In message
4ax.com>, Paul Corfield
dsl.pipex.com> writes>I accept you're taking an extreme position to make the point but I do
>believe buses are a perfectly good way to travel. London's system is
>very good indeed IMO and considerably better than almost anywhere else
>in the country.
With the possible exception of Edinburgh [1] I would suspect that
London's bus service is way ahead of that offered anywhere else in the
UK. Others might have some input on this, though?
I find London buses *extremely* reliable, frequent and useful for many
varied types of journey. However, I almost exclusively use them in
Zone 1, so I wonder sometimes if in the suburbs they;re a bit more like
the service we "enjoy" outside the capital?
>The overall service level offered in terms of numbers of routes,
>access times to stops, frequencies and hours of operation are also a
>considerable improvement. I don't think Londoners know when they are
>well off - we take all this for granted. Nowhere else in the UK has this
>type of bus service.
My thought, too. Buses *can* offer a pretty comprehensive service
elsewhere; he in the West Midlands is pretty good for my needs, except
on Sundays and in the evenings in many areas. Tyneside likewise is
well provided for as is much of County Durham and Glasgow too has a good
network.
Conversely, quite large cities - Bristol springs violently to mind here
- have a truly appalling service given their size.
>I still would not describe the system as a lottery though - trying to
>catch a once an hour bus in the suburbs of Manchester or Newcastle with
>no timetable info, no stop numbers on the bus stop and the operator
>probably being some small time bus company is what I call a lottery.
Has Newcastle deteriorated? I recall good service levels and pretty
good sat stop information.
>I'd be far more worried about what happens if dear old Boris gets in -
>he's made no real commitments at all about bus network development,
>service levels or fares.
Without getting all party political here, I don't think *any* of the
other candidates (than Ken) really understand what they're talking about
or indeed what he consequences of their actions would be.
The Green Party candidate's manifesto the other day seemed to me to be
making a promise it would not be possible to deliver. It might as well
have begun with the words "once upon a time". Fare cuts of up to 30%%
and an all night tube service at the weekend in particular need a lot
more thought before just being "promised" as Sian Berry's manifesto
does.
> Yes he'll provide a nonsensical low floor
>Routemaster
And where is this coming from. Such a concept - even if agreed and
sensible - would take some years to come to fruition. How long is
Boris expecting to be Mayor?
> replacement for the hard of thinking and a trial of express
>buses between South London Tory boroughs.
That at least strikes me as an idea worth looking at (and *would* be
relatively simple to introduce). The X68 presumably works?
> At least we have some view
>from Mssrs Livingstone and Paddick although the latter's ideas seem half
>baked to me. I think the voters may well turn the bus system into a
>lottery in the very near future and I think we'll all regret that
>because the roads will fill up with more cars and more people will try
>to squash on to the tubes. Who knows what it will be like to cycle
>either.
Purely personal view here but I think Ken would gain more rather than
less support if he stood as an independent rather than on a party
ticket. But Londoners would regret voting in another Mayor, I think.
Perhaps I've stepped into muddy waters here! :-))
[1] Anecdotal evidence only from reading newsgroups; I've never used
an Edinburgh bus I don't think.
