Why are buses travelling more slowly? Blame Ocado....(and others).

[Nigello]

The growth in the number of delivery vans and private hire vehicles together with the loss of road space to cycling have worked against the good effects of the congestion charge:

[www.theguardian.com]

If you don't want to read it, the boil of it is that congestion is rising, buses can't meet their revenues so the service is likely to diminish in terms of reliability and routes/timetables. Also, bus users are less likely to be "professionals" who know their ways around the system and are confident enough to complain.

[rendelharris]

Nigello Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> the growth in the number of delivery vans and

> private hire vehicles together with the loss of

> road space to cycling have worked against the good

> effects of the congestion charge:

> [www.theguardian.com]

> 016/jun/06/london-cannot-afford-a-bus-service-slow

> down

Interesting reading, thanks. Have to take issue with the claims about cycle superhighways though, they refer to a reduction in capacity by 25% on "certain key routes" - well at present they're only on two routes representing 1% of total capacity, and furthermore there's no attempt to assess how many of the cyclists using them would otherwise be in cars or private hire vehicles.

Slightly suspicious also that the author of the quoted report, Prof.David Begg, is a non-executive director of FirstGroup, the UK's second largest bus company...which isn't mentioned anywhere...

[JohnL]

Nigello Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The growth in the number of delivery vans and

> private hire vehicles together with the loss of

> road space to cycling have worked against the good

> effects of the congestion charge:

>

>

> If you don't want to read it, the boil of it is

> that congestion is rising, buses can't meet their

> revenues so the service is likely to diminish in

> terms of reliability and routes/timetables. Also,

> bus users are less likely to be "professionals"

> who know their ways around the system and are

> confident enough to complain.

People don't 'complain' as such - they tweet and include

photos - I only see that increasing.

[DuncanW]

Surely one Ocado driver who leaves the depot and delivers to ten customers is going to cause less pollution than ten customers making individual return journeys to their local Waitrose branch. They might not all go by car I suppose...

[Jeremy]

Certainly less congestion with deliveries. Pollution... maybe.

As for minicabs - yep, Uber is cheap enough to be a viable alternative to public transport, and there are huge numbers of minicabs on the road. Sorting out the disgusting state of our public transport would be a good start there...

[rendelharris]

The original link hasn't survived the move to the lounge, and oddly all searches on the Guardian website don't bring up the article, anyone know where it's gone?

[red devil]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2016/jun/06/london-cannot-afford-a-bus-service-slowdown

[rendelharris]

Ta - I was searching the wrong date range, didn't realise it was that far back.

[malumbu]

Buses are driving slower not 'more slowly'. Slow is a comparative term. Compared to walking buses are faster. The World is a circle without a beginning and nobody knows where it really ends. Now all join in with the rest of the chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_gB9beh0bc

I'll return with some serious comment.

[OutOfFocus]

I believe for an adverv the comparitive is"more slowly".

See http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/comparative-and-superlative-adverbs/

[malumbu]

Lots of reasons buses are travelling slower - or journey times longer. Or less faster speeds or less shorter journey times

Roadworks and increaased traffic including increased population

More workplace deliveries in particular Amazon in central London

Roadworks associated with the Cycle Superhighway, Crossrail and the continued resedential and office developments - for example the Shard screwed up the London Bridge area for yonks

Reduced bus lanes and vehicle lanes due the CS

Smaller vans as there is a shortage of qualified drivers for larger vehicles and the pool of old gits like me that can drive 3.5 - 7.5 tonnes is getting smaller

Possibly longer dwell times on lights to give greater priority to pedestrians

Black cabs roaming around without customers as a legacy of the highly protected market (try getting a bus on the strand at about 10.30 and just see).

This is a mixture of informed and casual views.

I'm not aware of the impact of home deliveries vs old school shopping.

What I do know is you don't have to lengthen bus journeys by much to reduce demand and people to return to their cars. IF you want to get people out of cars then make it difficult for them and make cycling more attractive.

Hopefully that bus driver's son/geezer is onto this.

Of course it is all the EU's fault so things will magically improve when we leave. Actually some common standards would not go amiss for example (can't remember why) there was a rejection of longer wheelbase buses in the UK.

[malumbu]

Oh and the lack of enforcement eg parking on double yellows. Just see how much disruption this causes to buses every day on Rye Lane.

I think this thread is dead now.