On Sat, 08 Nov 2003 12:23:16 +0000, "Steve Naïve"
wrote:

Oxford Street is a road which ought not to have any buses going along
it. A free shuttle bus, taking people to the places where routes cross
the street, would probably be a simple way to make the street a
pedestrian precinct, and could probably handle all those who don't
want to walk to a stop in a parallel street.

Or the old 'travellator' idea?

I was on Oxford Street today, and noticed that it seemed to be moving
rather more quickly than in the past. However, most of the problems
were being caused by inappropriately-stopped taxis than anything to do
with buses, which themselves seemed not to be any problem, especially
with the faster boarding due to off-bus ticketing[1].

This would suggest to me one of two courses of action:-
1) Ban taxis from Oxford Street and make it bus-only; or
2) Provide sufficient laybys (other than bus stops) in which taxis may
stop, and prohibit them from stopping in any other location, with this
being strictly enforced.

Some changes to the traffic light phasing may also help - perhaps
transponders on buses could be used to allow the main bus flow to get
priority over crossing flows to keep things moving?

[1] As an aside, those machines seem not to be too reliable; I've seen
a number of people using violence against them to try and get
"swallowed-up" money back. Seeing as they're based on parking
machines which generally seem quite reliable (IMX), this needs dealing
with.

Neil

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