I've been waiting for development for some time now on when Christchurch is finally going to get a proper network of bus lanes. I need wait no longer! The Christchurch City Council has finally announced that it will begin rolling out bus lanes this year and include a raft of other bus priority measures. It seems the Colombo, Papanui and Queenspark routes will be the first to gain from these bus priority measures with construction due to begin mid-year. This is logical as historically Papanui-Cashmere is the busiest and most dense corridor in Christchurch (it was the last tram route and was originally to be a trolley bus route because of this). Queenspark is quite far from major nodes making it a good way of judging the effect of bus priority measures on car dependent areas.
Bus lanes on these routes will consist of both part-time and full-time types, while bus signals and improved bus stop locations will also be introduced. I have no idea what the later really means, I hope its not those awful bus stops that jut out into the traffic lane allowing a bus not to lose its place in traffic. This measure proved unpopular when trialled on Hills road, and while I say ''tough sh*t'' to those 'poor drivers' who are 'held up' by the 'nasty' bus, nevertheless the object is not to cause too much controversy on such an important and much needed public transport project.
Apparently investigation and planning is now underway for bus priority measures on the Riccarton, New Brighton and Sumner bus routes. Wider consultation still has to be carried out with local business owners and the like which means we'll probably have to wait another year or so for these to see fruition. However, once all these aforementioned bus routes have the priority measures introduced it will mean that the first box of my own personal wish list has been ticked, which makes this quite a milestone (of sorts). Bus lanes on the Riccarton, Papanui, Colombo, Sumner, New Brighton and Queenspark routes have been the logical first step in developing an efficient sustainable public transport network for Christchurch as a significant proportion of Christchurch bus services uses them.
Anyway, what will these priority measures achieve? They will allow buses to by-pass traffic congestion and give them their own signals at traffic lights. The result will be faster, more reliable bus services making public transport in Christchurch a more feasible alternative to the forever costly (both to the individual and the wider community) and inefficient car dominated system we have. To read up on bus priority yourself the City Council has a rather informative website http://www.ccc.govt.nz/buspriority/.
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This is welcomed news.
ReplyDeleteI must raise the the issue of why New Zealand authorities are so dead-set on reserving prime infrastructure just for buses. Taxis which carry just as many people as the CHCH bus service and is unsubsidised will not be able to utilise the lanes!
Your dead right actually. Many claim that Taxis are not public transport but I tend to disagree (as probably do you). For example, one car used by one individual, on an out and back commute, per day would be the overwhelming norm for our population. A taxi makes multiple trips transporting multiple people throughout that same period. Now you tell me, is that not more sustainable? Should taxis not be considered public transport too? I certainly think so and therefore allowing taxis to use bus lanes would increase their desirability and be a step toward moving in a more sustainable direction.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be up for serious consideration, my only problem is where do you draw the line? Should we include cars with 3 or more people as well? That could encourage more sustainable transport use but could cause congestion in bus lanes thereby limiting their effect. It would be like taking two steps forwards and one step back.