G.S. 166
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XCC (80)73
9
3
Public transport priority measures increase public transport speeds in relation to other traffic, thereby improving journey times for the majority of commuters. As journey times by public transport are improved in relation to other journey times, the use of public transport becomes more attractive. Moreover, as a result of these faster journey times, buses and trams can make more trips during the peak period and the number of passengers carried over the peak period can be increased accordingly.
10
Passenger-carrying capacity will be increased yet further by the expansion of CMB's fleet which is taking place as provided for in the formal Agreement with that Company. The Company currently has some 200 buses on order. The Commissioner for Transport accepts the Company's argument that such a heavy investment in additional bus capacity would be of little avail if the Company is not able to use its fleet more efficiently through achieving faster journey times.
11
Public transport priority measures, which provide more road space for buses and trams, necessarily reduce the space available for all other road users. However, such measures facilitate the movement of the people rather than vehicles by encouraging efficient users of road space and constraining the more wasteful users, in accordance with the general policy laid down in the 1979 White Paper on Internal Transport Policy.
12
The benefits from bus-only lanes increase with greater bus flows, higher passenger carrying capacity for each bus and greater traffic congestion. Bus-only lanes are therefore particularly beneficial to commuter movements in the Eastern Island Corridor, where there are over 200 schedules buses per morning peak hour, each of which is capable of carrying 100-150 passengers, and where there is a high degree of traffic congestion.
13
Trams are another important high capacity carrier, accounting for about 400, 000 passengers per day over the whole network. It is desirable that bus-only lanes should be accompanied, where practicable, by greater segregation of the tram track, otherwise there would be greater use of the tram track by general traffic. Such segregation is desirable also in the interests of road safety, as the braking system on trams is not sufficient to enable them to stop sharply when other traffic weaves in front of them. A segregated tram track can also be used by emergency vehicles, thereby protecting them, in some measure, from the delays caused by traffic congestion.
CONFIDENTIAL ##
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