and therefore make journeys less convenient on foot), and making the walking environment less pleasant by increasing vehicular flow. They usually deny the need for pedestrian crossings (on the grounds that "it would slow down the traffic") but are usually forced to add in crossings which then naturally lead to vehicles backing up round the roundabout. The result: large amount of money and pedestrian inconvenience for nothing, because consideration of the impact on walking and cycling has not been a prime consideration.

Proliferation of commercial signs on pavements causing obstructions.

Unpedestrianized Colomberie - crowded, congested and difficult to negotiate

Some current problem junctions:

• Midvale Road - Val Plaisant - David Place
• the whole Weighbridge area
• Snow Hill (high capacity pedestrian route dumps walkers in unfriendly area)
• Grenville Street - Colomberie
• St. Saviour's Road - La Motte Street (if St. James finally comes on stream, where are the walking routes in the absence of any car parking, cycle parking or bus service?)
• Broad Street (classic case for semi-pedestrianization)

Abnormal weather shows the current low priority given to walking. In snow, road routes are gritted to make them passable, ped routes are not. Because of the current lack of identification of major ped routes, even if some footways are gritted, it is not done systematically so the unsteady of foot are dumped at an impassable point.

It has been noted by visiting walkers that Jersey peds are generally undisciplined: wandering across and along cycle routes; stepping into roads without looking; paying little attention to signs - is this due to the quality of signs, lack of education, or congestion on the footway?

Ped/cycle interaction

This is problematic due to space competition. Lack of cycle racks coupled with official anti-crime advice to chain cycles securely to lampposts etc. frequently leads to restrictions of footway width.

Lowered pavements encourage cycles hopping up onto pavements - especially when forced off roadway by motorized vehicles cutting corner.

Lack of signage and information to keep cyclists off footways and peds off cycleways leads to acrimony. This is coupled with official confusion: New Cut and Liberation Square are typical of uncoordinated approach of authorities leading peds and cyclists to, as it were, fight it out on the ground. A co-ordinated strategy is urgently required.

What are the social and environmental benefits of walking?

Walking is, of course, the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. It is also the most social: people can stop, chat, meet people. One is more in touch with one's fellow citizens on foot than with any other mode of transport, and also more in tune with one's surroundings. One can look at architecture, nature and the goings-on of the community much more easily than with any other mode of transport. Because of this contact with the life of the street, walking deters street crime, vandalism and rowdiness in a way that motorized transport does not. Streets with pedestrians feel safe - streets without pedestrians feel unsafe. The pedestrians themselves need to feel safe, so a certain level of pedestrian activity encourages more walking. A reduction in pedestrian activity deters walking, leading to vicious circle and the depopulation of urban streets.

The hubbub and bustle of a thriving community is a pedestrian phenomenon, attracting trade and business. Street markets and street theatre, buskers etc. also add to the pedestrian character of an urban space. Such beneficial developments could be encouraged by semi-pedestrianization measures such as weekend pedestrianization, peak shopping-hour pedestrianization, or by full pedestrianization - reclaiming people space from vehicle space.

Just as the Sustrans cycle network focuses on bringing cycle tourists in and out of the centre of St. Helier, so a footpath network should focus on St. Helier, linking the countryside with the main shops, hotels, guesthouses and attractions of St. Helier. Ideally, from the centre of Town one should be able to walk along attractive urban routes to reach the open country: what I suppose in marketing-speak, one would call ‘offering the complete package’.

Part of the key to reviving and regenerating the commercial heart of St. Helier is to open it up to pedestrians and cyclists, improving transport. The markets have lost out to out-of-town supermarkets, and yet the answer is not necessarily to choke the centre of town with cars, for paradoxically the supermarkets have achieved much of their popularity by providing a high-quality pedestrian environment. People think that supermarkets are primarily a car-based experience, and yet they may not realise how much of their shopping trip has in fact consisted of a quality walking experience. The supermarket car park itself is a pedestrian priority area, with cars slowing down to co-exist with shoppers and trolleys. Shoppers treat the car park as a pedestrian area and not as car space, so why is the centre of St. Helier regarded to such an extent as precisely that - car space?

When one parks a car or bike at a supermarket, one discovers that the supermarket has provided a pleasant and attractive pedestrian route to and from the entrance. This is in contrast to the situation that prevails in town, where the markets are cut off from the existing parking by a series of barriers: roads, speeding cars, rows of parked vehicles along the kerbs.

The markets in town, and other shops as well, can only compete with out-of-town supermarkets by learning the lessons of access. The Central Market and Beresford Market are currently cut off from each other and from shopper parking by traffic and parked vehicles. Current arrangements act against leading, almost seducing, people into and through the markets. The markets should be linked across Beresford Street and Cattle Street by a pedestrian priority area. If some of the car space was reclaimed the markets might, on occasion, spill out into what might become a ‘market zone’ linking them. A pavement cafe in such a market zone between the markets would add to the festive, friendly, relaxed atmosphere which should be linked with the markets. Convenient cycle racks for main shopping areas and pedestrian routes (continuous pavements across junctions, junction tables, pedestrian priority areas: all these should link parking and bus access points with commerce). Reviving and regenerating the commercial heart of St. Helier will depend on providing unobstructed pedestrian flow between the shops and the car parks. Supermarkets provide a carry-out service from the checkout to the vehicle in the car park and, elsewhere, operate deposit-based trolleys. This too could be copied in the town centre, which should learn from the service offered by out-of-town competitors.

What is the potential for transfer to walking?

The wider use of continuous pavements would help to promote pedestrian transport. There is no reason why roads should always interrupt pavements, when pavements could just as easily interrupt roadways and provide pedestrian priority. The Centre Ville proposals endorse the concept of continuous pavements and they are also to be included in EPIAs 3&5. Continuous unobstructed pedestrian routes are what will make walking along a pavement into town as easy and direct as driving along a road into town. Pedestrian priority areas will help to promote walking as an alternative, or as a desirable component of a multi-mode journey. A commitment to engineering solutions will have to accompany any education programme.

Walking, rather like cycling, is most efficient when an appropriate cadence is sustained. Stopping and starting is tiring and discouraging. Unlike a car, peds and cyclists do not have the effortless option of rapid acceleration and deceleration i.e. nipping. For optimum walking, a steady relaxed pace without obstructions or delays is best.

St. Helier should be a walkable town, and noted as such internationally, rather than be developed into something approaching a vast car park encompassed by a race track. Central St. Helier should be a large pedestrian priority zone, perhaps along the lines of Saint-Malo intra muros.

Some idea of the importance of providing a quality pedestrian experience has penetrated the mind of the general public with the recognition of the role public art and landscaping can have in the urban environment, but still there lingers the notion that public space is not used to the optimum unless it is congested. At many times of the year, the existing pedestrian precincts in town are packed. Jostling with crowds is not the best way to appreciate the cultural and commercial delights of St. Helier. The potential attractions of strolling, lingering, loitering and wandering are not currently exploited to advantage.

Car domination in the urban areas has led to pedestrians being funnelled along our narrow pavements, hemmed in by lines of parked cars on the kerb. The closeness of cars passing at speed has even impacted on pedestrians’ ability to use the full width of already restricted pavements. The perceived danger from and priority of cars has seriously impacted on pedestrian freedom of movement along and across routes of commercial activity not yet pedestrianized or semi-pedestrianized. That the demands of the car have encroached on pedestrian modes can be demonstrated by noting the way traffic signs, parking signs and other paraphernalia of motor traffic have been placed on pavements, in pedestrian space, with an accompanying devaluation of the importance of walking and the walking environment.

Various degrees of pedestrianization can be envisaged to encourage more walking, and to encourage integration and ease of transfer between modes: shared bus/pedestrian use (for example along Broad Street, perhaps); wide pedestrian priority areas at junctions (for example Beresford Street/Halkett Place/Waterloo Street, perhaps, or Cheapside/Westmount Road, or Halkett Place/Burrard Street, or Minden Place/Phillips Street/Bath Street); streets closed to vehicular traffic during main shopping hours; widened pavements and narrowed roadways.

Installation of regular provision of seating will be essential to rest people’s weary legs if the promotion of walking proves successful. Space for such seating areas ought to be reclaimed, at least partially, from current car space. Some of the argument against seating is that it will attract 'the wrong people'. This is surely a symptom of the very low provision of seating, rather than something that is generally true.

Slower speeds through residential areas will not only reduce noise but also enhance quality of life and allow for greater sharing of road space by cars and cyclists, and make walking a more attractive option.

Narrowed roadways in urban areas would reduce vehicular speeds and also allow for widened footways, increased vehicular parking, cycle lanes, tree planting, more al fresco.

Tree planting in the streets of St. Helier and the urbanized areas will also help to reduce noise and pollution. Urban trees soak up noise and emissions, providing better quality of life. They also help to provide a better walking experience. Trees provide shelter, both from rain and sun, and create a suitable, attractive and pleasant environment for walking. Links between park and garden areas should be greened.

Large developments should incorporate high-quality walking routes (paths, alleys, arcades, gateways à la St. Paul's Gate) to promote porosity of walkable network. Existing ped routes should not be removed (e.g. what happened at Hue Court)

Providing for walking, as one of the least construction-hungry transport modes, can also be quick and cheap. Many measures could be implemented through paintjobs and education. However walking can be seriously impacted by infrastructure developments such as slip roads, driveways, gyratories, roundabouts

What other measures are needed?

For communities where space is at a premium, often the only way of providing high-quality facilities for modes is by providing shared space. Badly designed shared space should not be used as a pretext for condemning shared space.

Many problems are due to lack of communication. Here in Jersey, pedestrians complain about cyclists on footways, and cyclists complain about pedestrians on cycleways. People seem to want to desegregate. We have a new short stretch of high-speed commuter cycle track at West Park which is especially enjoyed by pedestrians - except of course when they encounter a high-speed commuter. We need a strategy for shared space.

Semi-pedestrianization can confer great benefits in shopping and heritage areas, and as part of a properly designed traffic calming programme in residential areas.

Recent UK government research demonstrates that, contrary to earlier thinking, there is no automatic reason to exclude cyclists from pedestrian areas. Encouraging cycling in appropriate areas can have a traffic calming effect

This encourages cyclist/pedestrian modal switching. Cycle racks should be placed at the edge of pedestrian areas to encourage cyclists to park and switch to pedestrian mode. Pushing a bike through a busy pedestrian area can be more disruptive than riding along a demarcated route through such an area. If, as Public Services have done and Centre Ville have suggested doing, cycle racks are placed inside a pedestrian area, it encourages cycling through pedestrian areas and, arguably, creates cycling access under the provisions of the Road Traffic Law.

One of the points is that, while cars suppress walking, in shared space cyclists do not affect pedestrian behaviour, but the presence of pedestrians alters cyclists' behaviour. However if pedestrians and cyclists are given faulty messages i.e. the peds think they are in ped space and the cyclists think they are in cycle space - then the result is conflict: a not uncommon consequence of badly designed and signed shared space.

Is it just the Jersey Pedestrians Association saying all this?

The last Public Services Committee's discussion document on sustainable transport put forward the objective of promoting walking. It stated: ‘While measures to reduce through-traffic will increase safety in residential streets, it is important to ensure that there are safe pedestrian and cycle routes across the primary and local distributor roads. Access to main shopping areas, on foot or by bike, should be along recognised, safe routes.’ (p.25)

The Environmental Adviser’s Report to the States of Jersey also states that ‘more remains to be done to promote the shift to walking and cycling.’ (p.20)

The Centre Ville report proposes the following on pavements: ‘..that pavements become the primary surface. By this is meant that pavement surface should continue across junctions and across roads at appropriate points...In practice this means that instead of the pedestrian having to change surfaces and levels all the time, the car will have to do so. This has been done in other cities (e.g. Edinburgh, where tourism is a major industry) very successfully; it also acts as a very effective traffic calming method, as vehicles necessarily slow when approaching the ramps on either side of a pavement crossing the road.’ (p.22) There are already continuous pavements across Old Street, across Hilgrove Street, across Clarendon Road and across Palmyra Road.

UK Pedestrians Association/CTC joint statement on providing for walking and cycling

"Observation revealed no real factors to justify excluding cyclists from pedestrianised areas, suggesting that cycling could be more widely permitted without detriment to pedestrians"

UK DoT Traffic Advisory Leaflet 9/93 Cycling in Pedestrian Areas

The first street carried 2,000 vehicles per day and was referred to in the study as Light street. The second carried 8,000 vehicles per day and was called Medium street. The third carried 16,000 vehicles per day and was called Heavy street. Appleyard asked the residents to indicate where friends and acquaintances lived on a map of their street. The results showed that those on Light street had three times more friends and twice as many acquaintances as the people on Heavy street (fig. 4). He also asked them to draw on the map of their street the area they considered to be their 'home territory'. Fig. 5 shows the 12 responses from each street combined into the one map. It becomes immediately obvious that as traffic volumes increased, the space people considered to be their home territory shrank.

The Jersey Cycling Group and the Jersey Pedestrians Association have collaborated on a code for cyclists and walkers:

Walking and Cycling in Jersey

Walking and cycling are enjoyable and efficient forms of transport which are good for the Island's environment and for our health.
But to help us all enjoy the walking and cycling facilities of the Island, please bear in mind the following:

• Cyclists please stay off pavements

• Pedestrians please stay off cycle tracks

• Cyclists please give an audible warning when passing unwary pedestrians

• Pedestrians please look, listen and take care crossing cycle routes

• Cyclists please share space with pedestrians by reducing speed and giving priority

• Pedestrians have priority at junctions over turning cycles and other vehicles,

• Cyclists please don't park bikes where they may obstruct pedestrians