Fascinating oral hearing of the Transport Committee on road congestion from 30th January.
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenev...rt-committee/urban-congestion/oral/46530.html
(OK, I'm sad; but I do get fascinated by this issue)
Most interesting is the afternoon session; with Prof. David Begg amongst others; but the morning session is also good, looking at delivery firms and Uber.
Key point from David Begg is that congestion has got dramatically worse in recent years, even in London (which has a congestion charge, and where there was no bus deregulation). He proposes that the 'equilibrium level of traffic speed' has dropped. Essentially, where access to scarce road space is free at point of use, roads tend to fill up (and hence slow down) to the point at which additional users are deterred from joining by the slow progress of traffic. Hence equilibrium traffic speed has been thought to make congestion self-limiting. But this deterrent effect from congestion is differentially much greater for private car users (especially work-related); but much less for delivery drivers/private hire cars. On the contrary. when traffic speeds fall, delivery operators add more vehicles - which makes congestion worse. Hence as work-related car use becomes more and more a minority component of urban traffic - and other users (delivery, private hire, and domestic) increase - so traffic speeds drop, reducing bus service speeds.
As may be expected, Begg is challenged by Graham Stringer, who argues that congestion problems are all due to deregulation and bus lane creation. Stringer argues that bus lanes and guided busways favour the privatised bus operators at the expense of general road users; and that they facilitate those users concentrating their operations on a reduced network of highly profitable routes at the expense of the wider network; which forces travellers reluctantly to use cars rather than buses.
Also interesting that Kevin O'Connor of Arriva plugs guided busways as particularly effective in increasing attractiveness of bus uses.
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenev...rt-committee/urban-congestion/oral/46530.html
(OK, I'm sad; but I do get fascinated by this issue)
Most interesting is the afternoon session; with Prof. David Begg amongst others; but the morning session is also good, looking at delivery firms and Uber.
Key point from David Begg is that congestion has got dramatically worse in recent years, even in London (which has a congestion charge, and where there was no bus deregulation). He proposes that the 'equilibrium level of traffic speed' has dropped. Essentially, where access to scarce road space is free at point of use, roads tend to fill up (and hence slow down) to the point at which additional users are deterred from joining by the slow progress of traffic. Hence equilibrium traffic speed has been thought to make congestion self-limiting. But this deterrent effect from congestion is differentially much greater for private car users (especially work-related); but much less for delivery drivers/private hire cars. On the contrary. when traffic speeds fall, delivery operators add more vehicles - which makes congestion worse. Hence as work-related car use becomes more and more a minority component of urban traffic - and other users (delivery, private hire, and domestic) increase - so traffic speeds drop, reducing bus service speeds.
As may be expected, Begg is challenged by Graham Stringer, who argues that congestion problems are all due to deregulation and bus lane creation. Stringer argues that bus lanes and guided busways favour the privatised bus operators at the expense of general road users; and that they facilitate those users concentrating their operations on a reduced network of highly profitable routes at the expense of the wider network; which forces travellers reluctantly to use cars rather than buses.
Also interesting that Kevin O'Connor of Arriva plugs guided busways as particularly effective in increasing attractiveness of bus uses.
) and I'm not advocating the abolition of traffic lights in London as a 'solution' but it just might be worth a controlled trial at half a dozen intersections, maybe at selected hours which could be varied between sites. I can only say that a roundabout I'm pretty familiar with that introduced traffic lights for the first time about eighteen months ago is now jammed at all hours, whereas it was pretty free-flowing for 22 hours per day before, and even then it was generally only one road or other that was impeded.