Buses

Bus Speeds Are Falling. Here's What 15 Cities Reveal About Why

Buses carry the most passengers in most public transport systems. Yet, in many cities, they are getting slower, worsening services. This recent Guardian article looked at the case in London, citing this research across 15 large cities.

Key Takeaways

• Evidence from 15 large public bus organisations in cities in Europe, Asia and North America found a persistent decline in bus speeds over the past decade.
• Governance, traffic conditions, and street management practices can be as important as physical space constraints in shaping outcomes.
• Barcelona saw a 5% drop in peak-hour speeds and a 10% decline in speed across the full service span after reducing the maximum speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h.
• Where segregated cycle lanes are introduced without reducing dedicated on-the-road priority for buses such as bus lanes, the impact on bus speeds is minimal or even positive, due to reduced conflict, improved safety, and smoother traffic flow.
• When cycle lanes reduce the effective operating space available to buses—particularly on narrow corridors—or are introduced without corresponding bus priority measures, bus speeds can decline noticeably.
• In many cities, roadworks are a near-permanent feature of operations at one or another place on the bus network. Despite their operational significance, bus organisations reported limited formal analysis of these impacts.
• Bus organisations emphasised the need for cities to implement measures that mitigate the impact of traffic displaced from low-traffic neighbourhoods.
• Bus organisations reported positive effects of kerb extensions on dwell times, re-entry delays, and overall reliability.
• Most bus organisations prefer far-side stops (after intersections), which align with traffic-signal priority systems, reduce interference with turning traffic, and reduce the chance that a traffic queue will block the bus stop.

Recommendations:

1. Understand bus speeds and the position of the bus mode.
   • Systematically monitor bus speeds, if possible, by segment (e.g. peak vs. off-peak times, inner city vs. outer city, etc.)
   • Systematically track the correlation between bus speeds and ridership, and if possible, investigate causality.
   • Ensure that bus speed is appropriately covered in policy and performance indicators.
2. Understand/measure the impact of schemes on bus performance.
   • Undertake bus impact forecasts and (before/after) reviews for each scheme affecting bus roadspace / junction time
   • Develop a consistent methodology to measure bus passenger journey time (e.g. Bus Customer Journey Time by TfL)
   • Understand/measure the impact of roadworks, traffic calming measures, bus stop type/design and placement (e.g. bus bays vs. kerbside bus stops or downstream vs. upstream)
3. Manage/mitigate the impact of schemes on bus performance
   • Engage and collaborate with road authorities to design and implement schemes and coordinate roadworks to promote enhancement of bus speeds
   • Mitigate any reductions in bus roadspace / junction time deemed necessary to support wider objectives (e.g. increasing cycling) through measures such as traffic signal timing optimisation
   • Use evidence-based reporting and performance analysis to make policy makers aware of any negative effects of schemes on bus operations
   • Undertake public awareness campaigns, storytelling and advocacy efforts on bus impact (e.g. YouTube videos, blog posts, press releases, websites)
   • Ensure that changes in bus speeds are reflected in funding arrangements for bus services
   • Ensure bus lane enforcement and compliance with automated camera technology

Comment

For cash-strapped governments, improving buses is often a low-cost way of improving transport. However, it rarely happens unless politicians focus on it. The new(ish) UK Prime Minister, in his previous role as the Mayor of Manchester, proves the potential political rewards for politicians who focus on it.

What Next?

Do you have a strategy for improving bus speeds?

Public Transport

Contactless Ticketing Is Already Obsolete. Here's What's Next

What is the future of public transport ticketing? Many jurisdictions are moving to contactless ticketing. In this report, Thomas Ableman makes the case for digital pay-as-you-go via smartphones.

Key Takeaways

• In the previous technology cycle, the UK's Department of Transport forced railway companies to use smartcard ticketing when contactless payment already existed.
• The UK is about to repeat the mistake with the current technology cycle - adopting contactless payment when the latest technology cycle has something better.
• Instead, the UK should move to Digital Pay As You Go (PAYG), using the full capabilities of a modern smartphone to create the most frictionless travel possible.
• Digital PAYG is an app on your phone. When you start a journey, you swipe to check in. Your phone then uses its sensors to work out the journey you make.
• When you finish travelling, you swipe to check out. If you forget, the system notices your journey has ended and checks you out itself.
• Soon, you won't need a starting swipe; instead, you can let the app run in the background, and it will automatically detect when you’re taking public transport.
• As with Contactless, a back office looks at the journey you actually made and charges you the best available fare, with daily and weekly caps applied automatically.
• The differences for customers are all about the benefits of using a phone, not a card: you can see information in real time, you can be informed on a screen, and the system knows your whole journey rather than two taps at either end.
• Digital PAYG is also much cheaper to deploy, as it does not require the expensive infrastructure required for Contactless ticketing. One study in Europe showed it would cost less than 5% of a contactless scheme.
• In Switzerland, Digital PAYG has been operating since 2016, and many towns, cities and regions across Europe use it.
• Denmark replaced its previous system with Digital PAYG. It took less than a year from the decision to the launch of the new system nationwide in September 2024. This timeline was possible because it didn't require physical infrastructure.

Comment

The UK is making the same mistake I have seen in many places: copying best practice in one's own country (in this case London) or near neighbours, instead of looking globally for the next best practice.

What Next?

Do you need to update your ticketing strategy?

Road Safety

Road Safety Needs More Than Funding. It Needs Social License

The US compares badly to almost any other rich country when it comes to people killed and seriously injured on their roads, costing around USD 1 trillion in economic and quality of life costs annually. The Safe System Consortium has published a report with recommendations to improve the situation, focused on Congress and the US Department of Transportation.

Key Takeaways

Recommendations:

1. Break down institutional silos.
   • Establish a national center for Safe System research and implementation, the Safe Systems Advancement, Funding, Evaluation, and Research Center (SAFER Center), at the USDOT to demonstrate methods, benefits, and guide cross-sector collaboration.
   • Create a Safe System implementation advisory group, the Council on Multisector Policy & Safe Systems (COMPASS Council), reporting to the USDOT.
   • Incentivize states and local agencies through the USDOT programs and discretionary funding to use the Safe System Alignment Framework and develop additional guidance for states and local agencies to facilitate cross-sector planning, program design, and project assessment
2. Provide tools to guide design and program decisions and maximize return on investment.
   • Develop and compile training materials and programs for states and local agencies to facilitate translation of research into practice and guide collaborative safety planning and Safe System alignment project assessments.
   • Develop and provide periodic information on the safety performance of the U.S. vehicle fleet.
   • Develop guidance on the use of new and emerging technologies and data sources as part of a Safe System, including the role of AI.
   • Reaffirm its support for the National 9-1-1 Resource Center.
   • Develop guidance through the USDOT SAFER Center to assist states and local agencies to include land use decisions in their Safe System approach to road safety.
3. Leverage flexible safety funding for cost-effective safety solutions.
   • Invest in Safe Systems and maintain much-needed dedicated safety funding for local-level Safe System implementation by continuing the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program.
   • Incentivize states and local agencies to use the Safe System Alignment Framework to assess federally supported road projects.
   • Monitor and annually evaluate Safe System implementation by state and local agencies.
   • Recognize the road safety performance of the nation’s largest corporate and public sector motor vehicle fleets.

Comment

The report focuses its recommendations at the federal government level, which can then influence what happens at state and city-level governments.

However, road safety also has a big political element, driven by the amount of social license that politicians have to take action, especially those actions that are most effective, such as slower speeds, automated enforcement, reducing exposure and stopping car bloat.

National governments can shape that social license by providing information to the public, similar to how governments have done for decades to inform the public about smoking.

What Next?

Do you have a comprehensive road safety strategy, including building a social license for the most effective actions?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what else I came across this week:

• ​Staging at the Curb: Evaluating the impacts of shared automated vehicle fleet operations under curb usage restrictions - a research article looking at various curb policies for AVs.
• ​The Death of the Peak - the Changing Lanes blog discusses the problems transport agencies are having adapting to a new reality.
• ​Who supports transformative parking policies? Insights from urban population segments. - research segmenting different attitudes to parking reform.

Jobs

Jobs for Transport Leaders

​Here is a link with jobs around the world, specifically designed for transport leader readers. Use the filter to find jobs that match what you are looking for.