Bus lanes

[ditchy]

Seeing the new Bus lane in Edward st and the positioning of a bus stop ( not in the Amex layby as would be sensible) , but 20 feet to the end of it so anything stopping will block the newly narrowed carriageway in Edward St going East . I cant help thinking is this done by the Greens to completely antagonize drivers in the city ? . secondly , i am trying to think of what buses actually use Edward st going East . Plenty do coming down but not going up ?

Sorry Mini rant !

 

[Trigger]

You can't say a bad word about the Green's on here...

Apparently they are not responsible for anything that goes wrong...

Ever.

 

[ditchy]

You can't say a bad word about the Green's on here...

Apparently they are not responsible for anything that goes wrong...

Ever.

I just want to know what bus is running up Edward St to stop at this amazingly positioned bus stop

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The technical design standards for bus stops, bus lanes and bus laybys are certainly not the responsibility of any politician or political party. Those decisions are taken by professional civil engineers.

 

[Eeyore]

You can't say a bad word about the Green's on here...

Apparently they are not responsible for anything that goes wrong...

Ever.

Which in this case they are not, as the successful bid for government funding for this project was put together by the previous council. ..

 

[ditchy]

The technical design standards for bus stops, bus lanes and bus laybys are certainly not the responsibility of any politician or political party. Those decisions are taken by professional civil engineers.

who approves it Lord B ?

 

[Eeyore]

Seeing the new Bus lane in Edward st and the positioning of a bus stop ( not in the Amex layby as would be sensible) , but 20 feet to the end of it so anything stopping will block the newly narrowed carriageway in Edward St going East . I cant help thinking is this done by the Greens to completely antagonize drivers in the city ? . secondly , i am trying to think of what buses actually use Edward st going East . Plenty do coming down but not going up ?

Sorry Mini rant !

There has been much talk of releasing the burden on Jimmy Street by running some buses up Edward Street. I'm guessing this might bring that prospect nearer.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Which in this case they are not, as the successful bid for government funding for this project was put together by the previous council. ..

I think you've confused that with the Lewes Road work. I'm pretty sure the grant for this work was applied for under the current council.

EDIT - yep, this council :

"In June 2011 the council, in partnership with Brighton & Hove Bus Company, successfully bid for £3.4million additional transport funding from the Department for Transport to introduce bus service improvements to Edward Street, Eastern Road and Valley Gardens. The funding is provided through the government’s Better Bus Areas Fund (BBA) and has already been used to implement a wide range of bus service improvements including additional services on the 23, 38 and 48 routes"

 

[Lord Bracknell]

who approves it Lord B ?

In my day, final approval of a design feature was always delegated to council officers - although this sometimes only occurred after an opportunity for members of the public to submit a reasoned objection.

Councillors took the strategic decisions, for example should bus lanes be built in Edward Street in the first place? Which, incidentally, is a question that I remember Steve Bassam asking me, when he was Leader of Brighton Borough Council back in the 1990s. "Not until you've completed other schemes" was my answer.

 

[ditchy]

And who are the council officers accountable to ?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

And who are the council officers accountable to ?

The Council, as a whole.

 

[ditchy]

Hence my point Lord B the council must have looked at this and thought thats fine . If its aim is to make Brighton Cleaner all it will do is block a major routeway out of the centre of Brighton and hold traffic up mush as buses do in St James st . If its aim is to reduce Traffic in Edward St as it has in St James St , then where is the traffic to go travelling East ? Or are we not supposed to drive at all ?

 

[Eeyore]

I think you've confused that with the Lewes Road work. I'm pretty sure the grant for this work was applied for under the current council.

EDIT - yep, this council :

"In June 2011 the council, in partnership with Brighton & Hove Bus Company, successfully bid for £3.4million additional transport funding from the Department for Transport to introduce bus service improvements to Edward Street, Eastern Road and Valley Gardens. The funding is provided through the government’s Better Bus Areas Fund (BBA) and has already been used to implement a wide range of bus service improvements including additional services on the 23, 38 and 48 routes"

Yes, but the proposals were put together before then. A cross party initiative. The Greens do have a heavy hand in Brighton transport planning, but there is so much miss-information circulated about things they are 'responsible' for. It's a frustration to see that sometimes people can be uninclined to take a real interest in how the town is run, and where the decision making process originates.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Hence my point Lord B the council must have looked at this and thought thats fine . If its aim is to make Brighton Cleaner all it will do is block a major routeway out of the centre of Brighton and hold traffic up mush as buses do in St James st . If its aim is to reduce Traffic in Edward St as it has in St James St , then where is the traffic to go travelling East ? Or are we not supposed to drive at all ?

Again, this is going back a few years, but, when I was actively working on Brighton traffic strategies, the thinking was to concentrate all town centre west-east traffic movements on the A259 and reduce the use of both St James's Street and Edward Street / Eastern Road.

This strategy had its opponents then, and a case can easily be made against it, but, nevertheless it's a strategy.

 

[studio150]

This is no different to many other changes around the city where the implementation of cycle tracks, set out bus stops rather than lay-bys, etc all have the effect of stopping traffic when a bus stops, or traffic looks to make a right turn.

Now to off to listen to track 8 on the Gift by the Jam.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Or are we not supposed to drive at all ?

I think you answered your own question there.

 

[brighton bluenose]

I think you've confused that with the Lewes Road work. I'm pretty sure the grant for this work was applied for under the current council.

EDIT - yep, this council :

"In June 2011 the council, in partnership with Brighton & Hove Bus Company, successfully bid for £3.4million additional transport funding from the Department for Transport to introduce bus service improvements to Edward Street, Eastern Road and Valley Gardens. The funding is provided through the government’s Better Bus Areas Fund (BBA) and has already been used to implement a wide range of bus service improvements including additional services on the 23, 38 and 48 routes"

As that was a month or so after the Greens came to power had this not already been mooted by the previous administration?

And, as a further thought, if the 'main' parties are so set against this and, indeed, any other of the Greens schemes why have we heard barely a whimper out of them?!

Is the fact not that, by and large, the other parties are in broad agreement with many of the schemes the Greens have brought to fruition but are happy for them to take the stick in the resultant, hopefully temporary, chaos?

 

[Easy 10]

Can anyone explain to me why bus stops are no longer built into laybyes ?

I'm sure there are examples along Old Shoreham Road and Trafalgar Road whereby the bus could previously pull in. Now the laybyes have been removed and the kerbs built out, so it just jams up one lane completely, forcing traffic into a game of dodge-the-bus as everyone tries to dive out of the inside lane.

I suppose this is something that will be labelled as a "traffic calming exercise" by some chinless wonder with a clipboard, when in fact it does the complete opposite of calming, and just ends up royally pissing everyone off.

 

[ditchy]

I think you answered your own question there.

I somewhat think so !

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Can anyone explain to me why bus stops are no longer built into laybys?

Because bus stops in laybys are car priority measures. These days, the fashion is for bus priority measures.