The impact of ever larger cars - surely this is the major contributor to falling bus speeds in London. Calculations follow but over the last 25 years the growth in width of the average car is the equivalent of up c16% reduction in road width. - ThreadSky

coldwarcliff.bsky.social • 113 days ago

The impact of ever larger cars - surely this is the major contributor to falling bus speeds in London. Calculations follow but over the last 25 years the growth in width of the average car is the equivalent of up c16% reduction in road width.

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coldwarcliff.bsky.social•113 days ago

Average cars used to be about 1.6m wide - eg a VW Golf. Yes there were larger cars, but they were much less common.

A big SUV is now OVER 2m wide (Bmw X5). there are lots of big older cars in the second hand market, and even non-premium cars have got massively wider.

coldwarcliff.bsky.social•113 days ago

These are 'model' street widths. 3.25 is what TfL ask for for bus routes. 2.5 is a 'minimum' lane width (the actual width of a bus). But many London roads don't meet these widths consistently (and bad or illegal parking makes worse). With parked cars on both sides road widths should be 8.6-10m

coldwarcliff.bsky.social•113 days ago

Some Lambeth bus routes: 9.5-10m with both sides parked. c7.5m with one side legally parked.

With 4 oversized SUVs at 2m vs 1.6m 1998 Golfs you've 'lost' 1.6m space - a 17% effective drop in the 9.5m road width

1.2 on the single parked 7.5m road- 16%.

Is it any wonder buses are slower?

coldwarcliff.bsky.social•113 days ago

Surely that is going to be by far the most significant factor in falling bus speeds even where traffic volumes have fallen and there has been no reallocation of road space to cycling.

Private car owners have taken ever more road for themselves.

coldwarcliff.bsky.social•113 days ago

Though there must also trade offs between pedestrian safety comfort (crossings, time to cross, 20mph) and bus journey times. But putting pedestrians (& cyclists) above buses is consistent with TfLs hierarchy of road use. (Needs primary source)

coldwarcliff.bsky.social•89 days ago

Andrew Gilligan on the same track of thinking as me.

Just 1% of roads that are bus served roads have cycle facilites.

Congestion has risen despite motor traffic being flat and in boroughs that have installed now cycle infra or LTNs.

But cars have got bigger and wider - taking up more space.

fehe.bsky.social•90 days ago

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