Railings blocking Edinburgh bus passengers

Adlington · 2 May 2019

An example of good planning....

Passengers trying to get off Edinburgh’s new 100-seater buses are being left confused at some bus stops when the middle doors open and their exit is blocked by railings.

Lothian buses said it carried out a detailed route evaluation before introducing the eco-friendly double deckers. But former councillor Dom Heslop said there were several stops along the Lothian Road corridor where the exit doors open directly onto kerbside railings.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/trans...le-doors-of-new-100-seater-vehicles-1-4919102

RailUK Forums

DunsBus · 2 May 2019

Nothing new - when LRT ran dual-door Olympians on the 9 out to Armadale back in the early 90s, passengers alighted them at Livingston bus station via the front door as the centre exit was blocked by railings. Folk seemed to manage fine back then; I certainly don't recall it making the papers at the time!

GusB · 3 May 2019

Is dual-door operation really so beyond the wit of man/woman/insertwhichevergendertermyou'recomfortablewith? It really isn't so long since Edinburgh abandoned dual-door operation - it's within living memory for most adults, surely? When you consider that most LB vehicles haven't had centre exits for a few years, surely instinct would be to revert to recently-learned behaviour and walk to the front of the bus?

SteveP29 · 3 May 2019

Instead of bombarding you with incessant sh**e about 'this is xxx stop, blah blah blah' surely the automated crap can say 'this stop has railings, please exit at the front of the bus'

Go North East tried the rear exit doors with their 21 and 22 Angel buses 10 years ago, they didn't last long, people simply wouldn't get off at the rear doors.

computerSaysNo · 3 May 2019

GusB said:
Is dual-door operation really so beyond the wit of man/woman/insertwhichevergendertermyou'recomfortablewith? It really isn't so long since Edinburgh abandoned dual-door operation - it's within living memory for most adults, surely? When you consider that most LB vehicles haven't had centre exits for a few years, surely instinct would be to revert to recently-learned behaviour and walk to the front of the bus?

Except that whenever you try to exit using the front door, the driver tells you off for it.
I was recently the only person on a dual-door number 11 service, I wanted to get off using the front door so that I could thank the driver (there was nobody wanting on at the stop I was getting off at so it wouldn't have caused a delay), when I went to get off at the front door the driver complained that I should be using the rear door.

Adlington · 3 May 2019

GregA said:
I wanted to get off using the front door so that I could thank the driver [...], when I went to get off at the front door the driver complained that I should be using the rear door.

Did you thank him anyway?

computerSaysNo · 3 May 2019

Adlington said:
Did you thank him anyway?

Yes, I thanked her and then she told me off for getting off the front door.

Bletchleyite · 3 May 2019

GregA said:
Yes, I thanked her and then she told me off for getting off the front door.

Quite right, as by doing so you will have been lengthening the dwell time at the stop - even if by the couple of seconds it takes to walk forwards. A couple of seconds at every stop add up.

If you want to thank a driver with dual-door operation, which works superbly in London and just about everywhere else in the world, give them a cheery wave and a smile in their nearside wing mirror, they'll be looking in it to do the doors.

Regarding railings, that occasionally happens in London and it just requires common sense.

Adlington · 3 May 2019

Bletchleyite said:
Quite right, as by doing so you will have been lengthening the dwell time at the stop - even if by the couple of seconds it takes to walk forwards.

Of course telling somebody off has no effect on the dwell time.

61653 HTAFC · 3 May 2019

Even when the council runs the buses, it seems the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. :rolleyes:

I'd expect (and experience) something like that round my way, where kerbs are Council responsibility, bus stops/shelters are PTE responsibility, and the buses themselves are the responsibility of the national government (of Germany)!

Bletchleyite · 3 May 2019

Adlington said:
Of course telling somebody off has no effect on the dwell time.

They might at least not do it next time.

carlberry · 3 May 2019

Bletchleyite said:
Quite right, as by doing so you will have been lengthening the dwell time at the stop - even if by the couple of seconds it takes to walk forwards. A couple of seconds at every stop add up.

If you want to thank a driver with dual-door operation, which works superbly in London and just about everywhere else in the world, give them a cheery wave and a smile in their nearside wing mirror, they'll be looking in it to do the doors.

Regarding railings, that occasionally happens in London and it just requires common sense.

And people ask why bus passenger numbers keep on falling!

computerSaysNo · 3 May 2019

Bletchleyite said:
Quite right, as by doing so you will have been lengthening the dwell time at the stop - even if by the couple of seconds it takes to walk forwards. A couple of seconds at every stop add up.

If you want to thank a driver with dual-door operation, which works superbly in London and just about everywhere else in the world, give them a cheery wave and a smile in their nearside wing mirror, they'll be looking in it to do the doors.

Regarding railings, that occasionally happens in London and it just requires common sense.

I pressed the buzzer and went and stood by the front door long before the bus reached the stop. If anything, using the front door saved time as it is quicker to open and close than the rear door.

Bletchleyite · 3 May 2019

carlberry said:
And people ask why bus passenger numbers keep on falling!

One of the main reasons passenger numbers keep falling is that bus operation is incredibly slow. One way to speed it up is to have boarding/alighting from separate doors, as they can then happen concurrently. If you combine that with 100% off-bus ticketing, as demonstrated in London, it is possible to get a dwell time just as low as a conductor-operated bus.

Having a chat with the driver on boarding and alighting is a key reason that slows it down.

Countries that take bus travel seriously do not have a setup where passengers need to have conversations with the driver about anything at all.

90019 · 3 May 2019

With the routes the XLBs are currently on, it's literally just the two stops at Morningside primary that the centre doors can't be used at, it's really not a big deal or even vaguely newsworthy.
All the regular passengers know about those two stops and come up to the front anyway.

The stops on Lothian Road, it's just a case of not opening the doors as far back as you can with a single door bus.

Jordan Adam · 3 May 2019

In Aberdeen with your Artics you can use either door to exit. It just comes down to common sense. For example at the busier stops you use the rear door. But at the Bridge Of Don end of the route where you normally only have people going on or off and not both it's more logical to use the front door.

GregA said:
I pressed the buzzer and went and stood by the front door long before the bus reached the stop. If anything, using the front door saved time as it is quicker to open and close than the rear door.

If you were the only passenger getting off and it's a quiet out of city stop then to me that makes perfect sense, as i say it's what would happen in Aberdeen. Of course Lothian being Lothian they have to make a bit fuss about everything!

richw · 3 May 2019

Several other ‘design’ faults on various buses or stops.
Several drive in reverse out bus stations the bay kerbs for passengers don’t come out far enough for Optare Solos.
The raised kerbs the council’s installed at the time of high floor step entrances are too high for low floor buses to use the wheelchair ramp, there’s several stops we have to raise the ferry lift, or stop clear of the actual stop if a wheelchair user wishes to get on or off! The bus floor is lower than the kerb!

Darklord8899 · 3 May 2019

I believe the set of railings at the Caledonian hotel as mentioned in the article have now been removed to allow dual door access

Railings blocking Edinburgh bus passengers

Adlington

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