GETTING THE HUMP

• More Obstacles for Public Transport

Recent research makes it clear that there is growing discontent amongst bus users towards road humps on bus routes. "Why should we be punished because some motorists break the law?", they say.

When you think about it, it's a good point. Traffic calming schemes which usually include road humps, are installed because some motorists speed. But trying to solve that problem with schemes that could mean discomfort, danger, inconvenience and probably extra expense for all bus users, is patently unfair. Why should those who are entirely blameless suffer the most?

Modern buses are long wheel-base, low floor vehicles. They have great difficulty negotiating speed humps. Easy access buses can easily catch the ground unless there is sufficient clearance over the whole wheel-base. What's more, because buses are longer than cars, the extra wheel-base exaggerates the effect of the road hump to those on the bus. So bus passengers suffer in a number of ways.

Discomfort - Even at crawling speeds the exaggerated upward motion of the bus over road humps causes severe discomfort to passengers.

Danger - There is a serious risk that passengers, particularly very young children, the elderly and disabled, may fall and injure themselves when they stand up for their stop, if the bus happens to be crossing a speed hump.

Inconvenience - Speed humps reduce bus operating speeds to a crawl, so bus reliability suffers.

Extra Expense - There is clear evidence that speed humps damage buses. The extra maintenance costs inevitably find their way back into higher fares.

At a time when central government, local authorities and bus operators are doing all they can to encourage greater use of buses, traffic calming schemes which result in greater discomfort, added danger, less convenience and extra expense for bus users, are unwelcome to say the very least.

Bus users don't cause the problems that speed humps seek to prevent. They should not pay the penalty for the lawlessness of others.

We will work hard to persuade local authorities to find an alternative solution to the speeding problem, without making things more difficult for bus customers.

We will also do everything we can to avoid diverting our buses onto other less popular routes to avoid the road humps, or worse still abandon sections of route altogether.

But such drastic action may, at the end of the day, be the only option open to us. – but we are very pleased to report that at least two local authorities are starting to take the matter very seriously. We would particularly like to mention the support of Leicestershire and Staffordshire County Councils who have worked with us to create bus-friendly solutions to traffic calming schemes in Castle Donington and Rolleston on Dove which might otherwise have jeopardised the present bus service. In so doing they have demonstrated a commitment to people who elect to use public transport.