Reading gets boost from bus lanes
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• Evidence of a significant improvement in bus operating conditions following the introduction of' a series of bus priority measures in Reading is provided by a report published this week on the bus demonstration project in the town.
The measures — mostly bus lanes in the central area — were part of a major traffic management scheme. During the two years the project was monitored by Department of the Environment staff, average general traffic journey times fell by 37 per cent on main routes. Volume of traffic remained constant. During the same period buses using bus lanes in the town centre saved an average of up to 4-1minutes on quite small sections of their routes, amounting to improvements of between eight and 39 per cent. The report points out that time savings might be greater but were masked by the effects of one-man operation.
As a result of the scheme the amount of scheduled bus mileage lost because of traffic congestion fell by 70 per cent. In the same period the decline in bus patronage had been halted and apparently reversed in the latest figures available.