2403.30 END OF THE X78

OK, if you don't live or visit South Yorkshire, if you're a stuck up twat that's too good to catch buses, or you live in the future from me now - you'll probably want clarity as to what the x78 is. Well it's a bus service, and one that I've used a lot. It's also one that's been around for a long time. 

1907.14 GOODBYE ST NEOTS

For many years now I've been a regular visitor to St. Neots in Cambridgeshire. It's been the home of Morticia's mother and if I'm honest I've become quite fond of the place.

1608.03 PUBLIC TRANSPORT HAS FAILED

Back in 1986 an act of parliament deregulated bus services in the UK. Prior to this buses were run by local authorities or the government owned National Bus Company. Back then I was 15 years old, public transport was my primary method of getting about. In fact it was a lot of people's primary method of getting about. Fares were cheap and buses were frequent, plentiful and reliable. Because of this the knock on effect was that the roads were relatively congestion free (there were traffic jams but nothing on today's scale). The government of the day thought that a free market system would be good for the system providing competition that would in turn lead to better services.

Source: Guy Arab (Flickr)

Fast forward 20 years. Has the market created a transport system that work. Has it hell! Those market forces initially saw loads of start up bus companies driving old and potentially dangerous buses (that had probably previously been sent for scrap), those companies scrambled for customers on the profitable corridors ignoring the rural and quieter routes. Fares more than doubled overnight and since that time have continued to increase. The roads have become congested as passengers move away to private cars. Most of the local authority bus companies along with the smaller operations have merged into a small number of large operators who control the majority of the UK bus companies.

Source: citytransport.info

In contrast London's model is more of a tender system where private bus companies bid to run specific routes with fares and timetables set by the local authority.

So what happens now? I hope public transport isn't dying as I would love to see it as the future of getting out and about. I don't see private cars as a sustainable transport for everyday travel. The problem is now also cultural. I know people that wouldn't dream of using public transport and see it as 'beneath them', this snobbish behaviour might be the biggest stumbling block even if investment and infrastructure is improved.

My wish is for the London model to be taken up in other urban areas across the country with fares subsidised which will in turn will mean people hopefully will choose to leave their cars at home. I used to work in a deregulated public transport industry (all be it 10 years ago) and use it regularly, my transport priorities are cycling, public transport, private car.

1605.29 SPORTSMANSHIP

This weekend there has been 2 big football matches at Wembley Stadium featuring teams from South Yorkshire. I'm not about to talk about football, if you know me you know that football isn't my thing. What gets me is the reaction from some fans when a neighbouring team who pour hate and scorn over the achievements of others. I really don't get it. They are all as bad as each other. Surely if there are 2 teams playing then you put your support behind the one most local to you? I always thought the term 'sport' denotes 'fair play'.

1604.18 LITTLE PAINTED BIKE

Cycling infrastructure is generally (in my opinion of course) just a tick box for my local councils. I cycle all over South Yorkshire and whilst sometimes there is a well planned cycle lane most of the time the council get around the provision by painting a bike symbol onto the path to create a 'shared use' path. On the whole I don't think that bikes belong on footpaths (although I'm not going to get into the issue on cyclists using footpaths). When councils put these in and a cyclist continues to use the road, which they are perfectly entitled to, they are open to abuse from motorists who then mistakenly believe that the bike must use the path provided. I'm not a fan of mingling bikes with pedestrians, it's dangerous for both parties. I'd much rather have a solution that mixes with traffic.

Shared use path, City Rd
photo: Google Streetview

Then there are badly thought out cycle lanes, the internet is full of them. Some are comedy gold but that's not a good thing. After all people's lives are at risk and I really think that town planners are not aware of this. Cycle lanes should be used to protect vulnerable cyclists from dangerous conditions (such as the infamous pinch points I've mentioned before). 

So my message to the planners is...  Stop with the tick box infrastructure. If you can't put in a bit of decent cycle lane then don't bother, just don't.