Plans to increase congestion?

[simong]

The ftr buses were introduced by First as an 'alternative' to the tram system that was rejected by Alistair Darling a few years ago, missing the point of a tram system entirely as they are still diesel fueled and still taking up road space. They haven't extended to any other routes (including the 1, which already has bendy buses) as I believe First are paying for them directly and Metro hasn't seen any advantage in them. They were introduced in York at the same time but were withdrawn as they couldn't make some of the corners in the city centre.Their true intention is put the ftr buses on guided busways to make them tramlike, which also gives First an effective monopoly on those routes as their buses are the only ones that have the guidance systems. They've done this in a few places - obviously in Leeds and Bradford, but also in the outskirts of Edinburgh, and there was a plan announced in the Manchester Evening News this week for Oxford Road to have a guided busway and to be closed to all other traffic at the city end, with a nice picture of the ftr buses to illustrate it.

[fevlad]

Si wrote: How to ease traffic congestion.1. Open all bus lanes to all traffic.2. Put a conductor on every bus.Bingo! 3 ban private cars from the city centre

[patter]

fevlad wrote: 3 ban private cars from the city centre The loop seems to keep them out, apart from the few that pass the 'taxis & buses only' sign from north street down onto vicar lane *sigh*ftr should really use something thats normal bus size, even if they need another floor.

[tyke bhoy]

patter wrote: The loop seems to keep them out, apart from the few that pass the 'taxis & buses only' sign from north street down onto vicar lane *sigh* and park row, and the headrow from albion street/woodhouse lane down in both directions and..................

[LS1]

tyke bhoy wrote: patter wrote: The loop seems to keep them out, apart from the few that pass the 'taxis & buses only' sign from north street down onto vicar lane *sigh* and park row, and the headrow from albion street/woodhouse lane down in both directions and.................. This really annoys me, as I sometimes hav to drive down Albion Street to get to Upper Basinghall St. People insist on driving left or right down the Headrow which clogs the traffic up no end. I really do take great pleassure in watching the coppers ticketing all those who do this. Sometimes just stand there having a fag before work just watching. But for every 4 they get about 8 get away with it so defeats the point of it being a deterant and makes it again into one of those money making schemes!I just don't see why I should do the right thing and others take the mick and get away with it!

[chameleon]

LS1 wrote: tyke bhoy wrote: patter wrote: The loop seems to keep them out, apart from the few that pass the 'taxis & buses only' sign from north street down onto vicar lane *sigh* and park row, and the headrow from albion street/woodhouse lane down in both directions and.................. This really annoys me, as I sometimes hav to drive down Albion Street to get to Upper Basinghall St. People insist on driving left or right down the Headrow which clogs the traffic up no end. I really do take great pleassure in watching the coppers ticketing all those who do this. Sometimes just stand there having a fag before work just watching. But for every 4 they get about 8 get away with it so defeats the point of it being a deterant and makes it again into one of those money making schemes!I just don't see why I should do the right thing and others take the mick and get away with it! Just seems to be the way much of society lives these days, unless they are almost physically forced not to do something, they will do as they wish. Blatent indifference and ignorance; I'm sure most of us remember when it was more the norm for the majority to stick to the rules. We called it respect didn't we? Is it still in the dictionary?As you observe, all too often it is the very people who give rise to the need for rules who feel those rules do not apply to them.

[fevlad]

I use public transport bus and train for 99% of my travel anywhere not just Leedsconductors wouldn't help speeed up traffic because for most of the time from the city centre to the inner suburbs eg headingley the traffic is so congested by single occupant cars that it would make no difference

[raveydavey]

First put the skids under NotSoSupertram by telling the government that the ftr's could do the job for a fraction of the price (nothing to do with the threat to their bus revenue at all!). Leeds City Council funded all the bus lanes, etc needed for the route which is typical...The "Customer Service Hosts" are a Leeds only feature as they are funded by Metro at a cost of £250,000 a year. The ftr's in York (which I understand are still running) have a self service ticket machine just inside the door and thus are no quicker than an ordinary bus - apparently the machines seldom give change and are notoriously unreliable. The "Pilot" is in his own private cabin away from the riff-raff.Anyone who has travelled on an ftr will tell you that the seats are poorly laid out and that half of the 100 passenger capacity are actually expected to stand...Congestion is deliberately engineered into the roads of Leeds - ask anyone who tries to drive up York Road now the pointless bus priority lanes have ben installed with "on demand" traffic lights, or on Kirkstall Road where the road was deliberately narrowed to make room for a cycle lane than hardly anyone uses.

[spongebob]

I'd certainly agree that congestion is engineered into the roads of Leeds. Every "improvement" they make seems to be exactly the opposite. Things like having bus stops directly opposite each other not to mention this latest whim of not only making the kerbs higher at them but also sticking them out into the middle of the road if there's room for two cars to pass stinks to high heaven.The bus lane they've put in on Tong road towards Whingate junction is another pointless one as to a large extent is the one to the gyratory other than at peak time.Every set of traffic lights they renew or install have timings set against the main carriageways (bottom of Dewsbury road by the old police station or Whitehall Road at Gildersome) The part time ones (as were) by the football ground on Elland road seem to have been altered to such an extent that the queue from the gyratory direction often extends onto or beyond the gyratory which itself has been rendered even worse to get onto and off of by the addition of the set of lights controlling Canal road.It all seems to be geared to congestion charging as a means of trying to reduce traffic into the city.Let's face it they've failed to lure those who work within the city centre limits to live there as well, or is it they've failed to lure them without their cars?