The Big 'Let's sell our cars and take buses/ebikes instead' thread (warning: probably very dull)
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I think it was most people ignoring them but bus drivers may have to if they want to keep their jobs. Looks more like the law of unintended consequences coming back to bite someone.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
There was me thinking that bus schedules could be modified by a few minutes to accommodate.
How silly.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Ignoring the fact that buses barely get up to 30mph in urban areas, I’ve seen this sort of thing professionally. When I used to do a lot of supermarket work we would get a bus service to many rural stores to satisfy planning. The bus company would price up altering their route to take it to the supermarket based on predicted use. Some wouldn’t do it as there wasn’t enough demand, others would but then found it wasn’t profitable so once the contract ended they would drop out. My suspicion is that going to this shopping centre is losing them money so they are using the speed limit change as an excuse to drop that section.
I haven’t noticed any change in timing on the bus I use occasionally to get into the city centre and the vast majority of its route is on roads that have reduced from 30 to 20, it barely gets a chance to get up to speed between stops even at 20mph.
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5 seconds on Google shows that the Telegraph can't be bothered to source up to date information.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I think the reality is bus services that are at an appropriate level to service the community are unlikely to be profitable, and the reality is they need to be subsidised.
They have lots of positive externalities on the world that the private companies don't see (less traffic, less pollution, more mobility for those unable to drive etc etc).
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Sure and in Wales the Government gives grants to help fund unprofitable routes but I think that has been frozen for several years and if a route remains unprofitable then something like this gives a convenient excuse to reduce a service. One thing you'll love is that the Welsh Government also funds free bus travel for all over 60s but only a concessionary fee for 16-21 year olds.
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Yeah that does annoy me, though I am mildly more sympathetic for that as a lot of oldies are physically unable to drive and can't necessarily walk/travel very far. Busses are ideal in that regard.
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Should apply to under 21s or, at the very least, under 18s too though. It was heavily subsidised for my daughter when she used to catch the bus to college (I think the college funded a chunk of it) but still worked out at least £10 a week.
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Yeah agreed. Though this is a bike forum - I'd be more inclined to encourage them to cycle to their destination.
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Bus fares are only £2 at the moment. More people should be using them.
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I certainly am. It used to be nearly £4 for a ride into town, a journey I could wallk in 50 minutes, it put me off using the bus even though the bus stop is about 25 m from our driveway. I now regularly walk the dog into town to the best pub in the country (officially, though pub of the year 2023 will be announced tomorrow I think) and take the bus back.
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Curious to see Hertz the hire car company liquidate 1/3 of its global EV fleet. A mixture of higher damage rates due to them being used for ride shares combined with poorer reliability and higher services costs.
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There may be a reason for that...
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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Well, when you're not objecting to housebuilding, how else do you fill your day?
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
"Rishi Sunak’s report finds low-traffic neighbourhoods work and are popular"
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They don't seem to work very well if you live near one or need to get places near to one
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Did you try reading the article?
Saying LTNs don't work because one of them had some alleged problems is like saying all motorways don't work because there's always a queue at rush hour getting off the M4 at Bristol.
Also, wait until those crowing about it find out about the roadworks about to start on Streatham High Road to put in a lovely new bike lane.
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Loud vocal minority.
As someone who lives down a more or less traffic free dead end track, having previously lived on a single track road where most of the time I could use the whole thing as a pavement, I can't imagine anyone objecting to their street becoming an LTN. Having no traffic past your front door is just better.
The only people who object to these things are selfish wankers. i.e. the same sort of people who ignore 20 signs and home made "children and animals" signs through rural villages
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Oh, thought you'd credit Sadiq Khan for agreeing this one isn't working well and should be scrapped.
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Is suspended really the same as scrapped?
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No, but the Telegraph says it's been scrapped, so it must be true.
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Did you try reading my post? I said that one didn't work.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Of course a good proportion of people in them will like them. It's the people who live or travel near them who bear the brunt. You could argue that it's selfish wankers in LTNs causing problems for others.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
It would be a start for Citizen Khan.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
You said "They don't seem to work very well if you live near one or need to get places near to one". That's a bit different to "that one didn't work".
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It is enough to point out the issues that have been observed as they may well be problems with other LTNs. You seem to be rather keen to play semantics rather than address the issues raised. I wonder why?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I think people living on a street should have more say about that street than people wanting to use it as a rat run.
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While I do agree, this is just NIMBYism in another guise.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
What about people whose street or road becomes clogged with traffic displaced by the nearby LTN? Or people trying to get a bus somewhere that takes 2 hours to go 3 miles as in that article?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0
