Bus Lanes - ARGHHH!
Discussion
Chaps - does any one know if you get points if caught driving in a Bus Lane? I thought it was just a fine?
These things make me fume.....sitting in the queue next to a Bus lane (unhampered by buses I might add) in a ridiculous, unecessary queue. The evidence for abolishing them is clearly seen in Edinburgh; the A71 into town from the A720 exit. The first bit of dual carriageway is for all vehicles and is (in the absence of an accident etc) free flowing all week. Then, at the next roundabout the inside lane becomes a bus lane.....and there's a queue there everyday. Without the bus lane, everything would flow, or at least we would all spend less time waiting to get across the roundabout.
It's fecking ridiculous. We, the motorists pay all the costs of the roads. The buses are only ever approaching half full during the first and last few hours of the working day. Why the hell should they get priority over car owners, particularly when there's so few of them even at peak times?
Rant over!
Cheers,
J.
These things make me fume.....sitting in the queue next to a Bus lane (unhampered by buses I might add) in a ridiculous, unecessary queue. The evidence for abolishing them is clearly seen in Edinburgh; the A71 into town from the A720 exit. The first bit of dual carriageway is for all vehicles and is (in the absence of an accident etc) free flowing all week. Then, at the next roundabout the inside lane becomes a bus lane.....and there's a queue there everyday. Without the bus lane, everything would flow, or at least we would all spend less time waiting to get across the roundabout.
It's fecking ridiculous. We, the motorists pay all the costs of the roads. The buses are only ever approaching half full during the first and last few hours of the working day. Why the hell should they get priority over car owners, particularly when there's so few of them even at peak times?
Rant over!
Cheers,
J.
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great 
).
).many a time did I use that minute bus lane opp kwik fit (when it was quiet obviously) to avoid having to take a left up to the hellfrauds roundabout then back again in the town centre...
I'm prob still a wanted man...
One of our engineers was on his way to Croydon, got lost, stopped in a bus lane to ask directions. Realised he should be going the other way. Spun round in the road and drove into the bus lane on the other side. 2 fines in the space of 2 minutes. He was spotted on a traffic cam that zoomed to get the number plate. B*st*rds
princeperch said:
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great ).
).many a time did I use that minute bus lane opp kwik fit (when it was quiet obviously) to avoid having to take a left up to the hellfrauds roundabout then back again in the town centre...
Heh. Did that very thing right opposite two police cars once. Got stopped at the lights. We all sat there for what seemed like an eternity until the lights went green, then went our separate ways. They obviously think that particular lane is just as stupid as anyone else does.
princeperch said:
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great ).
).many a time did I use that minute bus lane opp kwik fit (when it was quiet obviously) to avoid having to take a left up to the hellfrauds roundabout then back again in the town centre...
I'm prob still a wanted man...
puggit said:
princeperch said:
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great ).
).many a time did I use that minute bus lane opp kwik fit (when it was quiet obviously) to avoid having to take a left up to the hellfrauds roundabout then back again in the town centre...
I'm prob still a wanted man...
then I should be safe
jezzaaa said:
It's fecking ridiculous. We, the motorists pay all the costs of the roads. The buses are only ever approaching half full during the first and last few hours of the working day. Why the hell should they get priority over car owners, particularly when there's so few of them even at peak times?
I suggest the reason why the buses are half full is that people (like you) don't use them.
Your anger over being denied access to all lanes is, sadly, all too common. I think they are, by-and-large, a very good method of ensuring passage for a vehicle that can carry 20 times as many passengers as your car.
Oh, by-the-way, you say the buses are only ever half full. How full is your car when you use it normally? Assuming you are in it yourself, and it can carry 5 persons in total, then that gives a 20% occupancy level: less than half of the bus you claim doesn't deserve the designated lane.
Here's a tip chum: ditch the car (if you can) and use the bus.
The joys of buses:
1. The 'pleasant' company of your fellow passengers.
2. Getting thrown around by the poorly trained or maybe just talentless driver.
3. Paying £2 for a 10 minute/3 miles journey into town.
4. Waiting, waiting and waiting for the bus that might arive if you are lucky and it hasn't been cancelled.
Or I could go in the car and it will take me just the same amount of time with no waiting around and a door to door journey.
Rob
(who unfortunately will be taking the bus to work this morning)
1. The 'pleasant' company of your fellow passengers.
2. Getting thrown around by the poorly trained or maybe just talentless driver.
3. Paying £2 for a 10 minute/3 miles journey into town.
4. Waiting, waiting and waiting for the bus that might arive if you are lucky and it hasn't been cancelled.
Or I could go in the car and it will take me just the same amount of time with no waiting around and a door to door journey.
Rob
(who unfortunately will be taking the bus to work this morning)
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great ).
).So outside of London they must be enforced by the police who don't gain any revenue from it?
I can imagine LAs prosecuting for parking in bus lanes but do they prosecute for driving in a bus lane?
I see that it's not only buses that use bus lanes. Cyclists, motorbikes and hackney cabs can all use them. I'd like see them available to high occupancy cars too.
DeMolay said:
I suggest the reason why the buses are half full is that people (like you) don't use them.
Your anger over being denied access to all lanes is, sadly, all too common. I think they are, by-and-large, a very good method of ensuring passage for a vehicle that can carry 20 times as many passengers as your car.
Oh, by-the-way, you say the buses are only ever half full. How full is your car when you use it normally? Assuming you are in it yourself, and it can carry 5 persons in total, then that gives a 20% occupancy level: less than half of the bus you claim doesn't deserve the designated lane.
Here's a tip chum: ditch the car (if you can) and use the bus.
In that case my car is always at least 50% full yet I am denied access to high occupancy lanes that those driving larger cars with two
people in (and thus only a 40% occupancy or less) can use.
DeMolay said:
jezzaaa said:
It's fecking ridiculous. We, the motorists pay all the costs of the roads. The buses are only ever approaching half full during the first and last few hours of the working day. Why the hell should they get priority over car owners, particularly when there's so few of them even at peak times?
I suggest the reason why the buses are half full is that people (like you) don't use them.
Your anger over being denied access to all lanes is, sadly, all too common. I think they are, by-and-large, a very good method of ensuring passage for a vehicle that can carry 20 times as many passengers as your car.
Oh, by-the-way, you say the buses are only ever half full. How full is your car when you use it normally? Assuming you are in it yourself, and it can carry 5 persons in total, then that gives a 20% occupancy level: less than half of the bus you claim doesn't deserve the designated lane.
Here's a tip chum: ditch the car (if you can) and use the bus.
Yes, sorry Demolay but my car only has two seats. Even if it had 5, there aren't any people living near enough to me who work in a place near to where I work to make giving them a lift viable. If we start these car sharing schemes, I can see alot more car journey's resulting as each car has to go back and forth along lots of roads picking up the four passengers and then equally do more journey's at the other end dropping them all off. Not to mention the additional time the journey will take. All you'll save on will be the number of cars completing a journey between towns, which isn't really where the problem of congestion is most apparent. I suspect this is the case with most people because we don't all move house to be near our colleagues, do we. Regardless of what civil servants say, it's too much hassle and no one will do it except those lucky people who (for example) have a partner living with them that also work at the same office. In which case the chances are they'll already be sharing their transport.
I have used buses in the past, and the experience taught me that buses will NEVER be the answer. The journey takes twice as long, even with the advantage of bus lanes, because they have to go on elongated routes to pick all the people up and obviously that means stopping alot. It's HUGELY inconvenient. And that's if I haven't got anything that I need to carry to/from work, airport, supermarket etc. And I suspect that a huge section of the population share my views and reasonings. Which is probably why 'people like me' don't use them, yes.
"Your anger over being denied access to all lanes is, sadly, all too common".
Quite - we are supposed to be a democracy so our views should count. More than that, a load of people (25 million motorists??) take on the huge cost of buying and running a car to avoid using buses and trains because they don't serve people's needs.....on that basis alone, bus lanes should be banned and priority given to car, motorcycle and cyclist users. The only argument buses have in their favour (which trains certainly don't have) is the costs. When I used the Edinburgh ones recently, it was very cheap, especially if you bought a daily ticket and were doing alot of journeys. However, after a few journeys I got so annoyed at the constant stopping and starting and the journey times that I did my few remaining journeys using taxis instead.
Just about the only public transportation system that makes some sense (in my experience) is the Tube in London. But it still has all the downfalls (except cost) of the others.....what's the point of buying something large and electronic (!) in Tottenham Court road and then only having public transport to rely on to get it home??
J.
Edited by jezzaaa on Tuesday 26th September 12:47
herewego said:
puggit said:
Bus lanes are just another tool in the box for LA's to raise extra revenue. In England they are only currently enforcable in London and Reading (great ).
).So outside of London they must be enforced by the police who don't gain any revenue from it?
I can imagine LAs prosecuting for parking in bus lanes but do they prosecute for driving in a bus lane?
I see that it's not only buses that use bus lanes. Cyclists, motorbikes and hackney cabs can all use them. I'd like see them available to high occupancy cars too.
Why should Hackney carriages be allowed to use bus lanes? They're not public transport and don't assist in reducing congestion. Indeed, they're inefficient in that regard; if I go somewhere in my car, I drive straight from home (or wherever) to my destination. The car stays with me until I return. If I used a cab, it would need to travel back to a rank (or somewhere popular for fares) having dropped me off before driving out later to pick me up and return home again, before finally returning to it's rank again. What sense does that make??!
As for high occupancy lanes......haven't you been in a car at rush hour?? There are VERY few cars with more than one passenger. All you'll do by making a lane available to them is to squeeze 90% of the other cars onto the other lane. So that'll help won't it?! And don't say it will encourage people to share cars because it won't....hopefully the only thing it will encourage is widespread civil unrest and cars using all the lanes regardless in defiance. As I stated in the post below, the vast majority of people don't live near their colleagues and it's just not convenient.
J.
Edited by jezzaaa on Tuesday 26th September 12:26
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