Now I know many will think I'm paranoid, but I would like to offer my prediction that Newcastle will employ 'congestion' charging methods fairly soon.
The reason? In the last 10 months I've seen rush hour traffic queuing vastly increase - mainly due to changed priorites/new traffic lights/hugely delayed & slow roadworks. The notorious Tyne Bridge queue now continues well out of peak times.
I can't believe the amount of cars has increased on our roads so much in such a short space of time, so its my slightly cynical view that much of this is deliberat in order to 'justify' further charges.
Anyone else noticed recent bottlenecks appearing in their town/city centre?
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Snakey,
Quite the opposite in my case, the main A666 into the centre of Blackburn is almost unhindered by the light sequence at Darwen Street Bridge.
When I am passing this point in the mornings it is the ring road (Ha Ha!) route that is held up by the lights sequence which just seems wrong...
Regards,
John R @ Work :¬)
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Exactly the same happened in London before congestion charge kicked in. In fact it can be observed now in East London where Mayor roadhunds are slowly preparing field for CC in Docklands. Within the last 12 months all fast escape routes from East London have been artifically clogged to provide grounds for CC extension. A12 from Docklands to north was reduced from 50mph to 40mph, A13 reduced from 50mph to 30mph, despite additional tunnels now being finished, in some places islands have been added on exits refucing 4 lanes back to 3. Blackwall Tunnel towards South and A2 reduced from 40mph to 30mph and Limehouse Tunnel to the city restricted to 30mph. Speed cameras deployed on all exits to enforce new speeds. A12/A13/Blackwall Tunnel junction approaches by All Saints station were reduced to single lane by adding bus lane and concrete reinforced island. All other approaches regroupped in similar fashion. Effectively everyday, from 5 p.m. the queues to exit Docklands are up to 5 miles long and cars are queuing virtually around whole Isle of Dogs.
Gather your men, go to press, law firms and start group legal action against congestion charging in Newcastle before it's too late. Ken and CC in London is a fraud, the guy complains about congestion and then buys twice longer bendy busses to replace ergonomic doubledeckers around the city, effectively adding to congestion. That alone means he's either seriously corrupted or really stupid. By the end of his second tour of duty he will not only continue forcing businesses and fleet equipped offices out of the city but also wipe out one of the characteristic tourist attractions attributed to London - doubledecker busses.
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Re: bendy buses
These do not fit into the bus laybys.
Solution: fill in the bus laybys so that they stop in the middle of the road.
Result: when the bus stops, so does everything else.
Conclusion: congestion created needs more congestion charging.
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v0n, you may not like it, but the aim of the policuy is pretty clear and rational: get more folks out of cars and onto buses, to reduce congestion. To do that, bus services need to improved, and bus lanes etc speed them up, reducing journey times and increasing capacity.
Bendy buses take up little more roadspace per passenger than double-deckers than full ones, esp at peak times (which is, after all, when congestion is heaviest) ... and all buses take up a lot less space per passenger than do cars. It's not the buses which cause congestion in London, it's the small (about 10%, I think) of commuters who use their cars. Bus lanes give priority to the 90%.
Bendy buses load and unload much more quickly than double-deckers, so they don't block the traffic for as long. Maybe it's a pity that the bus laybys have gone, but it's so often difficult for buses to pull out of them that there's good logic in getting rid of them rather than extending them.
Bendy buses are also a lot safer and more comfortable for their users: try them, and you'll be impressed. Bendy buses simply do the job much better than their predecesors, and when I'm in London I now try to arrange my travel using bendy bus routes.
For millions of Londoners, buses are an everyday tool, not a tourist attraction. Bus users deseve some modernisation, too: I don't see many car drivers still stuck in front of the starting handle of an Austin 7!
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I can't help feeling uneasy about the way that motorists are being hassled out of their cars by making the traffic situation worse for everyone, and more expensive for motorists.
Surely it would be better to use carrot rather than stick, and make public transport work better for more people.
number_cruncher
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Surely it would be better to use carrot rather than stick, and make public transport work better for more people.
Which is exactly what bendy buses and bus lanes achieve! Congestion charging may be seen as a stick by motorists, but it speeds up the buses, so they do work better for more people.
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Hi NoWheels,
I agree that it makes sense to get fully laden buses through the traffic quickly.
I suppose I am thinking about all road users, not just car users, or just bus users. Having buses stopping all the traffic to let people on and off isn't helping anyone. Not everyone can make use of public transport - it just doesn't fit what some have to do - i.e., it isn't a suitable tool.
Fundamentally, I am concerned that we are drowning in legislation - in all aspects of life. I know it is all well meaning and commendable - it is just becoming excessive. I see conjestion charging as just another aspect of an ever more intrusive state.
number_cruncher
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There is a fundamental difference between helping buses along (Commendable) and deliberately holding up other road users (despicable).
Traffic engineers need to remember that they are TRAFFIC engineers, not SOCIAL engineers.
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It is a fact that too many of us want to use our cars in City Centres.
Our cities were not designed for the motor car and many are heading for gridlock during the rush hour.
That congestion delays those using buses as well as cars.
The solution is to persuade a percentage of car owners not to use their cars.
Ken's solution was to financially penalise those using their cars during the working day. Whatever the injustices of the system it has largely been successful - and if it didn't work putting the fee up to £50 a day would ensure success, albeit at the cost of greater injustice to some folk.
Just about every local Authority - of whatever political persuasion - is, or will be, considering a similar option. As congestion charging is a sure-fire vote loser, if there were other solutions surely they would try them?
As a nation we are excellent at defining problems - less proficient at proposing solutions.
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Perhaps the long term answer is in the hands of the town planners. If future developments were biased away from existing centres, or clusters, then everyone wouldn't be heading for the same few places.
By this, I mean encouraging a more homogeneous distribution of land usage throughout a settlement. So, you would be just as likely to find an office block part way out of town, rather than in the centre or in a business park.
Hopefully, technology will releive us of the need to make a lot of the more tediuos journeys; internet shopping, for example.
Just a thought...
number_cruncher
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I have a feeling that town planning at one time encouraged zoning, removing housing from the vicinity of factories to improve the home environment, but thus necessitated longer travel to work.
Certainly in my genealogy research, in the past most workers lived near the job, even in the same or next street.
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It would be nice if commercial buildings did start to migrate from the city centres to a more distributed location, but even today in Newcastle we are seeing more buildings appearing rather than less.
Believe me, I would jump onto public transport instead of commuting if it were a viable option. Each journey would involved 2 buses,1 train and a metro and cost far more than a car journey and would be considerably more prone to delays.
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It would be nice if commercial buildings did start to migrate from the city centres to a more distributed location, but even today in Newcastle we are seeing more buildings appearing rather than less.
To a certain extent it is happening in some towns with office buildings appearing in new build Industrial estates. Also nearly all new supermarkets etc appearing in Retail parks.
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