Brighton Bike Train

AndyOgy

To any commuters in the Brighton area:

All through this week, the Brighton Bike Train has been assisting cyclists travelling to work along the Lewes Road area. I think that this is a fantastic initiative and think that any cyclists in the Brighton area should show their support, check out their website:

http://www.lewesroadforcleanair.org

I'd like to see enough Bike Trains start up in Brighton that the bus company ends up with egg on their face after just blowing a small fortune on those stupid bendy buses that London just got rid of. Thanks Boris!

Mickey Eye

OT: Why are bendy buses such a problem in Britain? They are all over the continent and I've never heard of an issue with them? The Oslo bendy buses have operated for maybe 10 years now without issue. Are British streets really that badly designed?

roger_merriman

Mickey Eye wrote:

OT: Why are bendy buses such a problem in Britain? They are all over the continent and I've never heard of an issue with them? The Oslo bendy buses have operated for maybe 10 years now without issue. Are British streets really that badly designed?

they are old and narrow, even the single decker ones get stuck down some of the smaller streets, cue lots of inching forward etc.

Mickey Eye

So there probably wouldn't be a problem using them in Brighton then? With, you know, good route planning to avoid places where they are unsuitable.

AndyOgy

Mickey Eye wrote:

So there probably wouldn't be a problem using them in Brighton then? With, you know, good route planning to avoid places where they are unsuitable.

Brighton roads really are that bad and the bus company are planning to use them on some of the really terrible parts, like the Vouge Giratory. It seems that to exit any major road in Brighton, you will eventually have to turn into some small, tight road. Probably at a crazy angle.

A bendy bus sounds like it'd be fine running along the seafront road and, in theory, that kind of journey should be fine. But there isn't a roundabout big enough for a regular bus, let alone a bendy bus to turn around on. The only options are the tiny little roads that come off the A259.

Dudu

AndyOgy wrote:

blowing a small fortune on those stupid bendy buses that London just got rid of. Thanks Boris!

The only injuries to London cyclists ever caused by bendy buses are in Boris' "mind".

AndyOgy

Dudu wrote:

AndyOgy wrote:

blowing a small fortune on those stupid bendy buses that London just got rid of. Thanks Boris!

The only injuries to London cyclists ever caused by bendy buses are in Boris' "mind".

My main gripe is that we have got too many buses as it is. And, apart from during peak hours, they are running around almost empty.

Hence, my applause for the Bike Train crew for offering an alternative way of getting around town.

Dudu

AndyOgy wrote:

Dudu wrote:

AndyOgy wrote:

My main gripe is that we have got too many buses as it is. And, apart from during peak hours, they are running around almost empty.

There are two sorts of bus services that work:

Rural services, where the buses may only run once a week, but they're damn' well on time
Urban services, which don't work unless you can be sure of never having to wait for a bus for more than a few minutes. To do this, you have to flood the streets with buses which may, at times, be ampty. At other times they'll be packed.

Running a service any other way isn't worth the bother - passengers either miss the bus or are kept waiting so long they end up getting back in their cars. You might as well have a conveyor belt or a pipeline with holes in

As it used to say on the Norwick buses when i was at university 35 years ago: "It's 70 cars or me".

rolf_f

AndyOgy wrote:

My main gripe is that we have got too many buses as it is. And, apart from during peak hours, they are running around almost empty.

That's about as helpful as saying cyclists should stay off the roads. There are not too many buses - if you want to go somewhere, not at peak hours, and you don't have any other form of transport or don't want to use the car, why shouldn't you have a decent service? The fact is that off peak, there aren't anywhere near enough of them - the better the service all day the more they'll be used. They may be a pain to us but the more people in buses, the less cars and I'd rather deal with one bus than the equivalent 50+ cars. Incidentally, we do have some inappropriate bendy buses. We got them when we lost the proposed tram system. First thought, as consolation, that it would be just as good if they got some stupid bendy buses with bodykits that they think look like trams. They don't and the route they use has lots of traffic calming measures which they proceed to clog up.

Mind you, it would do no harm at all if the Leeds First bus drivers where forced to do some kind of driver training (I presume they just go for interview and if they can get through without dropping their white sticks, they get the job). One today on Kirkstall road (much the same location as the one that tried to kill me a few weeks ago) decided that because the traffic was busy, he was actually a bicycle (and so drove down the cycle lane completely blocking it).

AndyOgy

Rolf F wrote:

AndyOgy wrote:

My main gripe is that we have got too many buses as it is. And, apart from during peak hours, they are running around almost empty.

That's about as helpful as saying cyclists should stay off the roads. There are not too many buses - if you want to go somewhere, not at peak hours, and you don't have any other form of transport or don't want to use the car, why shouldn't you have a decent service? The fact is that off peak, there aren't anywhere near enough of them - the better the service all day the more they'll be used. They may be a pain to us but the more people in buses, the less cars and I'd rather deal with one bus than the equivalent 50+ cars. Incidentally, we do have some inappropriate bendy buses. We got them when we lost the proposed tram system. First thought, as consolation, that it would be just as good if they got some stupid bendy buses with bodykits that they think look like trams. They don't and the route they use has lots of traffic calming measures which they proceed to clog up.

Mind you, it would do no harm at all if the Leeds First bus drivers where forced to do some kind of driver training (I presume they just go for interview and if they can get through without dropping their white sticks, they get the job). One today on Kirkstall road (much the same location as the one that tried to kill me a few weeks ago) decided that because the traffic was busy, he was actually a bicycle (and so drove down the cycle lane completely blocking it).

Ok, there aren't too many buses from the point of view that there's obviously a demand for them. My original point was that I'm really pleased to see initiatives like The Bike Train, encouraging people to get to work some other way.

Lots of people would love the idea of cycling to and from work but find the traffic a little daunting. I guess I'd just like to think it possible that schemes like this will encourage that many more people to cycle to and from work, that we won't need so many buses.

Most people that I know in the area do posess a bike. However, they've mostly just ridden it a couple of times and now just leave it in the shed or garden and now pay to use public transport to travel a couple of miles each day.

To summarise; I'm not saying that buses should stay off the roads. It'd just be nice if we could get by without so many. I'm not trying to start an arguement with anyone about buses. I am just drawing attention to the fact that there are people giving up their time, encouraging more people to cycle and I think that this should be encouraged wherever possible.