Open up Bus Lanes for Lorries and other slow vehicles

[ThePole]

I cannot stand the mentality of LTA to create bus lanes. End up now all the super slow vehicles (especially those with speed limit of 40km/h) are hogging the middle or even the right most lane.

 

I hope that LTA could open up the bus lanes to all those vehicles and MAKE SURE they stay there. Please get some brains OK? Bus is 60, most of the vans etc are also 60. Prevent curb side activities is the excuse? Oh come on, WHAT vehicles are having curb side activities anyway? The lorries and buses!! Why chase lorries out of the left most lanes??? stupid!

[rizaldinho]

the purpose of bus lane is to smoothen the journey of those travelling in the bus, during congested hours.

if vans, lorries in the lane, defeat the purpose already.

 

might as well open up a lane for motorist.

[Wen]

they tring to encourage people to go public so i believe they do consider all factors,1st go for bus lane,conjested the traffic then built the gantries then push up the fares.....seems like we can only being push around.

[GuiNNeSS]

I cannot stand the mentality of LTA to create bus lanes. End up now all the super slow vehicles (especially those with speed limit of 40km/h) are hogging the middle or even the right most lane.

 

I hope that LTA could open up the bus lanes to all those vehicles and MAKE SURE they stay there. Please get some brains OK? Bus is 60, most of the vans etc are also 60. Prevent curb side activities is the excuse? Oh come on, WHAT vehicles are having curb side activities anyway? The lorries and buses!! Why chase lorries out of the left most lanes??? stupid!

 

One bus takes up the same space as 3 cars, yet can carry more than ten times the number of people. Cars usually have only one or two people inside anyway.

 

So to encourage more people to take the bus, they have to think of ways to make bus journeys faster and smoother.

 

I'm all for bus lanes, and heavy penalties for those who flout and don't give way to busses. Try getting stuck in a fully loaded bus, standing while holding your books, while the bus is stuck in the bus bay for 10 full minutes because the bus lane is full of selfish motorists like yourself.

[Hazmat_83]

Yeah me too! I feel that the bus lanes are a good idea. But i think sometimes they are underutilised when there are no buses around for that few minutes interval. I have seen and personally been in many situations where there is jam on all the lanes while the bus lane is empty.

 

So maybe it is good if those really heavy vehicles like cement mixers and trailers get to use the bus lanes. Add together with the implementation of the new bus bay ruling, I think buses would still have no problems exiting the bus bay if those really heavy vehicles do get to use the bus lanes.

[lcp]

Huh !! Hw fast can u go on e normal road ? Speed limit on normal rd 50 or 60 km/h leh.

 

if all this heavy veh go into bus lane then it will jam up the bus lane those people taking bus will be late.

 

I say let bikes use the bus lane, if bus come frm e back bike can still move to the center lane to let the bus pass.

[ThePole]

One bus takes up the same space as 3 cars, yet can carry more than ten times the number of people. Cars usually have only one or two people inside anyway.

 

So to encourage more people to take the bus, they have to think of ways to make bus journeys faster and smoother.

 

I'm all for bus lanes, and heavy penalties for those who flout and don't give way to busses. Try getting stuck in a fully loaded bus, standing while holding your books, while the bus is stuck in the bus bay for 10 full minutes because the bus lane is full of selfish motorists like yourself.

 

i disagree with that. Many times, the traffic jam is due to too many cars on the road, not lorries and heavy vehicles. i m all for cars and bikes to stay out of bus lanes, but it doesn't make sense to chase lorries and slow moving vehicles out as well. Here are my reasoning:

 

1. Lorries and slow moving vehicles are going at 40-60km/h. Their speed are compatible with buses full of passengers. i m not saying to make sure they are inside there forever, but they shd be able to use the bus lanes when needed.

 

2. When speaking of kerb side activities, i think the amount of kerb side activities due to lorries and slow moving vehicles is compatible with buses. you can see for urself like roadworks, transportation of goods are mainly on the left. with such huge vehicles, the turning speed is slow. it is more likely to obstruct traffic than anything else.

 

3. it seems like bus lane only for public buses. the private buses seems to be left out. what is the meaning of this?

[Kutrax]

If the lorries r carrying passenger then all means go ahead use that lane.

 

i support the bus lane..

 

No prob with the lorry jamming the road..

[arae136]

i think it takes a lot of discipline if they are to allow that, and maybe the LTA doesnt trust drivers to be courteous when its congested. " kerb side activities " is precisely what they dont encourage of lorries, imagine, once they allow lorries to use bus lane, next, they may start loading / unloading pple ( goods ) there.. its human nature, once u get an inch, u want a foot. then it will really make bus rides even longer than they ald are.

Edited April 22, 2010 by arae136

[BLACK COMET]

I think the whole issue should not be about bus lanes or whatsoever.

 

I believe the real issues is about those slow moving jokers at lane 1.

[Mark C.]

Peak hours.

Even open up bus lane to those "lorries or SLOW MOVING VEHICLE" also no use.

Because every idiot that hog the road THINK they are fast.

Haven we not see enough outer lane car trying their very BEST to filter in to their "exit'? and we got to stop by giving way becos their car "head" is out?

[ThePole]

i dun think u all r getting me.

 

as mentioned, lorries have a max speed of 60, some even lower. by moving them out to Lane 1 and 2, it will inevitably slow down the traffic as the chain is as strong as its weakest link. now, how fast can a bus go? max 60. if our bus scheduling can be up a few grade, i dun think there shd be more then 3 buses standing at a bus stop at any time, unless it is an interchange. so why can't all the lorries be taking the bus lane, thus effectively increase the speed of Lane 1 and 2 on a 70km/h road since theoretically speaking, bus lane can NEVER have a speed above 60.

 

of course, unless someone wanted to degrade the speed for an excuse to put some gantries, but let's not wander too far away...

[Fatbusa]

Bus lane is a very good idea.but stupid on the markings at various road when Left turn+Bus lane+traffic warrant with camera meets.

Some laws seem to be not so reasonable but most are beneficial to majority public only some are beneficial to the limited.

[Mark C.]

Commuter already not satisfied or infact angry with bus service due to long waiting time and bus fare.

Say if lorries are allow in bus lane, i guess bus driver will kena slap left right center plus up down.

[Orleng]

How fast the vehicle is allowed to move is irrelevant. As long as you have vehicles crammed into the bus lane, it's potentially going to slow the buses down. You may say that the max on certain stretches of the road is 70kmph. Question is, do vehicles ALL travel at that same speed all the time during congested hours? Even if you want to say that the slower vans and buses contribute to this, how often do you see a vehicle with a large gap in front of it?

 

Traffic is self-correcting. You see a slow van moving at 40, vehicles will overtake and the change lane in front of it. To be frank, when have you seen an empty spot for long during rush hour? In other words, the function of speed due to traffic capacity of the road is mainly the limiting factor. How many vehicles it can carry per unit time.

 

You might want to then say, remove these vehicles travelling at 40kmph! But, if you drop these similarly slow-moving vehicles into the bus lane, won't it then impede the bus' max speed of 60kmph? Priorty is public transport. Especially with the newer standards to increase frequency during peak hour. It is more likely to be adversely affected by the introduction of slow-moving vehicles. Imagine one impingement due to slow vans/lorries per few hundred meters, affecting 5-10routes utilising that bus lane, multiplied by number of services, 1 per 10(or issit 12) min waiting time max per service. Vehicles in other lanes have the option of over-taking these slow-movers. Buses don't.

 

If your arguement is going to be that selfish drivers will not give way, selfish being the van/lorry drivers, for cars to move, by travelling in lane 1. Don't you think it's also likely that these are the very people who'll do things like offloading cargo/passengers from the side of the road in a bus lane? You might be tempted to say, let these fellas travel in the bus lane until they see a bus and get out of the way. The way Singaporeans drive, it's unlikely the van/lorry will be able to exit the bus lane even if it wanted to. And if it did, it would affect smooth traffic flow anyway.

 

In simpler words, it'll hamper the further improvement of the public transportation situation. Moreover, 70kmph speed limits, in rush hour traffic, even if you remove the slow-moving vehicles, how many ppl can consistently maintain >60kmph? With all the tailgating and brake-tapping, it's more likely than not to not reach those speeds. If your argument is that some slow vehicle further up is causing a knock-on effect, don't you think it's possible that it may have the same effect if these vehicles end up in the bus lane too?

 

By the way, school and factory buses are allowed to use the bus lanes, just that they may not pick up / drop off passengers within those lanes.

 

Anyway, from what I can recall, majority of the bus lanes seem to be on 60kmph roads. Those on 70kmph roads are typically roads with 4lanes too no?

 

In other words. Bus lanes are a good idea as it is. I don't like the inconvenience of lane-splitting under these conditions either. So I either leave early or learn to live with it. I'm all for improving public transport.

 

*Disclaimer : These are my personal views, thoughts and considerations. They in no way represent any 3rd party or organisation. I have never worked for any company or agency involved in public/private transportation. All information is a collection of course modules, publicly available information as well as personal observations as a road user.*

 

P.S.: Spare a thought for those poor sods who have to endure the human crush on the buses during their daily commute. They don't have the luxury of personal transport like us! Remember we used to be one of them too!

[mesa]

Agree.. I take public to work cos got direct bus, previously without bus lane... the journey would be around 30mins to 40mins..so i ride to work.. now with the bus lane at certain sections of the journey.. it takes about 20 to 25 mins.. i ride to work, + go into carpark around 15 to 20mins.

 

So i am all good for the bus lane. really helps alot.

[SlowButSteady Bro]

i disagree with that. Many times, the traffic jam is due to too many cars on the road, not lorries and heavy vehicles. i m all for cars and bikes to stay out of bus lanes, but it doesn't make sense to chase lorries and slow moving vehicles out as well. Here are my reasoning:

 

1. Lorries and slow moving vehicles are going at 40-60km/h. Their speed are compatible with buses full of passengers. i m not saying to make sure they are inside there forever, but they shd be able to use the bus lanes when needed.

 

2. When speaking of kerb side activities, i think the amount of kerb side activities due to lorries and slow moving vehicles is compatible with buses. you can see for urself like roadworks, transportation of goods are mainly on the left. with such huge vehicles, the turning speed is slow. it is more likely to obstruct traffic than anything else.

 

3. it seems like bus lane only for public buses. the private buses seems to be left out. what is the meaning of this?

 

 

Private buses/Vans with PA/PC/CB can still use the bus lane during operational time provided they dont anyhow stop by the roadside for alighting/boarding activities,Learn all this when i take Vocational licence last time.

[craz_03]

i dun think u all r getting me.

 

as mentioned, lorries have a max speed of 60, some even lower. by moving them out to Lane 1 and 2, it will inevitably slow down the traffic as the chain is as strong as its weakest link. now, how fast can a bus go? max 60. if our bus scheduling can be up a few grade, i dun think there shd be more then 3 buses standing at a bus stop at any time, unless it is an interchange. so why can't all the lorries be taking the bus lane, thus effectively increase the speed of Lane 1 and 2 on a 70km/h road since theoretically speaking, bus lane can NEVER have a speed above 60.

 

of course, unless someone wanted to degrade the speed for an excuse to put some gantries, but let's not wander too far away...

 

as u mentioned...

u're juz trying to get support for ur conclusion n ideas..

 

firstly, not all lorries/vans have a max speed of 60..

Y plates are 60, while G plates are @ 70km/h...

 

n they are able to take the first lane if its a 60-70km/h stretch of road if u not sure....

 

while u said its congested traffic..

how do u expect every vehicles to travel @ 60-70?

 

n pls.. show some humanity for the drivers...

they are working...

they have long hrs on the roads,

n not all of them drive recklessly like taxis..

 

if u wan to be fast in a jam, go ride up on the pavement, no one is stopping u..

 

everyone tolerates the jam, n no one hopes for it to happen, as well as accidents happening..

 

its juz sometimes, somewhere, something juz have to happen..

if u wanna blame,

 

blame on the gahment for not forsee-ing the rapid rise of cars in sg ( or they purposely did it to gain more $$ for their pockets)

 

n also for not building xpressways which are expandable in some areas,

 

especially, aye => ecp near vivo that area onwards,

cte -> city / -> sle always jammed on evening timings n mornings with the beep beep machine.//

 

n pie exit -> cte/sle definitely jam in the evening to night

 

n pie exit - > bke... for the fellas going to boleh land.. lol

 

How fast the vehicle is allowed to move is irrelevant. As long as you have vehicles crammed into the bus lane, it's potentially going to slow the buses down. You may say that the max on certain stretches of the road is 70kmph. Question is, do vehicles ALL travel at that same speed all the time during congested hours? Even if you want to say that the slower vans and buses contribute to this, how often do you see a vehicle with a large gap in front of it?

 

Traffic is self-correcting. You see a slow van moving at 40, vehicles will overtake and the change lane in front of it. To be frank, when have you seen an empty spot for long during rush hour? In other words, the function of speed due to traffic capacity of the road is mainly the limiting factor. How many vehicles it can carry per unit time.

 

You might want to then say, remove these vehicles travelling at 40kmph! But, if you drop these similarly slow-moving vehicles into the bus lane, won't it then impede the bus' max speed of 60kmph? Priorty is public transport. Especially with the newer standards to increase frequency during peak hour. It is more likely to be adversely affected by the introduction of slow-moving vehicles. Imagine one impingement due to slow vans/lorries per few hundred meters, affecting 5-10routes utilising that bus lane, multiplied by number of services, 1 per 10(or issit 12) min waiting time max per service. Vehicles in other lanes have the option of over-taking these slow-movers. Buses don't.

 

If your arguement is going to be that selfish drivers will not give way, selfish being the van/lorry drivers, for cars to move, by travelling in lane 1. Don't you think it's also likely that these are the very people who'll do things like offloading cargo/passengers from the side of the road in a bus lane? You might be tempted to say, let these fellas travel in the bus lane until they see a bus and get out of the way. The way Singaporeans drive, it's unlikely the van/lorry will be able to exit the bus lane even if it wanted to. And if it did, it would affect smooth traffic flow anyway.

 

In simpler words, it'll hamper the further improvement of the public transportation situation. Moreover, 70kmph speed limits, in rush hour traffic, even if you remove the slow-moving vehicles, how many ppl can consistently maintain >60kmph? With all the tailgating and brake-tapping, it's more likely than not to not reach those speeds. If your argument is that some slow vehicle further up is causing a knock-on effect, don't you think it's possible that it may have the same effect if these vehicles end up in the bus lane too?

 

By the way, school and factory buses are allowed to use the bus lanes, just that they may not pick up / drop off passengers within those lanes.

 

Anyway, from what I can recall, majority of the bus lanes seem to be on 60kmph roads. Those on 70kmph roads are typically roads with 4lanes too no?

 

In other words. Bus lanes are a good idea as it is. I don't like the inconvenience of lane-splitting under these conditions either. So I either leave early or learn to live with it. I'm all for improving public transport.

 

*Disclaimer : These are my personal views, thoughts and considerations. They in no way represent any 3rd party or organisation. I have never worked for any company or agency involved in public/private transportation. All information is a collection of course modules, publicly available information as well as personal observations as a road user.*

 

P.S.: Spare a thought for those poor sods who have to endure the human crush on the buses during their daily commute. They don't have the luxury of personal transport like us! Remember we used to be one of them too!

 

Private buses/Vans with PA/PC/CB can still use the bus lane during operational time provided they dont anyhow stop by the roadside for alighting/boarding activities,Learn all this when i take Vocational licence last time.

 

thumbs up for the msg!

[Mark C.]

We are having Healthy discussion, each of us here got own POV, although might not agree to some, at least we learn something from each other.

Ride safe.

[zpjohnny]

i have seen many cases that jams are caused due to peak hours cars going work or going home, numbers are too much that it got clogged up not because of big vehicles or slow moving vehicles or busses. its just the numbers of cars are too many thats all.

 

thats why they classify it as peak hours.

 

another interesting trend i noticed, we can find only in singapore, 40% of cars within a traffic light stops, their stopping distances are half a car and some even 1 car distance....... and with so, car queues gets longer all the way till next traffic lights.

 

ironically singapores road designs that wanna beneficial road users back fired in peak hours. with more and more traffic lights, cars are all dispersed and traffic light timing also shorter and shorter.

 

compare mysia traffic light timings and sg and u will kn0w, perfect traffic light condition is red light, distance from this light till behind, turned green cars move off with timing juz nice for end to clear before next batch fills the gap from T lights behind.

 

but noooo sg de lights take hougang examples, short distances but can see 3 traffic lights back to back from far and when green, all green together wtf, if travel at 30 or 40 km/hr, by time reach 2nd traffic light red liao, and junction behind more cars poured in, so more traffic lights are the root cause of the jams we experiencing, bus lanes too controversial and sensitive and diff POV have their own truths.

[Penge83]

Is good idea for bus lane to accomodate heavy vehicle and ambulans. It should allow motorcycle in the lane as well cos it does not occupied space. Motorbike can easily squeeze out to the right a little to give way or overtake bus in the bus lane. It is also safe for motorcyclist riding on bus lane during heavy traffic period.

[zpjohnny]

Is good idea for bus lane to accomodate heavy vehicle and ambulans. It should allow motorcycle in the lane as well cos it does not occupied space. Motorbike can easily squeeze out to the right a little to give way or overtake bus in the bus lane. It is also safe for motorcyclist riding on bus lane during heavy traffic period.

 

Totally agreed on ur opinions, if i dun recall mistakenly, bus lanes are introduced so that buses are able to commute at their scheduled times by removing all vehicles from their lanes, but as bikes are smaller and easier in moving, in another different safety aspect point of view without causing any delays in bus lanes, shouldnt bikes be allowed to ride at bus lanes rather than filtering left right center during peak hours when its a nuisance to cars when we ride pass them and bang their side mirrors or even collide with other bikers ?

 

bikes using bus lanes to filter thru till traffic doesnt affect bus operation schedules.

Cars, lorries, vans or any other slower vehicles will affect the bus operation if allowed due to the helsinki effect.

If ambulances is allowed to ride on bus lanes in emergency, imagine that location always have ambulances and clogged up bus lanes, it doesnt change the facts that ambulances shouldnt be allowed in bus lanes too.

 

singapore seriously have a very serious problems with all the scholars implementing monkey see monkey do rules.

 

ERP initially used to control traffics first implemented, Now to get results, more ERP gantry, increased gantry charges and disregard locations because the monkey was told thats wad it is used for.

 

so example the city entry gantry with super jams kept increasing values from 1.50 to 3 dollar to 5 dollar to 10 dollar, to 20 dollar, it doesnt change the facts people need to use the roads to get to their destinations, so what if 50 years later when ERP charge is 50 dollar ? when generations of monkeys failed to read the conceptual reasons in initial implementations ?

 

1 day 2 trip 100 dollar, 1 month 20 trip for normal hours, 2000 dollar to prevent us from going back at peak hours ? ends up no one takes the road, LTA scholar monkeys solved jams 100% gets a cookie and every jam from 9pm onward cause ERP off then what ?

monkey scholars once again implement peak hours from 4.30 till 10pm ? then all stayed at company till 10pm then jam all the way from 10pm onward ?

 

adding gantry and increasing ERP's is not the solution to improve traffic flows, i hoped it doesnt comes to 1 ERP costs 50 dollar for every monkeys to noticed and say "oops" we are wrong and zpjohnny is right.

 

unless the chargings is indirectly funding the monkey's owners to make sinkapoh a world class hub and continue stuffing more and more buildings and offices in the congested city area expecting people to rent or buy or invest units on it when its users are too poor to pay for the ERP's. it will simply backfire back to them.

 

everyone changes to taking bus to to overwhelmed ERP and road tax, bus companies increase operation, due to fuel, erp and road tax, bus charges went up year after year by 50 years later, it will cost a mere 5 dollar a trip to work as its the main provider of transportation, u not happy can ride bicycle, then singapore just became what china was in 19th century when its in 21st century, whole road full of bikes with 2 bus lanes and 1 lane for VIP's, monkey scholars and their owner.

[Exu]

I'm sure LTA had given thoughts of opening up bus lanes to lorries and trucks.. but as our current bus lanes remain as it is, this would meant that opening up the lanes to any other vehicles other than buses remains infeasible.