Halt the Queensbridge Road floating bus stops

In November 2025, Hackney Council closed its consultation on a cycle scheme for Queensbridge Road (London, E8 3LA) with a design in which passengers would keep getting onto and off the bus directly from the pavement. Floating bus stops were not part of it.

Then, without any further effective consultation, the scheme changed. Cyclists and e-bikers would speed straight through the bus stop, forcing blind and visually impaired people and other disabled people to either cross a live cycle track just to get onto or off the bus or avoid using the bus altogether.

Blind and visually impaired people cannot cycle or drive. Buses are often their only route to independence. Floating bus stops take that away. Fast cyclists, e-bikers and scooter riders give no warning, and too often will not slow down or stop for someone who cannot see or hear them coming. A white cane user left on a floating bus island has no reliable way to navigate it.

John is a visually impaired wheelchair user. On his understanding of the plans, there would be no room to come down a bus ramp and stop safely before the cycle track, and he would not be able to see cyclists approaching from his left.

The two proposed floating bus stops are directly outside the Marie Lloyd Centre, which hosts vital services for older and disabled people. The Government has asked councils to pause floating bus stops of this kind.

We are not against safer walking and cycling on Queensbridge Road. We are asking Hackney Council to:
1. Withdraw the floating bus stops from the scheme and return to the original design which residents were actually consulted on, where cycle tracks leave gaps at bus stops and passengers board safely from the pavement.
2. Publish Equality Impact Assessments, dimensions and any road safety audits.
3. Commit that any future floating bus stop in Hackney will be proposed only after full and accessible engagement with blind and disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and the users of nearby services, such as the Marie Lloyd Centre.

John is asking for your support to demand that Hackney Council thinks again and withdraws the floating bus stops. Please sign the petition. Then please also send a formal objection before notice TT1929 (Queensbridge Road) closes on 9 October 2026. The details are in the background notes below.

Petition statement.
We, the undersigned, want John and everyone in Hackney to travel independently by bus, without fear of speeding cyclists ploughing through the middle of the bus stop.
We call on Hackney Council to halt the Queensbridge Road floating bus stops and work with older, blind and disabled people to protect road safety and keep bus access open to all.

 

How to object to notice TT1929 (closes 9 October 2026)

By email: streetscene.consultations@hackney.gov.uk  By post: Streetscene Networks Team, Hackney Service Centre, 1 Hillman Street, London E8 1DY.  Put TT1929 (Queensbridge Road) in your subject line or first paragraph. Please give your reasons (for example the impact on blind & visually impaired passengers, disabled & older people, and people with young children), plus your full name, address and contact details.  Thank you.

The design changed after consultation.

Hackney Council’s consultation (27 October to 30 November 2025) didn’t include floating bus stops. Its report shows some respondents asked for bypasses, but also records respondents warning that floating bus stops are discriminatory against blind and visually impaired people. On 31 July 2026 an Assistant Director signed a decision to proceed with statutory consultation on floating bus stops outside 292 and 365 Queensbridge Road.

The consultation figures.

Of 634 respondents, 35% agreed with the original scheme and 60% disagreed. Among disabled respondents (base 86), 24% agreed and 70% disagreed. However, this was held BEFORE floating bus stops were proposed (in fact, they were never proposed in any accessible consultation), and much of the opposition concerned other bits, the Scriven Street closure, etc. The figures show low support among disabled residents for the scheme as consulted, not opinion on floating bus stops.

The Government’s pause.

On 20 November 2025, while the consultation was still open, the then Roads Minister, Simon Lightwood MP, asked all English councils to pause floating bus stops where passengers must board or alight directly from or into a cycle track. Statutory guidance (26 January 2026) confirms the pause. It calls for enough level space for a wheelchair ramp and manoeuvring, and recommends bypass islands of 3.5 metres (with 2.5 m as minimum).

John’s access.

His wheelchair is 2m long and a bus ramp adds 1m, before any safe stopping distance. The consultation documents give no island dimensions, but as John understands the plans they are narrower than 3.5m. He can’t see or judge cyclists and e-bikers approaching from his left as he comes down the bus ramp.

Conflicting statements.

On 10 September 2026 a Hackney Council officer told stakeholders the measures had been approved. On 17 September Cllr Cable spoke with John and wrote that the design “hasn’t been signed off.” John welcomes his offer of a meeting and has asked for a written response by 29 September.

Consultation with disabled people.

The statutory guidance says input from groups representing disabled people is particularly important “at an early stage of scheme development”, and that accessible information should be given to everyone involved. To John’s knowledge no organisation representing blind or visually impaired people was effectively consulted before the design was fixed. Hackney Council withdrew funding from Disability BackUp several years ago, leaving it with few resources to respond to consultations. John understands the Equality Impact Assessment reaches a positive overall conclusion on disability for this proposed scheme, but made no reference to floating bus stops. It’s not yet in the public domain.

John was on hunger strike over the scheme in September 2026, and a demonstration was held outside Hackney Town Hall. News report: https://tinyurl.com/2a8x5z4j

Hackney Council's Consultation report: https://tinyurl.com/3txwsmfv

UK Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/floating-bus-stops-provision-and-design/floating-bus-stops-provision-and-design

National Federation of Blind People: https://tinyurl.com/3kj2dm8f