Dave Arquati wrote:
A H wrote:

Is it just me or does anyone else think this expensive new 'bus station'
doesn't live up the hype made during the planning stages?

(snip)

I visited it for the first time on New Year's Eve. I have to say that I
like the design - I think it's very striking. The glowing roundel is an
interesting touch. However, I can understand the usability concerns of
some posters to this group, as the stops seem to be arranged in a very
odd fashion, considering how easy access is for buses to the station!

Having better things to do but avoiding them, I had a look at the logic
behind the location of stops at bus station at Vauxhall. I've come to
understand some decisions like the location of terminating 44 and 156
services at the far end from the Tube station (the way the other stops
are best arranged unfortunately subjects interchange passengers to this
long walk, although the closure of the Tube entrance at that end of the
bus station is inexplicable).

However, the current stop groupings fall down on services to a number of
locations where services to those locations could be better grouped by
making use of adjacent stops or the same stops. These a
- Brixton and Stockwell services. I presume TfL consider interchange
traffic at Vauxhall to these services to be low; however, I believe they
could all run from the same stop (I'd plump for F).
- the Elephant. The current arrangement with services departing for the
Elephant from diagonally opposite stops is very odd. There must be
reasonable traffic to this destination, so I'd group all Elephant
services onto stop G, with the 77A departing from adjacent stop J so
that anyone travelling along the Albert Embankment isn't too disadvantaged.
- Lavender Hill, Clapham Jcn, Earlsfield, Wandsworth. Currently services
depart from G and E which are theoreticall adjacent but annoyingly
distant from each other thanks to the access from Wandsworth Road. These
services could depart from stops C and E, bringing them closer to the
Tube station and to more adjacent stops.

Under my cunning plan, passengers to all destinations with multiple
services would be slightly better off with the exception of the northern
part of Wandsworth Road (down to Lansdowne Road), which would have
services departing from diagonally opposite stops E (77, 77A) and F
(322), rather than single stop G as at present. This would hopefully be
outweighed by the advantage of having Stockwell and Brixton services
depart from the same stop (2, 88, 322 at F).

Comments are welcome, unless you've already fallen asleep.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London