Does the Bus Pass make the roads safer?

General Discussion Forums Car Talk
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I hold a bus pass, and use it because it is convenient and ‘free’ (I pay for it in the Council Tax though), and I’m also old enough to get similarly ‘free’ swimming at the local pool (which has a pay and display car-park).   Several other regular swimmers are the same. 

Except today (beautifully bright and sunny in London) three of us turned up in our cars and parked in the ‘Brown Badge’ over-65 slots where there is more room for opening doors and getting out of cars slowly…

I was in the Niseko, and there was a one-year-old SL500, and a Cougar (1960s kit car with triple SU straight-six Jag engine).  I didn’t know they had these cars until today, as we normally use the bus or they sometimes use little runabouts, and we tend not to talk about cars at the pool. 

The cougar looks a bit like this pic

http://www.classiccarhireassociation.co.uk/images/upload/big_23845_111428143151583bf0da441.jpg

After I said ‘On a day like this the convertible is so much better than using the bus pass’, the SL owner quipped that “But the bus pass makes the roads a safer place.” and the Cougar owner replied “Too true, I nearly wrote this off last year, not paying enough attention to the rest of the traffic.”

This got me thinking while churning up and down the lane.  Mr SL was right; everyone I know (including myself) who is as old or older than me is a less attentive driver - while slower and more careful and more experienced and more responsible we are also more prone to lapses of concentration and slower to react to the unexpected than we were years ago.  And worse, we can also afford bigger and/or faster cars. 

Then thinking about who else is usually on the bus (some very old and frail) I was relieved those people were not driving! Every one of the aged white heads was sitting in a safe place, and not able to cause an accident.

This makes me think there is a very strong economic case for promoting free public transport for everyone over 60 (or maybe 65), not just on the buses as now but also tubes and local rail, just to keep them (us) off the roads as much as possible.  The national saving on costs consequent on accidents would more than pay for the scheme, and the bonus is that it would free up more space on the roads.  I get free tube and overground trains etc in London because of where I live, a mile further out and I would not; why should geography penalise people?

It is quicker for me to take the tube into London than drive the thirteen or so miles, and less stress.  It takes fifteen minutes on two buses to get to the pool, or five minutes in the car; I can afford the extra ten minutes each way if I don’t have to pay for the car-park or the petrol and wear and tear on the car.

Free public transport for the elderly is beginning to make a lot of sense!

 

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Couple that with not allowing anyone under 30 to drive without a parent present, and you’ll probably solve Londons congestion problems too.

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I qualify for a bus pass, but live in the country. People die waiting for the buses out here…

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Same here, but the last bus that came along was in 1985!

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Have to agree, if you live in a city / town with an integrated transport system then it makes perfect sense in terms of lowering congestion with the bonus of lowering Co2 emissions. If however you live in an even semi rural area of the country, buses are a rarity and a half mile walk to the stop. The train station is a mile away and taxi fares are extortionate.

Bus pass just pads out the wallet.

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I agree.  And I’ve owned cars and/or motorbikes for fifty years, but times are changing and I’m wondering if there might be ways to help with local transport which could benefit more people, and save lives and money.

Remember that the majority of the UK population live in towns, and when I see all the urban cars just clogging the roads, either parked outside their houses or stuck in jams I question how many cars are really needed in the larger towns and big cities, especially where there is heavy commuter traffic. 

I used to commute around the M25, and it was saturated with everyone driving on their limit of concentration, and the smallest incident could be a sufficient distraction that it ground to a halt (Once I remember a good looking blonde standing in front of her parked 4x4 stopped the oncoming traffic for maybe twenty miles.)  Part of the reason I retired (apart from getting too old) was that I could no longer maintain the relaxed concentration on the journey and the stress was building, and I was aware of too many people taking risks, pushing past the speed limits and driving much too close.  I drove because the 38 mile trip could be done in 35 minutes at the right time on a good day and more normally 50 minutes, but the trains would have been two and a half hours each way if they connected reliably; short of moving house, the car was the only solution and eventually for the last couple of years on-line-commuting working from home.

An example of one way forward.  My daughter lives in London and does not own a car, but she drives one a few times a month for occasional journeys because she is a member of a pay-by-the-hour/mile rental scheme via a phone app.  She spends a couple of hundred pounds a year on driving, and a bit more than a thousand a year on public transport.  I reckon each of my two cars is costing me just under two thousand a year, and if they were newer and higher annual mileage then would possibly be closer to three thousand.  So she is actually better off and yet still can use a nearly new car when she needs it, without having to maintain it or keep it anywhere.  And her garage is now a useful utility/store room!

There must be other ways that we can still have a car for the awkward difficult journeys, but still use public transport more frequently for the boring routine such as commuting, or the slow and impossible to park journeys such as going into central London.

 

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Parking in central London is actually easier than parking at my nearest train station (40 miles outside), which says it all about the competence of town planners.

The bus to reach the station (5 miles away) away takes 40 minutes and does not coincide with train times, which says it all about public transport.

Using google maps, I often click on the public transport option as a form of amusement, to see an easy drive (between two points outside London) of 35 minutes become a 2-3 hr nightmare of walking (in all weathers), waiting, bus, waiting, train, waiting, another train, waiting, bus, walking. (That’s assuming the trains are even running at all of course).

At least it’s amusing now, until our EU overloads decide that it’s illegal (or make it punitively expensive) to use private cars.

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Don’t worry about that happening, the French would rise up and drag the whole Commission on a one-way trip to “la Guillotine”.

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Of course it does ! it gets me home from the pub when I’ve had a few !!

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Personally I think the roads would be safer if they banned busses… and bus lanes etc.

Here’s an example; pulled up at lights in London last Sunday, there were 2 lanes I was in the right one, a bus pulls into the left one, and misses my mirror by no more than an inch! he then waves at me as he wants to turn right when the lights change… so ban them and lets have the bus lanes back.!

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Living in a semi rural location I think buses should be banned other than at peak times. They trundle around here all day either completely empty or with one or two passengers. How can this be economical for the bus companies or environmentally friendly. I no idea how big a bus engine is but I would guess around 6 litres?

and can someone just remind me again, why do people who can afford to run an SL500’ a Cougar Kit or a nice MX5 get free swimming?

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H’mmm - points of view ! YMMV.

I’m now 82, one car only - all my life. Yes I could get a bus pass, but for what? I can drive to a park and ride and catch a free link bus to the Hospital if I have to visit, otherwise I don’t go into Nottingham at all - I hate the place. As for driving ability - well I took a ROSPA driving test at 80, to see if I was still fit to drive. At the end the instructor said “I’d travel with you anytime”, which was assurance to me I wasn’t past it. If he’d said “Give it up mate” then I would have. Motorways don’t bother me, though traffic jams if I’m in a hurry do. Partially agree with Martins view, as we lost one lane of a dual carriageway for a bus lane, which is infrequently used even at rush hour. We are permitted to use it - for left turns,but it’s a bit of hassle if there’s a bus on your tail.

Now we have a tram, which I could catch to visit the Hospital (QMC) - it stops outside - at the back of an enormous building. I have a half mile walk to catch it, and another trek inside the building to get to the ward I have to visit - at the front of the building. I drive fine, but my ancient legs don’t walk so good, so a nearly mile long walk would have my legs screaming at me. At 80 - my son and I drove for six hours each to get to our destination, a village in the centre of France (we had to detour through Rouen, as the toll road was shut, so we got lost.) Yes - we did stop for twenty minute breaks along the way, but it still took 12 hours. Only time I got worried, ws on the way back, when due to the road closure we came back a different route, and hit the rush hour traffic around Paris, it wan’t the speed, or the number of lanes - it was not knowing where we were going that bothered me - you trust in blind faith!

Then there’s the other aspect - catch a bus or a train, or wait in a GP’s waiting room, and two days later you go down with a bug, a cold, or whatever is flavour of the week. People do that to you. My car doesn’t do anything, other than give me a big smile when I arrive, and when I get back home. You don’t get much to smile about on a bus - or a train. Vive la automobile!

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"…less attentive driver…more prone to lapses of concentration and slower to react to the unexpected…anybody who thinks that aplies to them, should seriously think about giving up thier licence!

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And how many huge 4x4’s , Range Rovers, Cayennes, etc. do you see roaring round country roads with only the driver in them?

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Sounds like someone on a mobile phone to me

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In the 43 years since I passed my driving test in early 1973, of the sundry scrapes, knocks,

and occasional crashes… in cars, I can’t recall any that were caused by majorly older drivers.

 

In contrast, a few months after I passed my test, post-university and not too sure what to do next,

and with a need to pay rent, I worked as a bus driver with Glasgow Corporation Transport.

18 months, and 7 crashes later, I left for computer work, in line with my education. 

 

The timetables were tight, the buses were hard driven, and at the time I didn’t have the impression

that my crash rate was anything much other than…’… goes with the territory…’.

 

I don’t believe older drivers are a particular problem, or risk.

 

 

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And how many huge 4x4’s , Range Rovers, Cayennes, etc. do you see roaring round country roads with only the driver in them?

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I think  we ought to be a bit careful with this one! With mx5,s only doing around 30 mph it might be a case of “Glass houses and throwing stones” etc. I drive a LWB Shogun, with does more mpg than my Mx5.

 

 

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“7 crashes in 18months and then I went for computer work” … now I know why computers keep crashing…