Bus priorities really do cut urban travel delays
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The bus must stage a comeback, symposium delegates told
• A new plea for higher priority for public transport in Britain's towns and cities was made this week. Delegates at a two-day symposium at Teesside Polytechnic — organized in conjunction with the Department of the Environment — heard demands for reduced traffic congestion on bus routes.
Mr D. G. .F. Rawlinson, general manager of United Automobile Services Ltd, speaking on the case of the public transport operator, said that if Britain's urban environment was to remain civilized the bus must stage a comeback. "We must give it a clear measure of physical superiority," he said.
Mr Rawlinson felt that lip service only was paid in many cities and towns to the idea of bus priorities. In a few enlightened ones, such as Teesside and Runcorn, real progress was being made. He went on to challenge the lukewarm acceptance of bus priorities in so many of Britain's cities and towns. "Do the planners, engineers and councils not believe that the bus can do it? Do they think that the space consuming expensive car carrying two people is really more efficient and better able to move city passengers than high capacity buses?"
In 1950 there were 2,258,000 cars licensed in Britain. By 1970 there were 11,541,000, a rise of 400 per cent. In the same period the number of passengers travelling by bus fell from 16,706,000,000 to 9,120,000,000. These two facts concealed a rising number of accidents, noise and pollution, a decline in bus services, and traffic congestion — all primarily caused by the car. All these factors were now reaching the limit of human endurance.
Beyond his control The most difficult problem for the operator, said Mr Rawlinson, was traffic congestion. There he was not his own master. It was for the traffic engineers, planners, and local councils to recognize both the problem and the solution. He claimed that bus priority schemes really did work. They speeded the buses in the centres of cities and thus reduced the journey times of the majority of the community.
It should not be forgotton that in most city centres public transport still carried the majority of those travelling to work. For example, in Manchester 48 per cent used the bus, in Liverpool 51 per cent, and in Leeds 75 per cent, with Newcastle and Sunderfand top of the league with 76 per cent. Journey times slashed Referring to the solution provided by extensive bus priorities as part of a comprehensive traffic management scheme, Mr Rawlinson pointed to Reading as an example.
Extensive bus priority measures were introduced in 1970. Immediately after their introduction bus services became more reliable and journey times through the town centre were reduced by 41 per cent.
In Teesside a traffic management scheme was introduced in August 1970. An extensive series of contra-flow bus lanes and bus-only streets had now reduced the delays to buses passing through the area, from 25 minutes to 5 minutes. Mr Rawlinson said the slight delays now experienced occurred, significantly, in the areas where no bus priority existed and where the bus must still do the best it could amongst the rest of the traffic.
The scheme, in fact, resulted in a fantastic improvement in the attitude of platform staff in the (faculties they faced. The number of verbal complaints from passengers was halved. Route mileage operated by United Automobile Services had increased and the cost of operating declined. The amount of fuel used had decreased and the company had been able to withdraw duplicate buses, since service buses were now running at proper times and could cater for the traffic. In Carlisle, delays dropped from 60 minutes to 15 minutes, a remarkable improvement.
Referring to the Continent, Mr Rawlinson said that Hanover, Wiesbaden, Brussels, Liege, Marseilles, Milan, Turin, Maastricht, Rotterdam and many other cities had shown substantial savings of time for the large numbers of commuters and other bus travellers by introducing extensive bus priority measures. He felt that in Paris there was the best illustration of all. In areas of that city where bus priority schemes had been introduced, delays were reduced by 28 per cent. The mileage lost through traffic delays had declined by 31 per cent where bus priorities had existed but had increased by 33 per cent in city areas where they had not been introduced.
In concluding, Mr Rawlinson said that it was essential that action should be taken in Britain now before the decline in bus services reached the point of no return. At present Britain was largely bus-orientated, people were accustomed to travelling by bus and, he felt, bus priorities could be created effectively and cheaply. "We must not allow our public transport system to decline like that of many American cities, to the point where resuscitation is both difficult and monumentally expensive."
Positive incentive Mr K. B. Madelin, assistant borough engineer to Teesside Borough Council, speaking on the Stockton traffic scheme, said that public transport must be given positive incentive in order to improve performance. A general before-and-after study had been carried out on the scheme and preliminary results showed a total saving of about £300,000 a year on a scheme costing £230,000.
A more detailed reliability study, he said, was being carried out separately by the traffic advisory unit and some initial results seemed to indicate a 10 per cent increase in bus journey speeds from about 9.7 to 10.7 mph including stopping times. Actual running speeds of buses had increased by about 25 per cent. Peak-hour savings in the order of 15-20 minutes had been observed. Improved reliability, he felt, was probably the most valuable benefit. Mr Madelin skid that the immediate physical benefits were apparent but of more long-term value was the psychological boost given to bus operators and passengers.
New confidence A few years ago the operators were cynical about future plans and found it was taking all their efforts to keep buses running. Now a mutual confidence between engineers and public transport officials was essential if the bus was to be retained as a major service in urban areas.
Other speakers at the symposium included Dr Webster of the Traffic and Road Research Laboratory, who spoke of bus and car travel in urban areas, Mr J. W. Blows, head of the Traffic Advisory Unit, DoE, on comprehensive traffic management. and Dr Quarmby of London Transport who assessed the tangible benefits of bus priority.