CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
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(725 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Who's gonna be the first to ride their bike in front of it and see if it runs them over?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thing to remember is that though autopilot may react faster than ‘proper’ driver, BUS won’t stop any quicker than normal.
So not about whether system works, but whether jumping in front would be more/less safe with human/algorithmic driver.
Don’t try this at home.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not necessarily "jumping in front"
Riding in front of the bus at say 12mph... Will it "see you" and slow to 12mph? Will it stay behind you at 12mph "forever"? Is it trained to aggressively tailgate you until you cower out of the way? Hoot the horn? Or worse, drive over the top of you...
So many questions...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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From Tuesday, parking attendants will begin riding on @on_lothianbuses services to tackle parking in bus lanes, which disrupts services and slows journey times. Find out more
https://edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/13715/parking-attendants-ride-city-buses-to-target-inconsiderate-drivers… Photograph of a bus lane with the words 'Bus Lane' written on it and cars in the background and a bus on the lane
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Posted 1 year ago # -
Does the scheme not allow for easy identification of those causing trouble in a way that cash tickets wouldn't.
Posted 1 year ago # -
"Autonomous" bus with driver spotted in the wild today. Missed the opportunity to ride in front of it.
Posted 1 year ago # -
“
Executive Summary
2.1 This report updates Committee on the production of the Strategic Business Case for Bus Priority Improvements on eight key transport corridors and notes that the project is expected to progress to the next stage of the programme immediately after a successful progression from the associated gateway review.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
In town yesterday, I watched in puzzlement as an eastbound bus on Princes Street which was sat waiting at the lights at the bottom of the mound set off briskly as soon as the bicycle green light came on. Were my eyes deceiving me?
Posted 1 year ago # -
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FlixBus claims it was told it “cannot be given any further slots to pick up and drop off passengers as part of their expansion plans” in Aberdeen Bus Station, which is operated by Stagecoach, and that there is “a conflict of interest”.
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https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23519554.former-rangers-directors-firm-mcgills-stagecoach-clash/
Posted 1 year ago # -
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I am looking forward to the discussion at the Transport & Environment Committee today about speeding up buses in Edinburgh by 25%.... the focus will be infrastructure not buses!
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https://twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1659093712654450688?
Think this is party/mostly about bus lanes/enforcement.
Need a lot of that for 25%.
Smart swiping might work better.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Since buses exist to move as many people as possible from A to B as efficiently as possible, the dwell times are what cost an operator, over and above ordinary fleet running costs. Dwell time is time spent not moving, which is time lost in getting closer to the next set of passengers. The more passengers you want to pick up and set down in a given period of time, the more buses you need on the road; and the more time your buses spend getting between stops to pick up, the more buses you need moving around to fill in those long waits experienced by the passenger. It’s akin to figuring out train pathing, which is often determined as a series of line graphs.
I seem to remember Tulyar putting forward the view that the best thing would be to eliminate fares and tickets: you would just get on, and the bus would move off, like in the old days, or a bit like a tram. In fact it’s perhaps like comparing a paternoster* lift with a conventional set of lifts.
On the face of it, the operator would lose revenue because there would be no fares. But if we have (near enough) instant boarding, the operator could have fewer buses on the road to service a given demand, and fewer buses would require lower staff and maintenance costs. It’s counterintuitive enough that I still don’t really believe it – but Adelaide town has free buses as far as I recall.
And if retention of fares is necessary, then as chdot notes, you have to make the fare collection process near enough instantaneous as well, not just quicker payments but quicker ticketing/auditing. The whole business of tapping on and tapping off is good but it's still a multiple seconds per passenger process.
* There used to be one at Napier at Craiglockhart. I never rode it but my Dad remembers it well.
Posted 1 year ago # -
The French* system of buying a ticket beforehand, then validating it before getting on seems to be really good in terms of "instantaneous loading"
Combine it with a 3-door bendy bus (or trams) and loading is very fast indeed
Electric, 3-door, articulated trolley buses FTW - trolley buses are much better for charging on the fly (no dwell time at the termini) and can carry a much smaller battery for short off-grid diversions. Acceleration is very good too meaning shorter time to get up to speed - we've seen this with electrifying the trains, that journey times can be shortened, with no increase in line maximum speed.
*Exists in other civilised nations
Posted 1 year ago # -
Mrs LB used Flixbus yesterday to Perth.
Driver moaned that no-one knew so only two passengers on unbranded bus. German operator expanding here. First day in Scotland. Using McGills as operator. Unlike Ember they use the bus station.
https://www.flixbus.co.uk/scotland
You can book a bike. E-bikes are banned.
Ember take e-bikes as their 500 kWh power pack is a big enough risk already.Posted 1 year ago # -
Bristol area bus passengers to get free travel in birthday month
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-65690176
@LaidBack - where do Flixbus carry bikes - in the hold? Also, on their website, all journeys to Perth or elsewhere come up "No bike slots left"
Posted 1 year ago # -
@MB - I don't know for sure. Buses not even liveried. Reckon it will be hold though.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I saw a liveried flixbus pass through Barnton Junction earlier on Monday.
Posted 1 year ago # -
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It comes amid warnings that some children are travelling an hour on the bus to shops where they know “no questions will be asked”.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
'Unfortunately we won't be doing the autonomous because of the rain'.
Been using the auto bus a few times. Overpriced but a handy route for me to the office.
Long way from the automated future.
It’s only trying autonomous mode on the motorway, and craps out at the drop of a hat or close pass.
Posted 1 year ago # -
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GLASGOW'S main bus provider has announced it is stopping its night bus service in the city from July 31
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Posted 1 year ago # -
Ember uses coaches 40-42 seats and its principals came from IT rather than old school bus people
The range means the each coach can do 1 round trip Dundee-Edinburgh/Glasgow then go for recharge
The driver has a manifest displayed for the next stop, and only Kinross is a scheduled timing stop. All others are by request with none more the ½Km from M90. No passengers on/off then driver stays on motorway
Coaches = no standing & 100 Kmh, you must book 10 min before driver passes the stopping point. The time for Dundee-Edinburgh c.1hr 10m. A stop was added at Bridge of Earn, where driver comes down slip road drives round the village green, stops & then drives back on to M90
They also have a clip on receptacle for 6 bikes, that can be pre-arranged for a large group, 8 bikes on a 40 seat coach, makes the trains look ridiculous. The recprd unofficially is 35 bikes on a 49-seat Duple 320, but I'm tempted to have a word with Bridgeton Bus Museum about a Guinness World Record attempt?
In Manchester the 2 city centre shuttle routes are free, as it costs more to collect fares
Alex Hornby has now moved from being UK MD of Transdev to MD at McGills, but when in Harrogate he doubled the number using their all electric Sunday bus services by getting a sponsor to underwrite the initial trials - the same number of buses & drivers carrying twice the number of passengers, many discovering the reduced hassle of not having to park & then walk into the centre. He also delivered Vamooz, a bus service where the fares come down as the bus fills up, and Boohoo warehouse in Darwen got a bus service tailored to fit the workforce travel patterns. I want to keep pressing for McGills to restore the old SMT rural buses cycle carriage, which worked up to the early 1990's, and has been restored by Borders Buses on the 62 and 95
For dwell time context many US bus operator have ride free downtown operation during the working day (as this reduces the number of buses & drivers required)
Plus for really impressive bus services watch Street Films video on the Curitiba 'Metro(trams) for a tenth of the cost of using steel rails. The 25 metre 3 section 4-5 door buses that hoover up 80-100 passengers in under 30 seconds, with journey speeds of over 20mph each bus can carry over 200 passengers
First did a trial comparing cash fare payments and card/QR reading, and dwell times were cut by 75%, even dropping the collection of paper tickets for NEC fares can save 2-4 seconds per passenger (& a lot of paper) putting the card reader on the right hand side can avoid the awkward twist for right handed passengers, and save seconds, as all Kerrs (a family that was predominantly left handed) might recognise, living in a dexters world makes so many tasks less easy and take longer
Posted 1 year ago # -
McGill's picking up some Glesgae night buses:
Posted 1 year ago # -
Craigs of Campbelltown (WCM/Borders/Glasgow Citybus) has already won some supported services in Glasgow from First
Posted 1 year ago #
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