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Can bus only road exist in Birmingham?

Started by :D, June 29, 2019, 06:15:53 PM

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:D

A good example for us to look at is Manchester's Oxford road. It's about 1.5 mile road, and only buses and bicycles are allowed to use the road for most of the day.

Despite a lot of buses using it, it rarely gets congested during rush hours.

Can a similar road exist in Birmingham?

And which road will that be?

Ginger66

Quote from: :D on June 29, 2019, 06:15:53 PM
A good example for us to look at is Manchester's Oxford road. It's about 1.5 mile road, and only buses and bicycles are allowed to use the road for most of the day.

Despite a lot of buses using it, it rarely gets congested during rush hours.

Can a similar road exist in Birmingham?

And which road will that be?

Friar park road, wednesbury has a very small section of road dedicated to bus/taxi and bike

Jack

#2
Quote from: Ginger66 on July 02, 2019, 10:58:40 AM
Friar park road, wednesbury has a very small section of road dedicated to bus/taxi and bike
That's the one in front of the Lidl.
In Redditch there's numbers of roads that are bus only, primarily for the 57/58 routes.

markcf83

I'd nominate Priory Queensway for one......
Don't judge me until you've walked in my size ten shoes.

Stu

Quote from: :D on June 29, 2019, 06:15:53 PM
Can a similar road exist in Birmingham?

And which road will that be?

Changes have been made to the layout of roads within Birmingham city centre, and one can argue now that the whole layout is just utterly bizarre.

Road layouts appear to have been changed in order to benefit buses and taxis, but you still have a large number of motorists (individual car users) using certain routes through the city centre as 'through-routes'.

Roads such as Moor Street Queensway and Priory Queensway were designed in a way that the principal traffic flow would have been taxis and buses. But from observation, this doesn't appear to be the case.

The 'middle ring road' is a mess, so naturally motorists are trying to find ways to 'cut through' and avoid the congestion. Without realising they are adding further to the congestion within the city centre.

Without demolishing the whole of Birmingham city centre and 'starting from scratch' with dedicated bus-only roads, I really can't see this happening to be honest.
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Sh4318

Quote from: Stu on July 02, 2019, 07:55:22 PM
Changes have been made to the layout of roads within Birmingham city centre, and one can argue now that the whole layout is just utterly bizarre.

Road layouts appear to have been changed in order to benefit buses and taxis, but you still have a large number of motorists (individual car users) using certain routes through the city centre as 'through-routes'.

Roads such as Moor Street Queensway and Priory Queensway were designed in a way that the principal traffic flow would have been taxis and buses. But from observation, this doesn't appear to be the case.

The 'middle ring road' is a mess, so naturally motorists are trying to find ways to 'cut through' and avoid the congestion. Without realising they are adding further to the congestion within the city centre.

Without demolishing the whole of Birmingham city centre and 'starting from scratch' with dedicated bus-only roads, I really can't see this happening to be honest.

Getting out of Birmingham City Centre by car is a task in itself! Ever since they closed Hill Street by Snobs, it's been unnecessarily difficult. If anything, I believe the opposite needs to be done, for roads to be made more accessible for cars
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karl724223

It would help if there was somebody in charge of traffic management knew what they was doing in Birmingham council

:D

Quote from: Ginger66 on July 02, 2019, 10:58:40 AM
Friar park road, wednesbury has a very small section of road dedicated to bus/taxi and bike

Ooh, an interesting example. I do recall seeing something like this but in a different location, does anyone have more examples of this?

Quote from: Stu on July 02, 2019, 07:55:22 PM
Changes have been made to the layout of roads within Birmingham city centre, and one can argue now that the whole layout is just utterly bizarre.

Road layouts appear to have been changed in order to benefit buses and taxis, but you still have a large number of motorists (individual car users) using certain routes through the city centre as 'through-routes'.

Roads such as Moor Street Queensway and Priory Queensway were designed in a way that the principal traffic flow would have been taxis and buses. But from observation, this doesn't appear to be the case.

The 'middle ring road' is a mess, so naturally motorists are trying to find ways to 'cut through' and avoid the congestion. Without realising they are adding further to the congestion within the city centre.

Without demolishing the whole of Birmingham city centre and 'starting from scratch' with dedicated bus-only roads, I really can't see this happening to be honest.

I agree, having driven through city centre a few times, it was sometimes quicker & easier to drive through the city centre than driving around on the ring road but it shouldn't happen to be honest really.

I've had a look at map, it seems that the road layout of Birmingham is far more complicated compared to Manchester.

So far, I've found two possible locations for bus only roads:

1. Broad Street.
2. Bath Row and Wheeleys Road/Arthur Road.

The option 2 provides the closest equivalent to Oxford road in Manchester. Any bus currently serving Harborne, Selly Oak or QE can use this road to skip the traffic on other major roads. Bristol Road from city centre up to the uni are not very well used and is adequately covered by Pershoe road buses anyway. I don't know Harborne buses well enough to comment about it though.

2206

#8
Wheeleys Road and Arthur Road are not very congested as it is, not sure what the point would be to make it bus only. People living on the road would probably would still need access to it aswell. 

University Corridor - X20/X21/X22 adequately cover Vincent Drive, Pritchatts Road, Edgbaston Park Road and Wheeleys Road/Arthur Road every 6/7 minutes as it is with double deckers, which is a lot better than it was in previous years. Don't think it needs any more services covering it.

Quote from: :D on July 06, 2019, 12:13:58 AM
No point. I've only commuted on these roads during rush hour and it was moderately congested. Did not consider it was pretty much empty outside rush hour periods. The other option I can think of is Gravelly Hill road but I'm not very well-versed in North Birmingham, no idea how well/badly would it fare if the model were to be implemented.

To be frank, as Stu has stated, Birmingham city layout makes bus only roads rather impractical.
Its Edgbaston Park Road approaching Church Road lights towards Birmingham that can get mildly congested at peak times round there, from what I've seen when using them.
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:D

Quote from: 2206 on July 06, 2019, 12:01:20 AM
Wheeleys Road and Arthur Road are not very congested as it is, not sure what the point would be to make it bus only. People living on the road would probably would be.
No point. I've only commuted on these roads during rush hour and it was moderately congested. Did not consider it was pretty much empty outside rush hour periods. The other option I can think of is Gravelly Hill road but I'm not very well-versed in North Birmingham, no idea how well/badly would it fare if the model were to be implemented.

To be frank, as Stu has stated, Birmingham city layout makes bus only roads rather impractical.

MasterPlan

Quote from: 2206 on July 06, 2019, 12:01:20 AM
Its Edgbaston Park Road approaching Church Road lights towards Birmingham that can get mildly congested at peak times round there, from what I've seen when using them.

Agreed. That's where the problem lies usually with traffic on these routes. It can be mild but sometimes it can get ridiculous too. Personally I think there's an opportunity there for a bus/taxi only road with exceptions to Uni personnel only.
Local Routes: 002, 39/39A, X21, 46, 76.
Localish Routes: 18, 23, X22.

MasterPlan

Quote from: MasterPlan on July 06, 2019, 07:46:31 AM
Agreed. That's where the problem lies usually with traffic on these routes. It can be mild but sometimes it can get ridiculous too plus it can be going both ways. Personally I think there's an opportunity there for a bus/taxi only road with exceptions to Uni personnel only.
Local Routes: 002, 39/39A, X21, 46, 76.
Localish Routes: 18, 23, X22.

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