BEST PRACTICE (BUSES -- World-wide) !!

DD12 · 9 Feb 2020

I have wanted to start this thread for a long time, but sorry if anyone has already done so !!

I am a great fan of governments, local governments, "organisers", businesses, managers ETC, using BEST PRACTICE from around the world, - for everything !! -- so can anyone name any countries that have got bus service provision thoroughly sorted ??

There are of course, a HUGE number of complications, like IF most of the population ("many millions" say) cannot
afford a car, but pay a fare of adequate value; - - - services for sparsely populated rural areas; - - - services for areas where congestion causes unpredictable delays too often, so people cannot rely on buses, - so don't use them !!

The problems seem almost endless, -- national and local politicians won't do what they should because they don't want to lose power, and because of peer-pressure, and from powerful groups, -- - even though there are urgent environmental problems linked-in. (What about YOUR children's future ???)

VALUE for MONEY is also hugely important I think, and a system of public transport that would replace say 50 to 75% of car journeys, would be hugely expensive.

SURELY all new housing and urban developments should START (by law) with adequate road measures for BUSES in and out of urban centres and through congestion hotspots ?!?!?

I hate to see huge amounts of public money being thrown at problems in very inefficient ways -- is Boris Johnson's new government going to INVEST wisely and adopt BEST PRACTICE for "bus travel first -- car travel second" ???

When I was a kid in Worcester, everyone I knew accepted "going by bus" with 10 or 15 minute frequencies in the day, but a reduced evening and Sunday service, - but of course, that still doesn't compare with the freedoms a car provides, -- should there be public transport for peak times, and the "most-done / needed" journeys, and controlled electric-car hire pools for everything else ??

Of course, one major change since then, has been a massive increase in COMMUTING by car, for better jobs and careers !!

Does anyone know of BEST PRACTICE for BUS service provision, - from around the world, that we can copy ?????

RailUK Forums

radamfi · 9 Feb 2020

DD12 said:
that we can copy ?????

Forget it. Britain suffers from the "not invented here" syndrome. Even though most transport experts know that there's an awful lot of good practice in our own continent, it is ignored. Britain is more likely to take notice of good practice from Australia or New Zealand but to a large extent things are even worse there.

You could do worse than look at the book

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transport-Suburbia-Beyond-Automobile-Age/dp/1844077403

Although it is a bit out of date and is rather dismissive of cycling, I haven't come across anything better.

MAV39 · 9 Feb 2020

The usual example quoted for 'best practice' bus service is Curitiba.

https://better-operations.com/2012/04/01/public-transportation-that-works-the-curitiba-case/

Public transportation that works: The Curitiba Case
April 1, 2012 by T. Netland

Cities all over the world strive to improve their public transport system. The benefits of a faster, more reliable and more effective bus transportation system is obvious; both to users and the environment. Why is public transport then often so extremely badly planned, expensive and unreliable? Curitiba in Southern Brazil offers their solution to the challenge. In fact, in such a way that the city is well-known to city planners worldwide. What has Curitiba done?

City of Curitiba, Brazil 31-3-2012

Curitiba’s bus system is referred to as one of the world’s most efficient, and cities like Los Angeles, Bogota, Las Vegas, Bangalore and many more have modeled their bus systems with inspiration from Curitiba. In 2010 the city was even awarded with the Globe Sustainable City Award. Curitiba’s bus system can briefly be described as:

The bus system of Curitiba, Brazil, exemplifies a model Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, and plays a large part in making this a livable city. The buses run frequently—some as often as every 90 seconds—and reliably, and the stations are convenient, well-designed, comfortable, and attractive. Consequently, Curitiba has one of the most heavily used, yet low-cost, transit systems in the world. It offers many of the features of a subway system—vehicle movements unimpeded by traffic signals and congestion, fare collection prior to boarding, quick passenger loading and unloading—but it is above ground and visible. Around 70 percent of Curitiba’s commuters use the BRT to travel to work, resulting in congestion-free streets and pollution-free air for the 2.2 million inhabitants of greater Curitiba (…) about 1,100 buses make 12,500 trips every day, serving more than 1.3 million passengers—50 times the number from 20 years ago. Eighty percent of travelers use the express or direct bus services. Best of all, Curitibanos spend only about 10 percent of their income on travel—much below the national average. (Goodman et al, 2007).

I was fascinated by the “space shuttles” that stand at many of the bus stops (see picture below).

Enter stations for the Curitiba buses

These glass-covered platforms are similar to what would be the metro station under ground elsewhere. They allow the bus company to have the all the passengers ready to board as the bus arrives. Payment is taken care of as the passengers enter the platform. The price is fixed and relatively cheap. This removes monetary transactions in the buses and creates safer conditions for the driver (in an area of the world with above average crime rates). I imagine that these shelters would be perfect for the colder conditions in the Northern part of Europe; who does not hate to stand in zero degrees, slash and sleet, to wait for the bus that rarely is on time? You lose some flexibility (the bus must stop at the exact location every time) – but, in my experience, standards beat flexibility in transportation systems. It is all about reliability and volumes – two highly interdependent performance measures.

In the part of the world that I come from, the following ironic picture is a good example of the volumes and fun of riding the bus:

Something to learn from Curitiba, Brazil?

It’s a fun fact that the Swedish company Volvo Buses produces and delivers the new buses to Curitiba City in their Curitiba plant (which is the reason why I’m here). As we export the design of our great Nordic products, it should be of interest to import some great Brazilian ideas back home.

—

Bovverboy · 15 Feb 2020

The Swiss city of Basel is usually quoted as the most public transport conscious city in the world - but Switzerland is pretty good for public transport anyway.

L401CJF · 15 Feb 2020

Literally every European city I have been to seems to have better transport systems than the cities over here bar London. BVG in Berlin operates a fantastic network with plenty of frequent buses and Underground Trains. TMB in Barcelona are the same, along with HVV in Hamburg. Integrated ticketing, easy to understand maps and timetables. Here everything is ran by a mish mash of private companies, integrated ticketing isnt really a thing unless you're in London, or another area such as Liverpool with Merseytravels any operator options, TfGM in Manchester etc - but none compare to the simplicity and frequency of the networks I have used in main land Europe. With all of the European examples I have mentioned, goverment funding seems to be one major difference, and they are all seen as Rapid Transit - No old ladies faffing around with trolley and Metro newspapers, everybody just seems to get on, stand up if no seats are available without fuss, and then get off wherever they go. There are also a lot of shorter journeys taken in these places compared to over here - a lot of people only travel a couple of stops whereas over here that doesn't really happen to much. I drive buses for a living and don't understand how things are so bad over here.

Another thing I noticed in the above locations abroad is the amount of people who pay on the bus - literally nobody. 9/10 buses I went on had no paying passengers - everybody had a pass or travelcard due to the number of self service machines dotted around the place and presumably the ability to buy integrated tickets from shops. The amount of time wasted over here faffing around while people buy weekly tickets and scan their smartcards. In Barcelona, TMB cards are either flash pass (show the driver) or scan in the card scanner which is behind the driver. Keeps the flow of passengers moving which again speeds up journeys.

One thing I never understood over here is the obsession with standard single deckers everywhere and the huge number of mini/midi buses such as Optare Solos - obviously they are suited to some routes but in cities I dont think they are ideal. Yes we have double deckers (which while great in city regions arn't suited to everywhere due to low trees and bridges) - there arn't many places outside the UK that operate them. I know of a few operators in the USA, obviously Hong Kong, Berlin run a fair few but other than that the most common choice world wide seems to be the bendy bus. Why are bendy buses seen as such a bad invention over here in the UK when they are hugely successful in literally every other city in Europe, all over the USA and all over the world?

cnjb8 · 15 Feb 2020

I think Nottingham can teach a few British cities about transport.

carlberry · 15 Feb 2020

L401CJF said:
Literally every European city I have been to seems to have better transport systems than the cities over here bar London. BVG in Berlin operates a fantastic network with plenty of frequent buses and Underground Trains. TMB in Barcelona are the same, along with HVV in Hamburg. Integrated ticketing, easy to understand maps and timetables. Here everything is ran by a mish mash of private companies, integrated ticketing isnt really a thing unless you're in London, or another area such as Liverpool with Merseytravels any operator options, TfGM in Manchester etc - but none compare to the simplicity and frequency of the networks I have used in main land Europe. With all of the European examples I have mentioned, goverment funding seems to be one major difference, and they are all seen as Rapid Transit - No old ladies faffing around with trolley and Metro newspapers, everybody just seems to get on, stand up if no seats are available without fuss, and then get off wherever they go. There are also a lot of shorter journeys taken in these places compared to over here - a lot of people only travel a couple of stops whereas over here that doesn't really happen to much. I drive buses for a living and don't understand how things are so bad over here.

Another thing I noticed in the above locations abroad is the amount of people who pay on the bus - literally nobody. 9/10 buses I went on had no paying passengers - everybody had a pass or travelcard due to the number of self service machines dotted around the place and presumably the ability to buy integrated tickets from shops. The amount of time wasted over here faffing around while people buy weekly tickets and scan their smartcards. In Barcelona, TMB cards are either flash pass (show the driver) or scan in the card scanner which is behind the driver. Keeps the flow of passengers moving which again speeds up journeys.

One thing I never understood over here is the obsession with standard single deckers everywhere and the huge number of mini/midi buses such as Optare Solos - obviously they are suited to some routes but in cities I dont think they are ideal. Yes we have double deckers (which while great in city regions arn't suited to everywhere due to low trees and bridges) - there arn't many places outside the UK that operate them. I know of a few operators in the USA, obviously Hong Kong, Berlin run a fair few but other than that the most common choice world wide seems to be the bendy bus. Why are bendy buses seen as such a bad invention over here in the UK when they are hugely successful in literally every other city in Europe, all over the USA and all over the world?

Bendy buses are not seen as a bad invention over here, just as an opportunity for bad politicians to make capital from them. And recent reports suggest that that the boris buses in London also managed to have almost no paying passengers on them however they've recently taken steps to deal with the issue by closing more of the doors.

Bletchleyite · 16 Feb 2020

carlberry said:
Bendy buses are not seen as a bad invention over here, just as an opportunity for bad politicians to make capital from them. And recent reports suggest that that the boris buses in London also managed to have almost no paying passengers on them however they've recently taken steps to deal with the issue by closing more of the doors.

This isn't quite right. What has been done is to move them from open boarding to the standard London policy of "on at the front, off at the centre or rear", which is the usual policy in most other European countries too. Hamburg used to have open boarding but I believe dropped it a while ago.

Some of the Press are reporting that they have stopped using the rear doors but these reports are incorrect.

higthomas · 17 Feb 2020

DD12 said:
SURELY all new housing and urban developments should START (by law) with adequate road measures for BUSES in and out of urban centres and through congestion hotspots ?!?!?

It'd be good if we could start by requiring new housing developments to follow the sorts of designs outlined by this guide: https://www.stagecoach.com/~/media/...services-and-new-residential-developments.pdf

BEST PRACTICE (BUSES -- World-wide) !!

DD12

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radamfi

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MAV39

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Bovverboy

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L401CJF

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cnjb8

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carlberry

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Bletchleyite

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higthomas

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