"1) All bus routes to become "Red Routes" ......"- I'm afraid you don't know very much about Red Routes. The basic (single red line) hours of control are Mon-Sat 7am-7pm (or 8am-7pm in some areas). Outside these weekday hours and throughout Sunday anybody can park on a single red line. But I agree Red Route controls or some equivalent would help and may be both justified and feasible. NB currently the only Red Routes in this borough are the A406, A40 and A312 (part).2) Ensure there is sufficient space for a bus to approach speed cushions so the bus can straddle them thus causing no discomfort to crew and passengers or damage to the vehicle.- OK but what about raised pedestrian crossings and other full-width speed tables? Bigger problem is the poor state of road surfaces with potholes and poorly-reinstated utility company excavations. Top priority shoule be given to proper carriageway repairs on all bus routes.3) All traffic light controlled junctions to become "box junctions".- Agreed but not enough - there's far too many 'Give Way' junctions ('Priority' junctions in trade jargon) where buses have to wait and/or force their way out. All should be signalised with inbuilt bus priority control (quite how that can be made to work in practice in all situations is an interesting - and hopefully stimulating - challenge for the traffic engineering profession, and in particular for the traffic signals design priesthood) No bus in passenger-carrying service should ever have to goie way to other traffic (other than other in-service buses in certain circumstances, and emergency vehicles on emergency call).4) Bus stop bay markings to be extended so there is opportunity for the bus to pull, stopping close and parallel to the kerb, AND pull out (see 1 above).- this is meant to be the case already - there's long-established published design guidance, specifically in London, on this topic.5) Rigorous enforcement of above.- rigorous but sensible and reasonable enforcement, in conjunction with adequate stopping/pickup/setdown facilities for other essential traffic6) Ensure all the stop request buttons on a bus are working before sending it out on route, else advise that a button is out of service.- this is already meant to happen as part of the roadworthiness 'walk-round' inspection by the driver at the start of every bus duty period - or if it isn't it should be.7) Contemplate the location of existing bus stops. For example, the westbound Uxbridge Road stop for Ealing Broadway Station for 207/427/607 etc is ridiculously placed.- Review and remedy sorely needeed at many locations throughout the network. Should include more radical improvements including (a) arranging for bus routes which cross each other to call at the same or closely-adjacent stops to avoid or minimise need for interchanging punters to traipse across busy roads. Again an interesting challenge for the traffic/highway engineering and urban design and planning professions.8) Bus top shelters for all stops. In addition to the road markings this would help a driver to identify where the bus should be stopped.- not a very ambitious target - how's about ADEQUATE (or preferably more than adequate) shelters AND SEATING, AND REAL-TIME BUS ARRIVAL DISPLAYS at all stops, so all punters can wait in comfort, AND laid out so as to avoid the footway being obstructed by said punters to passing pedestrians don't have to ask permission to pass by. And pending achievement of this essential basic provision at all stops, punters under 60 to travel free from any stop not so equipped, and over-60s to be pais the equivalent of the full (non-Oyster) flat fare each journey.Other essential components of any bus service which has a hope in hell of attracting those with a realistic choice (ie car owners):-9) Current prevalent in-bus layout 2+2 seats with central gangway to be replaced by 2+1 seats with offset gangway, the resultant extra width to be distrubuted equally between seat and gangway width.10) Bus suspension to be up to the job and to be renewed when it starts to deteriorate through wear and tear.11) Full destination blind displays (ie not just route number) on back and sides as well as front - punters are at least as likely to approach a bus from these directions as from the front.12) Electric traction to replace diesel traction.13) All adverts for car sales and other motorists' services to be banned from all buses.14) 'Super-rear' adverts covering the whole back of the bus to be banned.And that's just for starters, but I shan't be bothering to submit any of the above, because nothing is more certain than that none of this will happen within the lifetimes of anybody on this forum, their children and their childrens' children. Whatever we say, TfL will continue in their own arrogant, incompetent, negligent and unresponsive way, and consequently the car will continue to be the natural choice for most journeys by those who have that choice; while those who don't will continue to have to put up with barbarically inadequate transport provision.
Chris Veasey ● 6589d