The bus is making a comeback
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It seems that at long last the bus has turned the corner and that bus travel is likely to be with us until at least the end of the century. From many sources come reports that the decline in passengers — so devastating in the past decade — is being reduced, halted and in some cases even reversed. All is not plain sailing yet but the future looks distinctly rosier -this week with the publication by the country's two largest PTEs of development plans which feature the bus as a vital part of their future integrated city transport systems.
In this same week, reports from Japan indicate that delegates from London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Moscow at the first-ever "big cities" conference are convinced that buses with plenty of help in the way of reserved lanes and exclusive "busways" — are the answer to many urban transport problems. And both foreign experts and our own PTEs agree that investment cannot keep pace with the demands for yet more road space in urban areas for the car user.
On the home front this boom in bus operating is matched by record orders — as our analysis this week reve,als — and a dramatic expansion in the numbers of new sophisticated designs available. The British bus operator has a remarkable choice of city buses open to him, and the range will be even more varied in the next couple of years, especially with the resurgence of the double-decker in new forms.
When assessing the future of the bus industry, however, it is worth considering Mr G. Harrison's warning this week. Presenting the SELNEC plan he said: "Much remains to be done to get the most out of efficient bus operation." So perhaps we are no nearer knowing what will be carrying people in cities in 2001. But the odds are that it will have a driver, wheels and its own power source.