Effective methods of reducing bus bunching on high-frequency routes

[Bletchleyite]

They could modify the stops but they have no power to compel the operators to buy dual-door buses, so unless they got that agreed in advance it would be a waste of public money.

Both are purchasing buses for franchised networks/quality partnerships. They could purchase dual door ones but they haven't.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It seems evident to me that British provincial bus companies have no interest whatsoever in fixing it.

Bus stations generally can't accommodate dual-door buses, and changing them to do so would be staggeringly expensive.

The reason why London buses are faster to board is really due to the ticketing. My experience of dual doors on busy routes in London is that it doesn't make a great deal of difference, it just moves the bottleneck 8 feet further back to the bottom of the stairs.

 

[GusB]

The dual door argument is also one that has been discussed at great length in the forum already!

 

[Deerfold]

Bus stations generally can't accommodate dual-door buses, and changing them to do so would be staggeringly expensive.

The reason why London buses are faster to board is really due to the ticketing. My experience of dual doors on busy routes in London is that it doesn't make a great deal of difference, it just moves the bottleneck 8 feet further back to the bottom of the stairs.

Indeed - Bendibuses with multi-door boarding did make quite a difference (though of course you need more ticket checks if that's how you're going to do things).

The things we need are off-bus ticketing which varies widely by area (some outside of London do do quite well) and bus priority - there's really not a lot of good bus priority in the UK.

There also seems to be very little in the way of persuading people onto public transport. The more on public transport, the fewer jams.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The things we need are off-bus ticketing which varies widely by area (some outside of London do do quite well) and bus priority - there's really not a lot of good bus priority in the UK.

Absolutely. A bus with 30-40 people on it sitting in the same traffic jam as a load of singly-occupied cars is madness. But the political desire to put in genuinely good bus priority is sadly lacking. And looking at the abuse Oxford Council have had recently, I can see why.

Glide in Belfast is a good example of how to do it properly. I can't think of many others. The guided bus lanes in Leeds and Bradford were, are and will always be pointless. Let's make people cross a dual carriageway to catch a bus, that'll work(!)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Absolutely. A bus with 30-40 people on it sitting in the same traffic jam as a load of singly-occupied cars is madness. But the political desire to put in genuinely good bus priority is sadly lacking. And looking at the buse Oxford Council have had recently, I can see why.

Glide in Belfast is a good example of how to do it properly. I can't think of many others.

There are very few in the UK indeed. A trip to Germany or the Netherlands will result in you seeing one soon enough, though. A key part is traffic light overtakes at junctions.

 

[WAB]

Bus stations generally can't accommodate dual-door buses, and changing them to do so would be staggeringly expensive.

Not a massive problem tbh. Just use the front doors only at bus stations.

 

[markymark2000]

Not a massive problem tbh. Just use the front doors only at bus stations.

Then you will lose a lot of seats because of the layout. On dual door buses, wheelchairs need the middle doors because of the ramp. They can't use the front doors because they can't go down the aisle between seats. A dual door and single door are different layouts and to make it compatible for wheelchairs to use both front and rear doors would mean losing most seats on the level area, it would only be seats from the raised platform, backwards.

 

[RJ]

Then you will lose a lot of seats because of the layout. On dual door buses, wheelchairs need the middle doors because of the ramp. They can't use the front doors because they can't go down the aisle between seats. A dual door and single door are different layouts and to make it compatible for wheelchairs to use both front and rear doors would mean losing most seats on the level area, it would only be seats from the raised platform, backwards.

When there's rail replacement at the station I work at, sometimes dual door buses turn up with the centre doors isolated and ramp not working. I've watched wheelchairs go on through the front doors through to the wheelchair bay so it's dependent on vehicle design.