ASSESSING BUS LANE BENEFITS

The increasing cost of fuel and congestion in town centres have caused greater attention to be paid to the role of public transport in urban areas. This has led to the development of bus-lanes which are simple to design and quick to implement. The article considers the use of traffic management in the design of bus lanes and the benefits that may be gained from their use. Bus stops must be located with care on both with-flow and contra-flow systems to avoid the use of bus-lanes by other road users. Barriers should be used where fast moving buses near to the kerb are an increased danger to pedestrians; existing crossings should be replaced by pelican crossings. Benefits from bus priority measures are difficult to assess, but it was estimated that 77 per cent of the savings in London were in passenger-time, 14 per cent in over-time and 8 per cen in operating costs. Bus-lanes are not the complete solution to public transport problems in towns, and by themselves are not sufficient to supply an attractive alternative to private transport. /TRRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  IPC Building and Contract Journals Limited

  32 Southwark Bridge Road
  London SE1 9EX,   England 
• Publication Date: 1975-8-29

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 11-13
• Serial:
  • Surveyor - Public Authority Technology
  • Volume: 146
  • Issue Number: 4342
  • Publisher: IPC Building and Contract Journals Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bus lanes; Bus priority; Bus stops; Buses; Contraflow lanes; Crosswalks; Curbs; Equipment; Highway traffic control; Location; Operating costs; Pedestrians; Prevention; Private transportation; Public transit; Traffic barriers; Traffic control; Traffic lanes; Traffic signal preemption; Transportation planning; Travel time; Trip length; Urban areas; Urban transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Barriers
• ITRD Terms: 226: Cost benefit analysis; 3674: Equipment; 697: Journey time; 2917: Kerb; 9061: Location; 221: Operating costs; 1733: Pedestrian; 1659: Pedestrian crossing; 9149: Prevention; 648: Priority (traffic); 744: Public transport; 654: Traffic control; 2827: Traffic lane; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00132303
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 23 1981 12:00AM