TRO/14/51 proposes local buses only for Princes St, between S. Charlotte St & S. St Davids St., 7am - 8pm, 7 days a week in both directions.
It is a preliminary consultation.
May help reduce cyclist/Megadeath/Citylink interactions?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Princes St to be local buses only
(22 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
-
Do Stagecoach count as "local"? Those 3-axle buses to Fife are a bit kamikaze.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Got to remember that Stagecoach are the local bus service for a large swathe of Rural West Edinburgh as Lothian Buses won't run out here unless on a subsidised route. For that read "we can't make a profit".
Posted 10 years ago # -
I guess we'd be more sympathetic if they drove better/responded to complaints better.
Posted 10 years ago # -
The absolute best thing that could happen to Princes Street is that it would be shut to all traffic other than the tram and cyclists/pedestrians. Yes some sort of allowance could be made for blue badge holders. But this is surely the way forward and any other plans are just time wasting til the whole is achieved?
Pedestrians are already the far largest user group on Princes Street so why should they be corraled into little bits of pavement and subjected to long delays at traffic lights while no cars go by?????Posted 10 years ago # -
A local bus is surely one that would stop at a stop on Princes St to pick up or set down and not that ones that would hammer straight through trying to make up lost time.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Lizzie, this is exactly what Jan Gehl proposed in his report on central Edinburgh (commissioned by the Council). As he put it, Princes Street is currently a giant bus station.
Of course his recommendations were promptly ignored.....the nearest we have to the vision for Edinburgh he espoused is the messy compromise on George Street.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Does anyone know the details of this TRO?
Is it strictly local buses and trams, as in W Maitland St westbound, or does it include cycles?
Posted 10 years ago # -
The aim of this TRO is to ban "tourist" busses. The ones that drop tourists off at Princes Street hotels, that can block the street for 30 mins or more. This happened quite often over the summer causing gridlock along Princes Street.
Megadeath, citylink, Stagecoach and even Edinburgh tour busses are registered as local busses so no change to them. They all run to a "local" timetable.
I looked in to the "local busses only" sign outside Ryans bar a while ago and found out citilink etc are classed as "local"
Posted 10 years ago # -
Thanks Fountainbridge for all that info. Do you know if the TRO would allow cycles on Princes St? My understanding of the W Maitland Street (westbound) tram and local bus section is that cycles are verboten. I don't use it, although I've seen cyclists who do, and I dice with death on the Torphichen Pl and Morrison St cycle lanes.
Posted 10 years ago # -
West Maitland Street - I witnessed 2 very near misses on Saturday westbound but haven't got round to checking yet.
Given the signs elsewhere mention cyclists, and the signs westbound do not, I would say cyclists are not supposed to use it.
This cyclist is effectively "stuck" between the rails
Posted 10 years ago # -
There's a new Edinburgh - Glasgow express bus service in town; "M8 Cityexpress".
http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/bruces-launch-new-scottish-express-service/
This has been launched in competition to Citylink, apparently the company behind it used to provide buses to Citylink (who only own 1 bus of their own, for legal purposes) but were miffed they weren't getting the contracts.
What this means is that there's now direct competition (not necessarily a bad thing for paying customers) between the two, but a bad thing when it comes to overtaking / "get to the bus stop infront of the Citylink" wars between the rival operators along the Bus Station - Haymarket - Corstorphine corridor.
So heads up for warring coaches on that route.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Sorry if this is the wrong thread to bump, but it seems reasonably appropriate.
Does anyone know whether minibuses are allowed on Princes St? Are they counted as "buses" (allowed) or "private hire cars" (not allowed)?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Not in a 'local' bus lane
Any vehicle with driver + 8 or more passenger seats on the V5 can use a normal bus lane
Posted 8 years ago # -
Sorry, just to be clear, is that a "No, a minibus should not be on Princes Street (at least, not the restricted portion)"?
And if one were looking to report a company breaching this, how would that be done?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Minibuses are buses and can use any bus lane, provided that the bus lane does not say 'local' on it. Princes Street, IIRC, doesn't have 'local' on the bus lanes, so any bus (or minibus) can use it.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
The council has discovered from watching video footage that an average of approximately 160 drivers per day ignore the bus lane restrictions on Princes Street.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
Ta. Signs on Princes St indeed don't have "local" on them (although you can see where it used to be).
Posted 8 years ago # -
West Maitland Street bus lane heading out of town does say "local busses".
From my Frederick Street footage recorded in December I recorded 8 vehicles (plus 2 LRT vans) driving along Princes Street. Also recorded 7 cyclists through red lights.
What ever happened to the "Local Busses" proposal for Princes Street?
Posted 8 years ago # -
The council has discovered from watching video footage that an average of approximately 160 drivers per day ignore the bus lane restrictions on Princes Street.
Interestingly, I 'discovered' the same thing by standing and waiting at the bus stop. However, in fairness, I think the no entry signs could be more prominent as some of those going through them seem to be visitors driving westwards and facing a low sun.
Posted 8 years ago # -
They could also do with removing the No Entry signs halfway along at the mound which serve no purpose as there's no way of "escaping" at that point. They only serve to encourage uninitiated drivers to illegally plow through pedestrians crossing at a green man.
Posted 8 years ago # -
They could also do with removing the No Entry signs halfway along at the mound which serve no purpose as there's no way of "escaping" at that point. They only serve to encourage uninitiated drivers to illegally plow through pedestrians crossing at a green man.
Happens quite often - well, going through the green man, that is.
Posted 8 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
