Taking a bus in London? It might be quicker to walk
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/taking-a-bus-in-london-it-might-be-quicker-to-walk-fjs2sc2txThe mayor has been urged to review cycle lane and low-traffic policies after a watchdog revealed that average bus speeds had fallen as low as 6.6mphBus speeds were as low as an average of 6.6mph in central London. A typical jogging speed is about 6 mphTaking the bus from Abbey Road Studios to Tate Britain, for example, a distance of only four miles, was scheduled to take up to one hour and 15 minutes. In the City of London, the financial capital of Britain, average speeds were even slower at just 6.6 mph.The average person walks at about 3mph and jogs at about 6mph, meaning it would be quicker to walk or run than take the bus for many journeys in London, particularly during the busiest periods.A London bus driver, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the replacement of bus lanes with cycle lanes, the introduction of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), floating bus stops where cycle lanes pass on the inside, 20mph speed limits and pavement widening had combined to increase congestion and slow journeys to a crawl.“Drivers have had enough,” he said. “Today I was meant to have a one-hour lunch but because of congestion it got taken down to 40 minutes, and it was the same yesterday and the day before. Our breaks are also getting shorter thanks to delays. Yet there are fewer cars on the roads. It’s madness. No wonder we’re seeing more bus collisions. Drivers are crashing due to fatigue. The problem is if you speak out you get sacked. It’s depressing.”Analysis of the watchdog’s data by The Times found that nine of the ten London boroughs with the biggest falls in bus speeds had introduced LTNs since 2020 while only three of the ten with the smallest reductions had done so.Critics have said that LTNs in residential areas simply relocate traffic to main roads, adding to congestion and delaying buses.One of the biggest drops in bus speeds was in Hackney, which now has 70 per cent of its roads covered by LTNs.The bus driver said: “The real problem with LTNs is when there are road works or an accident. Then they can have a massive effect on an area because there is no other way out. If other roads were open then cars could get out and that could help buses move a bit more freely but it doesn’t happen.”London TravelWatch said the replacement of bus lanes with cycling lanes and poorly planned roadworks were also delaying journeys.Sonya Dallat, of the watchdog, said: “While we support measures to encourage active travel in London and help reduce air pollution and car use, we want all transport users to be considered. As buses are the only fully accessible mode of public transport, we are urging Transport for London to maintain and not remove bus lanes when implementing new road schemes, as well as to better enforce existing bus lane restrictions, and increase bus lane operating hours.”About five million bus journeys were taken in Greater London each day in the year 2022-23The Times conducted a four-month battle with Transport for London (TfL) to get it to reveal how many bus lanes it had replaced with cycle lanes but it declined to answer, at first arguing the information would be too expensive to obtain and then changing its position to say it did not hold the data.The bus driver said that replacing bus lanes with cycle lanes was a big issue, especially at certain pinch points. “Outside St Paul’s, for example, you used to get to [the road] New Change quite easily and quickly using the bus lane but now you can lose up to 30 minutes trying to turn left towards the Strand — all because the bus lane has gone. It was not even a long bus lane but it was enough to help us.“Since then we’ve also had all these floating bus stops and they can also delay us because if there’s more than one bus coming in, you have to wait while the other unloads whereas before you could all pull in and serve people at the same time.”Cycling campaigners have said investment in cycle infrastructure works because it encourages more people to get on bikes, which is good for their health and reduces pollution. Data from TfL shows that cycling journeys have increased by 20 per cent since 2019.However, critics have argued that the hundreds of millions of pounds spent encouraging cycling has disproportionately benefited those who are already better off.The data from TfL showed that the majority of cyclists were higher-earning, middle-aged men while bus users tended to have lower incomes and higher proportions of women and ethnic minorities. Buses were also the most popular form of public transport in London in the financial year to 2023 with about five million journeys every day. Cycling accounted for only 4.5 per cent of journeys.Vincent Stops, who worked as a policy officer at London TravelWatch for 20 years and as a councillor in Hackney for 16 years, believed that TfL and councils were putting cyclists ahead of bus users. “It’s quite bizarre,” he said. “TfL has a programme of installing bus priority on the one hand, but at the same time taking out key stretches of bus lane for cycle lanes.”The campaign group Social and Environmental Justice called on Khan, the mayor of London, to take action on the decline in the speed of bus journeys.“Buses are the capital’s most widespread and affordable form of public transport,” the group said in a statement. “We call on Sadiq Khan to investigate urgently why bus speeds have slowed at a time when traffic across most of London is still lower than in 2019. Where traffic management schemes such as LTNs are found to be impeding bus journeys, they should be removed as soon as possible. London and Londoners must keep moving.”The bus driver believed that 20mph speed limits and pavement widening were also causing delays. “The narrowing of roads such as Oxford Street is a nightmare because as soon as there is any accident or collision everything comes to a standstill,” he said. “There is no space to keep the road moving. It’s amateurish.“Twenty mile per hour limits are another problem. In the mornings if I start at 4am, the roads are dead but my bus has a system fitted which means I cannot exceed the limit. I get overtaken by cyclists.”Lorna Murphy, the TfL director of buses, said that LTNs allowed more people to walk and cycle. “London’s bus network plays a vital role in enabling people to travel sustainably and affordably and we’re working hard to make it even better,” she said. “This includes investment in new bus lanes and other measures to give buses priority on the roads.“We are also developing more zero-emission buses with innovative features to improve customer experience. We welcome this report from London TravelWatch and are carefully examining its findings.”
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