BUS PRIORITY IN LONDON - TECHNIQUES FOR THE 1980'S

In the late 1970's about 150 bus lanes and other bus priority schemes were in operation in London. It was felt by many that this was close to the maximum acceptable and necessary to assist buses. Since May 1981, however, a new programme of bus priority schemes has been developed, which is expected at least to double the number of schemes in operation and to deal with many locations where previous attempts at bus priority had been unsuccessful. There are a number of factors which have assisted in developing this new programme:- (I) by far the most important technique in the new programme is that of queue management, using the facilities of urban traffic control (utc) or other control arrangements, to relocate queues on to sections of road where bus priority is possible (or where there are no buses). This being used in sectors approaching natural barriers such as a river and along routes. (II) use is being made of a wider range of traffic management devices. (III) there is increased congestion following the collapse of the cheap fares policy. (IV) bus lanes are being introduced where the flow of buses is less than 35 buses/hour (the standard set in 1977), but where bus delays are considerable. (V) the pilot scheme for bus priority by selective detection in Hounslow is being extended. These factors are discussed in further detail and some specific schemes are described. (Author/TRRL)