Bad bus stops

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Stevie D
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Bad bus stops

Post by Stevie D »

(Apologise if there is already an appropriate thread for this, but as the forum search doesn't allow words of up to 3 characters, I can't search for either "bus" or "A38" to find one...)

I'm sure these aren't the worst sited bus stops in the country by any means, but they don't look at all sensible to me.
A38 Heathfield roundabout

From the buses' point of view, they are absolutely fine – the roundabout is signal-controlled so the driver hasn't got to worry about pulling into fast-flowing traffic – but from the passengers' point of view, they look horrendous. The stops, used by the X38 express route between Exeter and Plymouth, are on the roundabout, within the flares for the A382. There is a decent footway round the northern side of the roundabout, with a 1-or-2-stage controlled crossing to the northbound stop across the A382(W) entry, a 2-stage controlled crossing over the northbound slip onto the A38, a controlled crossing over the southbound slip off the A38, but a take-your-life-in-your-hands-and-run crossing over the 2-lane exit to A382(E) to access the southbound stop. All of which still looks better than it was 12 years ago or so when all the crossings were uncontrolled, although at least the roads were narrower so you weren't chancing it across quite so many lanes at a time.

What's the most worst bus stop that you know of?
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jervi
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by jervi »

How well used are those stops on the roundabout???

The bus stops on the A27 (D3) by Brighton/Sussex Uni I think are some of the most dangerous ones in the UK. There cannot be too many bus stops on D3 NSL roads in the country, but these ones are heavily used as it takes students into the city. Westbound they form part of the on slip from Falmer Station (which is a really poor junction anyway).
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.86258 ... 312!8i6656
Eastbound isn't so bad as busses take the slip road to access the other bus stop for the village which is located on the on-slip https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.86303 ... 312!8i6656

Another oddly positioned bus stop would be this one in Bourne. It is located within a signalized junction, and I presume due to the bus stop there has to be lights on the exits of the junctions to protect pedestrian crossings from busses. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.76827 ... 312!8i6656
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Big Nick
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Big Nick »

I give you this pair of stops on the North Circular in South Woodford. Bus drivers must have nerves of steel when pulling away from these stops.
Steep ramps down to them, graffiti, next to the busiest stretch of road in the area. Coincidentally this is how we learnt my grandmother had senile dementia - she was rescued by the police after trying to cross the road here many years ago.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.59593 ... 384!8i8192
JRN
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by JRN »

jervi wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 21:35 How well used are those stops on the roundabout???

The bus stops on the A27 (D3) by Brighton/Sussex Uni I think are some of the most dangerous ones in the UK. There cannot be too many bus stops on D3 NSL roads in the country, but these ones are heavily used as it takes students into the city. Westbound they form part of the on slip from Falmer Station (which is a really poor junction anyway).
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.86258 ... 312!8i6656
Eastbound isn't so bad as busses take the slip road to access the other bus stop for the village which is located on the on-slip https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.86303 ... 312!8i6656

Another oddly positioned bus stop would be this one in Bourne. It is located within a signalized junction, and I presume due to the bus stop there has to be lights on the exits of the junctions to protect pedestrian crossings from busses. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.76827 ... 312!8i6656
Off-topic I know but I was interested to see articulated busses in that first GSV. Brighton must be one of the few places in the country using them?
Herned
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Herned »

jervi wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 21:35 How well used are those stops on the roundabout???
I can't comment on that specific stop, but the Falcon service between Plymouth and Bristol is very popular - it runs up the A38/M5 and only stops on the edge of towns, so that will be the main stop for Newton Abbot and surrounding areas. In normal times it runs hourly 24 hours a day - I would expect that stop to be much busier than it's location would suggest
doebag
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by doebag »

Big Nick wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 21:39 I give you this pair of stops on the North Circular in South Woodford. Bus drivers must have nerves of steel when pulling away from these stops.
Steep ramps down to them, graffiti, next to the busiest stretch of road in the area. Coincidentally this is how we learnt my grandmother had senile dementia - she was rescued by the police after trying to cross the road here many years ago.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.59593 ... 384!8i8192
Beat me to it. When I first started secondary school Gates Corner was the old flat crossroads junction. By the time I left it was as it is now and those two bus stops were my daily use. Before it was completed that bus stop was accessed by ramps supported on scaffolding.
Crimbo13
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Crimbo13 »

Crostons Rd
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HrVjQbTNRSBGvgxD9 this stop in Bury has 5 different bus services using it. It's on a bend at a set of traffic lights in a layby barely big enough for a bus. It's lightly used by passenger's and there are other bus stops in the area that allow for access to the areas it serves, there has been calls for a long time to remove it but due to historical reasons TFGM insist on keeping it.

Many of the bus stops in Bury town centre are built on curves rather than straight pieces of road....
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Stevie D
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Stevie D »

JRN wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 22:37Off-topic I know but I was interested to see articulated busses in that first GSV. Brighton must be one of the few places in the country using them?
Yes – bendies have never caught on in Britain the same as they have done in some other countries, and while there was a renewed interest in them in the late 1990s and early 2000s that has now fizzled out and most of the buses bought during that period have been sent to the great bus depot in the sky (or in the ground). First still have a few in use in York and Aberdeen but I think that's all, Arriva look like they have got rid of all of theirs now, I can't see any still in use with McGills, Cardiff Bus or Konect, so Brighton & Hove's 19 remaining artics might make up more than half of what remains in stagecarriage service ... although quite a few airports use some form of bendy bus for internal and shuttle transit.

But there is also the Belfast Glider, which launched about 3 years ago with 30 brand new artic buses, almost as many as I've found remaining in the whole of GB!
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Stevie D
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Stevie D »

Herned wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 08:53
jervi wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 21:35 How well used are those stops on the roundabout???
I can't comment on that specific stop, but the Falcon service between Plymouth and Bristol is very popular - it runs up the A38/M5 and only stops on the edge of towns, so that will be the main stop for Newton Abbot and surrounding areas. In normal times it runs hourly 24 hours a day - I would expect that stop to be much busier than it's location would suggest
Ah, interesting, I've just had another look and as well as the X38 and Falcon, it is also served by the half-hourly bus from Newton Abbot to Bovey Tracey, which in both directions does a full lap of the roundabout to call at both stops, presumably that is to allow passengers to interchange safely with the long-distance routes and not have to walk round the roundabout or cross any roads at all. Which maybe is a sensible way of doing things, even if a little unconventional.
aj444
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by aj444 »

Just try pulling out of this one on the A38 too, but near to Burton on Trent.
It's no longer used thankfully, but the bus still goes past.

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7613285 ... 384!8i8192
BigBazz
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by BigBazz »

How about this one on the A41 Hendon Way, right by Brent Cross Flyover? https://goo.gl/maps/yPJuf4KwGHf57V3x8

Less than 40 metres from the end of the merge (just over 50 metres from the end of the "island") to the start of the bus stop cage, with both the mainline of the A41 and the sliproad having a 40mph limit.

No doubt a source of numerous brown trousers moments if there's a bus at the stop and vehicles in lane 1 on the flyover preventing you from moving across in the (limited) space available!
matt-thepie
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by matt-thepie »

I nominate the stops on the A90 at Tipperty. It's D2, NSL, and pedestrians have to run across the carriageway!

Really wish they had sorted out these remaining at-grade junctions and bus stops as part of the AWPR works.
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vlad
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by vlad »

There's this one on the M60 a/c to A5103 s/b slip road - in such a place that it requires a dedicated bus-only route through the interchange. At least there's a bridge across the road.

If you want something on a road with a lower speed limit there's this one on the A52. From StreetView it looks fairly normal - except that all the bus routes go straight on at the next set of lights, requiring drivers to move into the right-hand lane immediately on leaving the lay-by. There's normally quite a queue for the lights as well....
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jabbaboy
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by jabbaboy »

vlad wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 20:44 If you want something on a road with a lower speed limit there's this one on the A52. From StreetView it looks fairly normal - except that all the bus routes go straight on at the next set of lights, requiring drivers to move into the right-hand lane immediately on leaving the lay-by. There's normally quite a queue for the lights as well....
That reminds me of the one on the Coast Road in North Tyneside bar the gap is much shorter and they turn right instead. The yellow boxes are quite new but now there's just buses blocking lane 2 since the straight ahead movement goes first. Not to mention the box doesn't really work without breaking the highway code since buses aren't exempt.

https://goo.gl/maps/BL7AcNyqbvC7j2ip9
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FleetlinePhil
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by FleetlinePhil »

This one on the A58 in Sowerby Bridge used to be a pain for the few buses that required to get into the outside lane to turn right at the lights and up the A6139 Tuel Lane, as the queue for the right turn light was often back past the stop and the whole job would stop until somebody let you out. We used to operate a works contract to the Volex factory in Todmorden that operated this way, otherwise it was only an hourly route (574) operated by Halifax garage that made this turn.

Over in Prague, the stop at Pelc Tyrolka must be one of the bleakest, and definitely an odd one as far as its bus service goes. It is the terminus of a short service (187) from the station at Holešovice on the other side of the river, and serves a campus of the Charles University reached via a footpath off to the right. At least departing buses are leaving the D2 via the first exit to loop back over the bridge.
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Iain
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Iain »

This one in Kenilworth is dangerously sited too near a zebra crossing.

When buses stop to collect passengers they park on the zig-zags obscuring views of the crossing.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.34818 ... 312!8i6656
A brimful of asha on the M45.
SteelCamel
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by SteelCamel »

Nothing much wrong with this one https://goo.gl/maps/RAoWECMXNv6gJtXZ9 - OK, not ideal that you have to cross the road to reach it, but there's worse about. Then they built a footpath/cycleway and added a crossing - https://goo.gl/maps/Gq51EvatdrCyBuuy9 - but initially left the bus stop where it was. Problem - while it's much easier to reach the stop, it's illegal for the bus to stop at it! The bus drivers would just before the zig-zags, forcing passengers to wade through the grass to get to the bus. After many complaints, the stop was pretty quickly moved further back (and given an access off the new path).
aj444
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by aj444 »

Buses are exempt from zig zag line markings when alighting or boarding passengers....
Not that that makes it somehow magically safe of course!
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frediculous_biggs
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by frediculous_biggs »

I can't imagine this one, on the approach to the Blackwall tunnel, is a particularly pleasant place to wait

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.51097 ... authuser=0
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Fenlander
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Re: Bad bus stops

Post by Fenlander »

This one on Spalding Road, Pinchbeck is placed in the left turn lane for the traffic lights, the bus route goes straight on so you often get conflicts.
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