On 03/03/2016 10:24, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2016-03-02 23:27:16 +0000, Paul Corfield said:

Unfortunately I think we are going to see the partial destruction of
Central London's bus network off the back of pedestrianising Oxford
St. All the candidates support it and believe Crossrail will be some
sort of cure all. They are wrong. It has also been reported that TfL
have apparently decided that Central London is no longer a priority
for investment so what money there is will go to the suburbs and
capacity will be lost in Zone 1. Oddly I can't recall where the
public were asked if they supported this fundamental change in policy.

I'm afraid I agree with the proposal - Oxford St is at times a horrible
place to be, and it would be much nicer if it was pedestrianised. I'd
cope with a tram running up and down every 5-10 minutes, but other than
that it is the epitome of the oppressive feel of much of London caused
by the predominance of large, often aggressively-driven vehicles. Though
I'd admit that builders' lorries are far worse.

Along similar lines, I don't get the Edinburgh hate for the tram network
idea (other than its appalling project mismanagement). Princes St is
oppressive with the number of buses running up and down it at all times
of day. I like Lothian as an operator, but it really isn't becoming of
a European capital city in 2016.

The implementation of Edinburgh Trams was a nightmare in the city centre
(even worse for Leith Walk as they had all the disruption of utilty
works but ended up with no tram service)

The whole thing was mired in partisan party-politics from the start -
it's political poison in Edinburgh now

We also seem to have bought the slowest trams on the planet. Compared
with trams I've experienced in Vienna, Prague, Darmstadt, Croydon and
Nottingham they tippy-toe through the city centre. This, combined with
their length (significanltly longer than say Croydon) means they can
cause a noticeable blocking and delay at junctions (although the popular
perception and reporting of this is wildly exaggerated)

Edinburgh's city centre road layout doesn't lend itself well to NOT
running almost everything along Princes Street or George Street.
The key routes into the city centre all converge at opposite ends of the
New Town. There are not many East-West and North-South through routes.
You could run more buses on George Street but I think you'd end up with
2 streets full of buses with poor interchange



I also, as you're aware, agree with the idea that the primary purpose of
buses should be to run outside central London taking people to/from
railway stations. I do accept that some parallel running is needed, but
that should be limited to where capacity on the rail network is inadequate.

I also don't like the "first and second class" nature of bus vs Tube. It
should be one fare set for a journey on TfL, regardless of what mode or
combinations thereof are used. If that causes certain groups economic
difficulties, then a concessionary scheme for travel on the whole
network, not just buses, needs to be looked at.

Neil