Running buses in London has become increasingly difficult in recent years because of the delay and unreliability caused by traffic congestion. Yet only the bus can, in the short term, offer public transport which is conveniently located for the majority of the population - most people live near a bus stop, relatively few, especially in South and West London, live near a railway station. The South and West London project was innovative in a number of ways. It started shortly after the publication of the UK Department of Transport's note "Keeping Buses Moving" (see IRRD 845352) which brought onto the agenda certain novel bus priority measures which had not been possible before. Chief among these was the "bus advance area" between the stop line of a traffic signal junction and an additional stop line (wit h "pre-signals") located upstream. The reservoir between the pre-signals and the main stop line is kept clear of queued traffic by appropriate signal timings. The concept was particularly valuable in two situations. It can enable a queue of general traffic to be relocated to a length of road where it is possible to provide a bus lane. Alternatively, relatively close pre-signals can enable a bus to move fr om a kerbside bus stop to the right-turning lane at the junction. An other innovation of the project was the treatment in the evaluation methodology of the benefits to passengers of more reliable bus services - over the 70 schemes designed for the project some 40% of the benefits arose from better reliability. (A)
Abstract