“Fuzzhead, true, much of Bristol has narrow roads, but much of the centre of Bristol was bombed flat in the war and rebuilt with wide multi-lane roads for cars in the 1950s. This roadspace needs to be reclaimed for buses. Narrow streets are more tricky. Bus delays can be reduced by parking restrictions, and traffic signal detectors that can trigger green lights for approaching buses. These can be quit sophisticated and can be programmed to favour late running buses, and ignore those that are running on time.

http://tinyurl.com/85tcnf4

Definitely agree about speeding up payment systems, as I have previously mentioned. First are rolling out card readers nationwide so soon passengers will be able to pay using contactless debit and credit cards as the banks make them available. Simply wave the card by the reader next to the ticket machine when you board (no need to say whare you are going), and wave it agian past the reader next to the door when you get off. The correct fare will be then be calculated and charged.

http://tinyurl.com/3us6hlm

Another way to improve bus reliability is to install bus lanes across large traffic light controlled roundabouts to give buses a short cut, especially where they would otherwise travel three quarters of the way round. Here is an example in Crawley:

http://tinyurl.com/83l3ozj

Bristol will also shortly have two examples of new bus-only roads. The Romney Avenue Bus Link, and Cheswick Bus Links will enable buses to Lockleaze to continue from Romney Avenue into the new Cheswick development on the former Hewlett Packard site near UWE, and then continue past Abbey Wood to Parkway Station and UWE.

In narrow one way streets contra-flow bus lanes also help give buses a more direct routing than other traffic. This video shows these are widely employed in London:

http://tinyurl.com/7hpla88”

“Lots of good points that make sense, @Chipnum.
The problem with many of the bus ideas BCC are trying to introduce is that they would work well in a city that has wide roads or where dedicated bus/tram lanes have been built into the basic street plan before housing etc goes up. But Bristol is a town full of narrow roads set out on a Victorian plan that did not feature massive road traffic when it was mostly built, so what would work in a new town, with transport links included in the grand design, just can't be applied here now in retrospect.

The Croydon tram link in London worked well, I recall from when I lived in London, and was very successful. It ran for a short stretch on old pre-existing train lines and had no driver/conductor which cut ticket costs. I also spent a month in Mexico City where they had introduced an underground which cost the equivelent of 50p a day to travel the whole of the city, unlimited. If Mexico can do this why does the UK struggle so?

Buses can be speeded up though by introducing payment systems that eliminate passengers having to buy a ticket on boarding, fumbling for purses/change and handing notes to the driver. In my experience that is the factor that holds up the bus more than the traffic. When I took the 48/49 to work at 7am the bus had a clear road but I can guarantee at every stop we were held up by one boarder at least who had to waste 2 mins searching for purse/change. Multiply that over rush hour.

BCC need to step outside the current box, stop the 'sticking plaster' mentality in trying to enforce bus travel before they have sorted out stuff like that, and grow a pair in addressing practical issues.
We need an integrated system across Bristol City/Gloucestershire and Somerset. Until that happens there will be no forward movement.”

“Hi Smoosername, I accept your point about sticky-out bus stops. I agree with the need for them, but I don't accept that buses should spend so much time loading/unloading at them. This is down to British ecentricity. Only the UK runs urban bus services with single door buses and where passengers pay cash fares and get change from the driver. Although this wasn't always the case - Bristol bus from the 1960s/70s:
http://tinyurl.com/cpnuxjj

Here, when we got rid of conductors due to rising labour costs in the 1960s/70s we gave the conductors job to the bus drivers but kept then same fare system. In Europe when they got rid of conductors for the same reason, they introduced articulated buses with several doors, and gave the conductors job to the passengers. They were expected to buy their tickets from machines, and from local newsagents before they travel. The fare systems were changed so that you pay for the time taken, not the distance travelled. Tickets are sold at 1 hour, 2 hour, up to 1 day, week, month etc, and are activated by validating them when boarding a bus. Now smartcards are replacing paper tickets.

The combination of pre-paid boarding and multiple doors results in very short bus stop dwell times.

If you combine this with exclusive lanes you get a system that can carry huge amounts of people very quickly. Below is a video about Curitiba in Brazil, where BRT was invented. This is an integrated network of high capcity trunk routes fed by feeder services around local areas.
Plus, and this is important, the city land use planning is integrated with the public transport, in that high density housing and commercial activity is concentrated along the public transport routes so that it is all walkable from the stops.

http://tinyurl.com/cfecjpv

Very short bus stop dwell times due to prepayment and multiple doors:
http://tinyurl.com/d3byzvj

In contrast here we build low density housing, retail parks, and office parks AWAY from public transport routes, and then wonder why we have inadequate public transport and too many cars. So Margrathia's point about lack of strategic plan is spot on.”

“Hi Alpin, you are right in that your description is how things are today. My post describes how things could/should be. You are describing your experience of conventional bus service as it is in Bristol. I am describing the measures required to change that. You say 'buses in Hamburg arrive at the stated time'. Here's how they do it:

http://tinyurl.com/dyrwdll”

“I've found an intereting paper on innovative bus systems:

http://tinyurl.com/d7fkuay

And here is a potential solution for the 'Bristol Metro' rail plan. Parry People Movers have developed a low cost tramtrain. Convert the Severn Beach line, and reopen the closed local lines as light rapid transit using these vehicles. Open additional tram stops between the existing rail stations. On single track routes install passing loops every mile or so. It is possible to operate frequent service on single track routes. More of these vehicles can be purchased than conventional 'heavy rail' DMUs.

http://tinyurl.com/c2az6jt

Link the BRT with the LRT and you have a very comprehensive system at reasonable cost.”

“Professor Pat Pending appears to have invented a telescopic stilt mechanism, which if fitted to buses will allow them to temporarily raise the bodywork off the ground sufficient enough to pass over cars stuck in traffic.”

“Scarily I find myself agreeing with you Chipnum! :)

Unfortunately Bristol Council and Tim Kent have completely given up on the carrot and are increasing wielding a larger and larger stick.

BCC cannot expect to slow down cars users at every opportunity and then complain that buses are being stuck in exactly the congestion they are creating to try and 'tempt' people onto public transport.

Do you think any motorist (even one) has been stuck behind a bus, stopped at the new Sticky out Bus Stops and thought 'Wow, I really must give that bus service, that is stopping in the middle of the road for a minute or two and preventing me passing a go'? Or do you think it just alienates the exact people that we should be trying to encourage to give public transport a go?”

“@chipnum
PLEASE listen to the people.A couple of points:-
Italy;return bus journey . from A-b. eqivalent to Yate-Bristol.. 4 euros return £3.60p
Ireland;frequency of buses from the suburbs into dublin central every 20 minutes.
Germany:Hamburg. buses arrive as stated on the electronic board and scheduled timetable.
Italy, the bus from outlying areas, arrives to the train station 15 minutes before the most heavily used morning train departs for Venice.
So can you please supply me with examples of where Bristol Buses run frequently, there is integration with other forms of transport, regularly arrive on time and cost under £4 for a 16 mile round trip.??? ha ha ha Troll on dude in your ivory tower..”

“Chinum, this is all very well, and I agree largely to your points. However, we don't even have a strategic plan!
For fear of this becoming a serious debate (I fear the usual jeermongers etc. that appear on these posts will just trash any sensible debate), may I recommend:-

1 Formulate a proper joined up 'strategic plan' not restrained to costs, methods etc, which is the best 'ideal' solution for greater bristol, using existing and innovative infrastructure/technology. This would at least identify the size and scope of the issue (probable many billions).

2 Identify why it seems so much more expensive to do anything like this in the UK than eg other parts of Europe.

3 Run a six month trial of making ALL public transport serving Greater Bristol totally free 24:7 and see how much public transport can cope with any demand.”

“Bristol does need to 'squeeze' people out of their cars as street running public transport cannot function effectively while the streets are clogged with cars. Unfortunately it is a UK government (national and local) characteristic to focus on the car restraint (the stick) and forget about investing in public transport capacity (the carrot). While this mindset prevails there is little hope.

To create effective street running public transport we need to reduce the ability of cars to get in the way. When that is done public transport can offer a reliable, fast, and effective alternative to the car on the key radial corridors into the city, and also the key orbital corridors around it.

This means allocating much more road space to public transport. All new tram systems installed throughout Europe and also in the UK involve much more priority lanes than the current Greater Bristol Bus Network does. Tramways are hugely expensive to build (more so in the UK than Europe for some bizarre reason). However there is a lot that can be done to make buses function more effectively. This can mean more bus lanes, bus gates, bus-only streets, segregated busways, traffic light priority at key junctions, building bus lanes through the middle of roundabouts etc.

The following link shows examples of more effective bus services throughout Europe:

http://tinyurl.com/6mzaxnh

Below is an image from an enhanced bus service in Lorient, France, where the junctions on the main boulevard through town have been modified to mini roundabouts with buses going through the middle. As many bus routes uses this street, it was felt that this was preferable to installing bus activated traffic lights. The shear number of buses would have caused the traffic lights to be activated continually.

http://tinyurl.com/6v48y77

Another example of buses cutting through roundabouts – this one in Nantes, France:

http://tinyurl.com/79n7x8a

More Nantes photos:

http://tinyurl.com/7bdqdz8

When new housing is built on the fringes of the Bristol urban area busways should be designed in from the start. Example below is the Orchard Park area of Cambridge:

http://tinyurl.com/6trqfwp

Existing dual carriageways such as the A4174 through Filton, and the Gloucester Rd between Filton and Aztec West (ugly hideous roads) should be redesigned to look like this:

http://tinyurl.com/7c933n7

None of the above is rocket science; it can be done, and has been done in many places. This is the cheapest and quickest way to improve Bristol's urban public transport – ideal for today's harsh economic climate. It would also boost employment, not only in the construction, and UK built buses, but also by improving connectivity new labour markets can be tapped e.g. linking South Bristol with the employment opportunities in the North Fringe. I am not suggesting this is an alternative to reopening local rail lines. They are needed as well, but the bus network serves a greater percentage of the city than rail.”