ok, firstly I wasn't on my bike, I was in the company vehicle, 45 foot long artic. Heading east along past the highland show ground, approx. 16.00 hours so its not exactly deserted ! Under the underpass at the gyle roundabout, when I see in my mirror a first bus decker attempting to overtake lots of slow movers ,it was already in the offside hatched markers area, a brave sould in a car positioned him, or her self so that the bus couldn't get past, lots of flashing head lights and tooting of self important horns ! Car bottles it, fair enough, bus decides that he,cause it was a he, will just drive right up the chevrons and then try and barge in front of the large white artic ! Mine ! eh no ! Now it may be large and cumbersome but when it isn't fully laden , 450 bhp can make it move quite sharpish , definitely quick enough to always seem to be just in his way ! the driver was going ballistic ! gesticulating wildly, Constantly adjusting his shoulder strap on his seat belt (think about it !)
I did however in an attempt to pacify the situation , roll (well press the button !)down the window and an attempt in conversation ,as I took a photograph of his reg, his fleet number and his face !He went all quiet at this and as the lights changed, I moved of, another 10 feet !
Genuine question , do buses have any more right to travel in this area than anyone else, and secondly how long should I wait for a response from first bus before recontacting them? This was tues and I sent an e mail wed morning.
Scott
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
bus bylaws
(6 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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A response from FirstBus? Don't hold your breath...
Posted 10 years ago # -
splitshift - I'm sure you already know the answer, but just in case - no, buses don't have any special right to drive on chevrons.
If you don't get any joy from First then you could drop a message to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner, who regulates registered bus drivers and operators as well as HGV drivers/operators, as I'm sure you know.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Presumably just as your employer has an Operator Compliance Risk Score, so do First East Scotland, and input to this from reports like yours might be valid. Depending on the scoring benefits from good inspections etc deficit points for PG9's et seq, you get a green amber or red rating. Thus when the black & yellow 'battenberg cake' cars are daundering around they are primed to take a special interest in anything which comes up with a red aspect for the operator.
Most buses in the First fleet now have basic CCTV recording, but you would be better referring this via Police or TAO sharpish to get the recording before it overwrites. First also operate the Greenroad system and it sounds as if this driver might have dropped his personal score for fierce acceleration and braking on their system. I think there is a DVSA confidential reporting number for issues relating to potential harm, from the commercial use of the roads.
That said I was on a Parks-operated 900 on Saturday and coming up to Newbridge roundabout he nipped over the hard shoulder to run up the nearside lane, and get ahead of the RHS queue, which of course he then had to get back outside between the junction and the RHS entrance.
Going back there was a pair came past Haymarket with the leading one (Parks) running as a dupe for Ingliston, and the other one (Western) stopping for us.
I just wonder if there might be something in the conduct regulations as well.
Just one small detail - would your driving be seen as spotless in any debate on this, if it escalates?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Of course, my driving was well, defensive , like my riding !
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's interesting that underpass. I'm usually an advocate of using both lanes and merging in turn but I always just stay left there, I think because one lane becoming two which becomes one again would require a split-in-turn too, before the road space was used effectively and that would never happen.
So it's just buses and 90% of taxis and perhaps 10% of cars/vans that use the outside lane.
Fair enough. Some of them even make the supreme effort to indicate to merge back in again, but there are quite a few who fire up the chevrons, usually pretty quickly.
I whish they would jus stick a bus lane in through the underpass.
Then there is the odd behaviour coming out of the underpass. The large hatched area on the left is used as a kind of switch over zone for underpass users wanting into the left lane and roundabout exiters wanting into the right lane. I actually think it works rather well, although probably not ideal for cyclists who are using the road there.
Posted 10 years ago #
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