Splendid Schemes
Page 29
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
T N many ways Birmingham's new Bull Ring Centre, providing 1 basement loading facilities which give a 20-minute turn-round for an average vehicle, is a model of modern transport design. Officially opened today, and fully described on page 56, it affords considerable advantages to all sections of road users. Goods vehicle operators get fast loading untrarnelled by traffic and pedestrians, and their vehicles cannot be accused of blocking streets. A modern Midland Red bus station incorporated in the centre is, even at this early stage, attracting shoppers from outside the city, and the bus terminals are off the streets. Over 500 private cars are given good parking within the centre. All vehicles are off the street, all users catered for.
Of course, the Bull Ring is an exception. Few centres can afford facilities on that scale. But the theory of designing centres for traffic is applicable everywhere—if only local authorities would act upon it.
It would seem that, in London, the Covent Garden Market Authority has this theory well in mind. In their study of the projected new Nine Elms site for the market (see page 31), the Authority display an. admirable concern to reduce handbilg costs and slash vehicle standing time, whilst still permitting delivery vehicles to discharge produce straight into traders' premises. It is envisaged that the time vehicles spend in the market could be halved.
Splendid, imaginative schemes such as these two augur well for the long-term future of road transport. Few things (if any at all) can exceed the importance of cutting wasted time and satisfying the public.