Plus: Why are London's buses getting slower, the 81-year-old running to be the YIMBY mayor of London, We R Blighty turn to body cams, and would you buy this basement for £500?
Attention press officers reading this! The public respect it when you put someone up for interview and they set out the trade offs involved in a decision! More of that sort of thing!
Question for TfL: why are the digital information boards at bus stops working so infrequently compared to previous years? They’re vital to knowing when a bus comes! Info is clearly still available because City Mapper will tell you if you look there..
"The distance between bus stops may not appear to be a particularly well discussed issue in the industry.
However, a data expert who has acted as a consultant for local authorities on transport issues has claimed the UK has too many of them compared to other countries and that it is harming public transport as a service, having a negative knock-on effect on the productivity of our cities."
"The bus stop removal scheme in Birmingham was based on calculations that each stop added 35 seconds to the journey and that many of them were rarely used...the trial was deemed to be a success, with TfWM reporting an increase in 106,000 journeys over the six-month trial, which led to most of the stops being permanently deleted."
I am one of those users who have largely given up on using buses regularly due to the deterioration in journey times in the last 10 years. Around where I live (E3) this is due to private car traffic which has got dramatically worse, with one major contributing factor being navigation apps sending through traffic down the side streets. TfL's refusal to establish bus lanes along Bow Road and Stratford High Street and LBTH's support for on-steet parking and opposition to LTNs means local bus journey times have literally doubled.
Also, appreciate bus drivers need to rest but changing drivers should happen at the terminus, not half way through the journey with a busful of passengers waiting, engine idling, and passing traffic being obstructed causing yet more delays.
Totally agree on that last point - the driver changes are a relatively new thing, and slow affected journeys massively. And don’t get me started on “this bus will wait… to regulate the service”…
There is another aspect to this, that I haven’t explored, regarding the transition from the event as an open walk-in country fair to an event inside a festival site. Met Police guidance plays a role in that, which changed the feel a lot.
And in some ways councils paying to put on public cultural events is a remnant of a pre-austerity era when that was seen as part of their former broad remit, rather than just being vessels for handling social care and emergency housing funds.
It seems that someone has already tried and failed to get planning permission to convert that basement into a 2 bed flat. I can't imagine the people living in the ground floor flat would be stoked about the idea. I'm also not sure how they thought they would get permission to put a lightwell into somebody else's back garden... is NIMBYism acceptable when it's literally in your back yard?
Lots of the bus speed problems do lie with users. There is a staggering amount of faff getting on and getting off buses. People not ready with payment cards; people blocking the entry/exit/stairs instead of using seats/more suitable space and allowing for people to get on/off; people not being ready for their stop; people not paying and ending up in a mexican standoff with the bus driver refusing to move. If everyone was me, no bus would be stopping at any stop for more than 20 seconds. A boy can dream!
(I'm of course excluding the elderly & anyone with mobility needs in my anger here - some people need more time and I'm of course more than happy to allow them what they need).
It's a bit like that story this week about the Avanti train running empty from Manchester to Euston — all passenger transport would run much more efficiently and stick to its timetable if there weren't passengers involved!
If anyone takes a UK bus outside of London, where very few have double doors and having a natter with the driver is part of the fun, you'll think the capital's system is positively streamlined.
I’m with you here: everyone who can should sit upstairs. If you’re just going one stop and it’s not ‘worth it’ to go up you should just walk the distance. It’s extremely annoying coming on with a buggy, having to ask people to move out of the space, then asking those same people later on to get out of the door…
There should be two queues at all bus stops. One for people with cards and one for the app-addled that seem to take forever to get their phones to work properly. (And they can wait for the next bus.)
Yes! Every day I see dozens of people step onto the bus, pull their phone out, then clearly do the double-tap-face-ID manoeuvre with the full card list on display. People just don’t know Express Pay exists.
TfL say Wood Green is one of the worst areas for bus delay. I’d say this is primarily for two reasons: Haringey council has consistently failed to do anything to improve Green Lanes traffic and help buses (eg parking enforcement, new bus lane, junction priority for buses and limiting traffic at the N Circular junction in rush hours to reduce flow) and compounded the problem by making almost all the roads east of Green Lanes into LTNs. They not only push yet more vehicles onto a main route that’s already over-capacity, but block all escape valves when there’s obstruction of exactly the sort TfL complain about, such as Thames Water and BG renewal works. If so-called LTN “boundary roads” have to take ever more traffic, buses are major casualties, because the LTN advocates fail to realise (or maybe just don’t care) that it’s not only private cars that use these bus routes when side roads are shut off.
Great article as usual but it seems slightly odd that the part about bus speeds is without any reference to areas where bus lanes have already been removed in favour of segregated cycle lanes and other infrastructure. There are numerous examples of this, particularly around Rotherhithe/Surrey Quays, and TfL seem to go to some lengths to avoid comment on it.
It would be better if they were transparent, as there's an obvious trade-off and it's very possible that a segregated cycle lane moves far more people per minute than a bus lane. But when TfL have been FOId on this point they, somewhat implausibly, state they don't hold a central record of the number of bus lanes removed as part of cycleway construction.
I'm very local to Brockwell Park and heavily invested. The locals campaigning against it absolutely refuse to answer one crucial question: what is it that they want to council to not spend money on, if they are not raising it through leasing the park for events.
My understanding was that because of the ownership of the park (something to do with a trust?) the council can’t charge for its use and then put the proceeds into local services. I think if the festivals were supporting libraries, youth centres etc people wouldn’t be so annoyed.
If that’s the case why aren’t the Council saying so? Surely it would be a strong argument against the opposition to the events? What they’ve said publicly is that the money goes into running the Country Show and the park maintenance. I don’t have a particular axe to grind, am also v local but don’t mind the events, would just like a smaller footprint/duration and more local benefit
The park is an essential service, and money from other sources can be spent on other essential services if the park is paid for via the events. It all comes out of the same place in the end.
I know it's not fashionable to say, but I am convinced that a significant factor of buses slowing down is the new cycle lanes (I speak as a frequent cyclist, so consider myself unbiased here). There are so many roads in Central London where buses & other cars would be able to overtake each other to keep things moving, and now cannot (the COVID widening of Regent Street has a lot to answer for too). I love cycle lanes as a concept, but they are frequently wider than they need to be & the design is just ill thought out. Hoping that a solution that works for cycles AND bueses can be found.
They've only got four more years on the road, assuming that Sadiq Khan keeps his pledge to have only zero emissions buses by 2030.
Then, due to the way the contract is structured, my off-the-top-of-my-head-not-double-checked-understanding is that TfL will be left with a load of buses that no one will really want to buy second hand as they're unique to London and don't work for other operators.
Cycle lanes and LTNs as two causes of buses becoming slower. London traffic is much slower since the pandemic and yet there are fewer cars on the road than pre-pandemic.
I’ve also seen reports on Reddit that We R Blighty are aggressively telling people that “we’re a CIC” and “we never claimed to be a charity”, as if that totally removes any confusion
That official comment & explanation from TfL is excellent, detailed and informed. Credit where it's due.
Attention press officers reading this! The public respect it when you put someone up for interview and they set out the trade offs involved in a decision! More of that sort of thing!
In that photo, the We R Blighty man looks like he’s not wearing a body cam but a … *ring doorbell*?
Question for TfL: why are the digital information boards at bus stops working so infrequently compared to previous years? They’re vital to knowing when a bus comes! Info is clearly still available because City Mapper will tell you if you look there..
If we're doing real talk, why are Google Maps bus time estimates so wrong compared to CityMapper?
My husband refuses to believe me when I tell him (often) that google is so unreliable vs Citymapper for bus accuracy. It’s a thing, right?
it's essential that accurate information is available on the information boards to avoid the risk of phone snatching
Another option to consider is bus stop consolidation - https://www.route-one.net/features/could-removing-bus-stops-boost-services
"The distance between bus stops may not appear to be a particularly well discussed issue in the industry.
However, a data expert who has acted as a consultant for local authorities on transport issues has claimed the UK has too many of them compared to other countries and that it is harming public transport as a service, having a negative knock-on effect on the productivity of our cities."
"The bus stop removal scheme in Birmingham was based on calculations that each stop added 35 seconds to the journey and that many of them were rarely used...the trial was deemed to be a success, with TfWM reporting an increase in 106,000 journeys over the six-month trial, which led to most of the stops being permanently deleted."
I am one of those users who have largely given up on using buses regularly due to the deterioration in journey times in the last 10 years. Around where I live (E3) this is due to private car traffic which has got dramatically worse, with one major contributing factor being navigation apps sending through traffic down the side streets. TfL's refusal to establish bus lanes along Bow Road and Stratford High Street and LBTH's support for on-steet parking and opposition to LTNs means local bus journey times have literally doubled.
Also, appreciate bus drivers need to rest but changing drivers should happen at the terminus, not half way through the journey with a busful of passengers waiting, engine idling, and passing traffic being obstructed causing yet more delays.
Totally agree on that last point - the driver changes are a relatively new thing, and slow affected journeys massively. And don’t get me started on “this bus will wait… to regulate the service”…
I recall driver changes from decades ago
There is a Bus lane on Bow Road and Stratford High Street.
Shutting down the Lambeth Country show seems spiteful
There is another aspect to this, that I haven’t explored, regarding the transition from the event as an open walk-in country fair to an event inside a festival site. Met Police guidance plays a role in that, which changed the feel a lot.
And in some ways councils paying to put on public cultural events is a remnant of a pre-austerity era when that was seen as part of their former broad remit, rather than just being vessels for handling social care and emergency housing funds.
It's not, they simply cannot afford it
It seems that someone has already tried and failed to get planning permission to convert that basement into a 2 bed flat. I can't imagine the people living in the ground floor flat would be stoked about the idea. I'm also not sure how they thought they would get permission to put a lightwell into somebody else's back garden... is NIMBYism acceptable when it's literally in your back yard?
https://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=_LEWIS_DCAPR_107817
Lots of the bus speed problems do lie with users. There is a staggering amount of faff getting on and getting off buses. People not ready with payment cards; people blocking the entry/exit/stairs instead of using seats/more suitable space and allowing for people to get on/off; people not being ready for their stop; people not paying and ending up in a mexican standoff with the bus driver refusing to move. If everyone was me, no bus would be stopping at any stop for more than 20 seconds. A boy can dream!
(I'm of course excluding the elderly & anyone with mobility needs in my anger here - some people need more time and I'm of course more than happy to allow them what they need).
It's a bit like that story this week about the Avanti train running empty from Manchester to Euston — all passenger transport would run much more efficiently and stick to its timetable if there weren't passengers involved!
If anyone takes a UK bus outside of London, where very few have double doors and having a natter with the driver is part of the fun, you'll think the capital's system is positively streamlined.
I’m with you here: everyone who can should sit upstairs. If you’re just going one stop and it’s not ‘worth it’ to go up you should just walk the distance. It’s extremely annoying coming on with a buggy, having to ask people to move out of the space, then asking those same people later on to get out of the door…
There should be two queues at all bus stops. One for people with cards and one for the app-addled that seem to take forever to get their phones to work properly. (And they can wait for the next bus.)
There, I said it.
Spend your time at the bus stop telling everyone with an iPhone to set up an Express Travel Card so they can just tap without verifying.
Settings > Wallet and Apple Pay > scroll down to Travel Cards
Yes! Every day I see dozens of people step onto the bus, pull their phone out, then clearly do the double-tap-face-ID manoeuvre with the full card list on display. People just don’t know Express Pay exists.
That basement - don’t suppose it’s next to a bank? Asking for a friend…
TfL say Wood Green is one of the worst areas for bus delay. I’d say this is primarily for two reasons: Haringey council has consistently failed to do anything to improve Green Lanes traffic and help buses (eg parking enforcement, new bus lane, junction priority for buses and limiting traffic at the N Circular junction in rush hours to reduce flow) and compounded the problem by making almost all the roads east of Green Lanes into LTNs. They not only push yet more vehicles onto a main route that’s already over-capacity, but block all escape valves when there’s obstruction of exactly the sort TfL complain about, such as Thames Water and BG renewal works. If so-called LTN “boundary roads” have to take ever more traffic, buses are major casualties, because the LTN advocates fail to realise (or maybe just don’t care) that it’s not only private cars that use these bus routes when side roads are shut off.
Great article as usual but it seems slightly odd that the part about bus speeds is without any reference to areas where bus lanes have already been removed in favour of segregated cycle lanes and other infrastructure. There are numerous examples of this, particularly around Rotherhithe/Surrey Quays, and TfL seem to go to some lengths to avoid comment on it.
It would be better if they were transparent, as there's an obvious trade-off and it's very possible that a segregated cycle lane moves far more people per minute than a bus lane. But when TfL have been FOId on this point they, somewhat implausibly, state they don't hold a central record of the number of bus lanes removed as part of cycleway construction.
The trade-off is against private cars, not the pitifully few cycle lanes we have
I'm very local to Brockwell Park and heavily invested. The locals campaigning against it absolutely refuse to answer one crucial question: what is it that they want to council to not spend money on, if they are not raising it through leasing the park for events.
My understanding was that because of the ownership of the park (something to do with a trust?) the council can’t charge for its use and then put the proceeds into local services. I think if the festivals were supporting libraries, youth centres etc people wouldn’t be so annoyed.
I don't think that's right. The festivals are supporting essential services but the opponents to the festivals don't want you to know that.
If that’s the case why aren’t the Council saying so? Surely it would be a strong argument against the opposition to the events? What they’ve said publicly is that the money goes into running the Country Show and the park maintenance. I don’t have a particular axe to grind, am also v local but don’t mind the events, would just like a smaller footprint/duration and more local benefit
The park is an essential service, and money from other sources can be spent on other essential services if the park is paid for via the events. It all comes out of the same place in the end.
I know it's not fashionable to say, but I am convinced that a significant factor of buses slowing down is the new cycle lanes (I speak as a frequent cyclist, so consider myself unbiased here). There are so many roads in Central London where buses & other cars would be able to overtake each other to keep things moving, and now cannot (the COVID widening of Regent Street has a lot to answer for too). I love cycle lanes as a concept, but they are frequently wider than they need to be & the design is just ill thought out. Hoping that a solution that works for cycles AND bueses can be found.
On my routes, you can only board the wretched Boris buses at the front door. Rear and middle doors closed and card readers gone...
I guess this is due to fare dodging?
Thomas Heaherwick should be sent to the gallows for inflicting this abomination of a bus on the good people of London
They've only got four more years on the road, assuming that Sadiq Khan keeps his pledge to have only zero emissions buses by 2030.
Then, due to the way the contract is structured, my off-the-top-of-my-head-not-double-checked-understanding is that TfL will be left with a load of buses that no one will really want to buy second hand as they're unique to London and don't work for other operators.
Cycle lanes and LTNs as two causes of buses becoming slower. London traffic is much slower since the pandemic and yet there are fewer cars on the road than pre-pandemic.
I’ve also seen reports on Reddit that We R Blighty are aggressively telling people that “we’re a CIC” and “we never claimed to be a charity”, as if that totally removes any confusion