News
Summer 2008 will see the government invite the 8 Regional Assemblies to submit new advice on their Regional Funding Allocation for major transport schemes and provide guidance on doing so. Submitted by the regions for the first time in January 2005, the RFA engages the regions in prioritising major local transport schemes (costing at least £5million) (including certain Highways Agency schemes) against each other. The regions will probably have about 6 months from the summer notification to prepare their advice.
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News Focus
The railways are reviving a bit, but on the roads firm timelines on road-pricing are perceived as too risky and lots of big projects are still on the agenda.
LS8 namechecks a few big road schemes, focuses on the new(ish) planning framework for roads and discusses the finance. |
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Analysis
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Policing on bikes looks set for further advances
at force, district, station and PCSO level over summer 2008. How is the
case for police on bikes proving so compelling? |
Features
May 2008: over 12 years since
the first Reclaim the Streets party (and that's our parasol in
a bucket of sand stopping the records melting in Pershore Road,
Birmingham).
The movement baffled the media, broadening to take in striking dockers, went global, then turned on capitalism itself. Its end as a victim of its own success was probably inevitable, but we ask a few questions anyway. With lots of flyers you won't find anywhere else. |
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LS8 Sidelines
2-5-08 this bus isn't good enoughThe lightweight Enviro 300 single-decker bus built by Alexander Dennis of Falkirk isn't a good enough experience to get people out of their cars. It's becoming commonplace where buses are run by First and Stagecoach-Bluebird; operating even quite long routes such as Aberdeen to Inverurie. Lightweight it certainly feels: a combination of biscuit-tin metal and huge expanses of glass. This leads to its primary drawbacks: it's always cold: no double-glazing or internal panelling behind the thin metal mean the passenger is barely separated from the outside and the walls are just too cold. The engine is whiney and loud, presumably because it's isolated only by lightweight materials. Finally, they've packed too many seats in: it would be harder to find a bus with less leg-room, and the seats aren't well upholstered. Many motorists considering a switch for the daily grind would be reeling at these hardships on a Monday morning.
12-4-08 info at bus stops
Bus stop timetable information can be viewed as a spectrum. At one end is accurate real-time information, backed up with full timetables. At the other end is, well, a post saying "Bus Stop" at the top. While we get excited about the former, let's not forget there are all too many urban bus-stops that correspond to the latter. A complex question, but we need a cost-benefit analysis of providing expensive resources at well used stops against basic resources at less used stops. Somewhere along the spectrum is an interesting provision such as solar powered illuminated timetables at stops in Camden.
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