Bus-spotting

[andrewducker]

I caught the number 10 bus home.

Which sounds like the dullest of the dull thing I could post on my journal.

Except that the number 10 route has Edinburgh's new Eco-buses on it. Which, rather than having a petrol engine, are electric, with a diesel engine constantly purring away to charge the battery, plus regenerative braking to add to their efficiency.

Their electric drive-train meant that the ride felt smoother, and the engines are a _lot_ quieter. I could hear the engines of other buses on the road over the noise of the bus I was in.

In addition they have the same video screens the airport bus has, which show you the next few stops, and what other buses you can catch on them:

.

Oh, and it has free WiFi.

If you want something more exciting than _that_ then you're going to have to go for an entirely different approach to commuting:

Comments

[call-waiting.livejournal.com]

OH! I had no idea they'd be doing anything like that. FANTASTIC.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Broadly in favour of the trams though I was - and probably still am - I think we could have spent the money on improving Edinburgh's bus service with a large fleet of progressively more eco Eco-buses.

[andrewducker]

These eco buses didn't exist when the team protect was kicked off though

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

This is probably the case.

However, buses more environmentally friendly than the then current average were available at the time of the trams grand plan. I spent a lot of time looking at eco-buses at about the time of the early planning for the tram project and there were sufficent proto-types available that you could see that by the time the money was going to be spent much better buses would be available or would be available soon.

We could have used some of the money to sponsor some design work for better buses, or for some of the infrastructure for trials of battery powered buses. We could have gone to the market and said, "We've got half a billion quid over ten years to improve our bus fleet. We'll buy a dozen or two every six months. We'll buy the most eco-friendly bus on the market. Bus makers, crack on."

Of course - I turn out to be correct about the supply of better buses in hindsight but might equally have been wrong about the timing.

[spacelem.livejournal.com]

The trams were meant to be more eco-friendly than buses, but a tiny bit of foresight could have seen this.

So disappointed with this entire tram farce.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I'm disappointed that it's gone very badly wrong and in ways that look like they should have been avoidable.

One of my doubts about the tram project when it was first mooted was the all or nothing nature of it. £500m buys you a tram in Edinburgh of a certain quality but you we could have used the money to buy a fleet of better buses in small increments without spending the whole £500m up front in one go.

[andrewducker]

That way of thinking means you never get a tram system.

And as one of the major points of the tram system was to speed up connections between some parts of the city (Granton, Leith, Gogarburn) the buses aren't really suitable for that.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

This is true. My main reason for supporting the tram system on balance was the higher speed link between the jobs in Gogarburn and the housing in Leith via the shops in town.

It's a case of you pays your money, you takes your choice and part of the choice is between the relatively high risk of a single large capital project going wrong or the relatively lower risk of all of a series of smaller capital purchases going wrong.

Of course, as you touch on, even if you have a low risk of not delivering the wrong thing you are still delivering the wrong thing.

There is an argument that is often made but so far I think unproven that a significantly better bus service would reduce traffic congestion to the point where buses were super speedy. Unproven I think because people seem to stay in their cars either because the theory is flawed or because no one has yet built a sufficiently good public transport system.

[andrewducker]

The bus system is completely at grid lock at the moment on Princes Street in the evening rush hour.

But even if it wasn't, the trams would still go Leith->Gogarburn a fair chunk faster than a bus would. If they ever get built.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I was on Princes Street during rush hour but I recall it being very slow going for buses.

Edinburgh doesn't have quite enough East - West routes I think.* With buses channelled down Princes Street I think the middle of town is probably full.

The Leith to Gogarburn / Airport at speed in comfort prize is pretty valuable I think. Or, at least it was until RBS was nationalised and the bottom fell out of property developments in Leith. But those are temporary problems and trams are for ever.

Part of my point of view might well be coloured by the fact that I don't see myself wanting to get from Gogarburn to Leith and back but I do think that the bus service running past my house is not great.

More buses would mean more circular buses and more point to point but not through Princes Street buses which might help or not.

I think the answer is probably both trams and more buses. Also fewer cars.**

Now if only we had a few billion to hand. Unfortunately I appear to have left my wallet at home...



*I think it an unfortunate but probably insoluble feature of the geography of the city that it has two hulking great bits of basalt just where you put the second main East - West route and we've designated one of them a national park and the other a national monument. I'm only half joking when I say I think a big tunnel underneath the Castle would help hugely.

** and flying cars.

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

I know it would have been ruinously expensive but I'm convinced we should have gone for a full on central tram subway route from Haymarket to the St James Centre to cut out all the hassle in the centre of town. The portal on the east side of town to get onto Leith Walk would have been cool as well.

[andrewducker]

Well. we already have bits of that in existence, from the park off Logan Street to Waverly there's the remains of the old railway tunnel - just need to knock down a few buildings and we could continue that on to Ocean Terminal...

And a fair number more that we should resurrect, when we have an infinite amount of money lying around :->
http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_edin_t_map/1_edinburgh_transport_maps_-_0_railways_1928_1536.htm#picture

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

If we're getting into money is no object territory I'd like to see a tunnel running under Lothian Road from Rutland Square to Tollcross so that the Festival Square area could be pedestrianised.

Hey ho.

[andrewducker]

Geodesic dome over Scotland to improve the weather!

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Well obviously, yes.

Although, based on my modelling on terraforming Mars I'd suggest we start off with smaller domes over important population centres - the Meadows for example.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I commute by driving along country roads in a Porsche 911. I know which I'd consider more "exciting".

[andrewducker]

Having driven on Devon country roads a fair bit, I'd rank it as about as exciting as the video :->

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Most of the country roads I commute along are actually Cornish. I only cross into Devon at the Tamar Bridge, which is quite exciting if you like spectacular views including warships and a Brunel suspension bridge parallel to the road bridge.