Coronavirus: Private and Commercial transport

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mfmman
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by mfmman »

Looking at that chart, I'm seeing drops all through last week and over the weekend then a slight upturn on Monday (30th), there isn't any data for yesterday. Monday was lower than what I would expect to have been the most recent comparable day (Thursday). I don't see that as an increase, more a demonstration that people in general were abiding by the rules over the weekend and weekday traffic is still declining. I was surprised that it was described as concerning, being as the weekday private car usage continues to decline
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trickstat
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by trickstat »

It may have partly just been the case that a high percentage of people who hadn't been food shopping for over a week had reached the point where they felt they needed to stock up
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by A320Driver »

Answers to the photos:
1. Truvelo is spot on - A3(N) approaching Wisley/M25. 7:00pm
2. M25 CW between J15&16 7:30pm
3. M6(N) approaching J12 3:30pm
4. M56(W) towards J9 (M6) 4:00pm
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Herned
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by Herned »

Good to see the figures on that as I thought there had been an increase but wondered if I was just becoming more aware of each car passing.

Re the photos, it's a bit weird that only one carriageway is lit in photo 4... and surely the merging side would be more sensible to light?
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by Truvelo »

A320Driver wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 20:10 Answers to the photos:
1. Truvelo is spot on - A3(N) approaching Wisley/M25. 7:00pm
2. M25 CW between J15&16 7:30pm
3. M6(N) approaching J12 3:30pm
4. M56(W) towards J9 (M6) 4:00pm
3 is my local junction, I recognised it straight away. This led me to find 4. I had a feeling 2 was M25 but couldn't find the exact location.
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Big Nick
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by Big Nick »

I went for a long walk yesterday that took me past my doctors and over the M11 twice. It didn't seem that much quieter for a Tuesday afternoon but the number of cars was certainly lower. Plenty of trucks going by.
In town at 5pm the 'rush hour' was more like a quiet Saturday morning.

Not many people in Tesco which was good considering the car park has been reduced by 1/3rd to create a lengthy waiting area.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by RJDG14 »

If I were to travel to Bristol Airport in the next day what would the situation be like? The only listing on their departures page for the next 24 hours is a cancelled flight to Amsterdam:

https://www.bristolairport.co.uk/arriva ... departures

Is the pre-security section of the terminal even open for passengers at the moment? According to their Coronavirus travel advice page, the airport is continuing to operate normally with a few additional safety measures in place, but with all its commercial flights suspended or cancelled, I can't see exactly how it's still operating for passengers.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by Gareth Thomas »

During my daily walk today, I spotted very few cars on the roads. Even the A260 was not that busy, and usually that road is very busy with Folkestone - Canterbury traffic. The buses, which I mentioned in my earlier post on this topic a fortnight or so ago, are now on a reduced service and have had at most three passengers on them. The 16, which is one of the main bus routes in East Kent and has a double decker every 20 minutes, is now every 30 minutes and on some occasions is now a single decker bus - unheard of just a month ago.

There were quite a few "white van men" on the road though, and the car park at Lidl was about half full - I think the panic buyers have stopped, thank goodness.

This was at 4.30pm this afternoon, so during the middle of a normal rush hour.

Yesterday I did take the car for a quick drive, as it hadn't been used for over a week. I went into Folkestone and back, the town was almost deserted at 4pm yesterday as very few shops in the town centre are still open.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by roadtester »

Sky News is reporting that fuel consumption is down seventy per cent, which I'm guessing very loosely reflects the decline in traffic. An interviewee from the Petrol Retailers Association says the situation for his members is absolutely dire.

Expect lots of filling station closures once this is over - the number has been in steep long term decline for some time, of course.
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DavidB
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by DavidB »

The Traffic and Travel presenter on BBC Radio Berkshire in the mornings has been somewhat under-employed over the past couple of weeks but today she had rather more to report including 2-3 miles of queues following an accident on the M4 eastbound near J5 and slow-moving traffic coming into Reading on the A4 London Road, so it would seem that there's certainly people out and about today.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by marconaf »

Living in a town centre next to a ring road, the traffic is a tiny fraction of a normal weekday, but it has noticeably picked up over the week.

I think people are starting to go out driving, not sure where as everything is shut.

I think a lot of people are meeting up in cars, Ive seen lots parked with 2-3 people in. Possibly a way to avoid being picked up walking (and with places to go closed).

I suppose many, many people actually spent very little time at home with those there.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by someone »

There will be a tad less traffic:
National Express wrote:From 23:59 on Sunday 5 April all of our coach services will be temporarily suspended until further notice
Not that many services were still running anyway.

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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by Bryn666 »

roadtester wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 06:42 Sky News is reporting that fuel consumption is down seventy per cent, which I'm guessing very loosely reflects the decline in traffic. An interviewee from the Petrol Retailers Association says the situation for his members is absolutely dire.

Expect lots of filling station closures once this is over - the number has been in steep long term decline for some time, of course.
Eurogarages, who have long since made their fortune realising that petrol is an extra purchase alongside Greggs and coffee, will be rubbing their hands though. If all you sell today is petrol, you're stuffed. The 'mini service area' seems to be the way to go.
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montyburns56
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by montyburns56 »

roadtester wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 06:42 Sky News is reporting that fuel consumption is down seventy per cent, which I'm guessing very loosely reflects the decline in traffic. An interviewee from the Petrol Retailers Association says the situation for his members is absolutely dire.

Expect lots of filling station closures once this is over - the number has been in steep long term decline for some time, of course.
With supermarkets often being stripped bare in the past few weeks I'm wondering if there actually had been an increase in the sales of food items in petrol stations? And I believe it's the sweets and snacks where they make most of their profits anway.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by trickstat »

montyburns56 wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 16:42
roadtester wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 06:42 Sky News is reporting that fuel consumption is down seventy per cent, which I'm guessing very loosely reflects the decline in traffic. An interviewee from the Petrol Retailers Association says the situation for his members is absolutely dire.

Expect lots of filling station closures once this is over - the number has been in steep long term decline for some time, of course.
With supermarkets often being stripped bare in the past few weeks I'm wondering if there actually had been an increase in the sales of food items in petrol stations? And I believe it's the sweets and snacks where they make most of their profits anway.
Quite possibly. If all you want is one or two items that they stock it is likely to be a lot quicker to go into the shop at a petrol station at the moment than go to a supermarket, where you are likely to have to queue for some time before you can get in. This may also be true for many of the supermarket petrol stations.
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by JohnnyMo »

I wonder when the restrictions are lifted how many cars will have flat batteries &/or tyres.
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DavidB
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by DavidB »

I've just been out for my main weekly food shopping and for the third time in four outings in the last couple of weeks I was tailgated when doing 40 in a 40 zone. I've just opened Twitter and saw the following from the BBC News reporter Danny Savage:
https://twitter.com/dannysavage/status/ ... 4260103169
.@NYorksRPG say they’ve seen a rise in the number of people driving excessively fast on quieter roads. One idiot was caught at 132mph in a 70. “Frankly ridiculous” & “unbelievable” say @NYorksPolice
Also had a 117mph and “several” at nearly a 100 🙄
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JohnnyMo
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by JohnnyMo »

DavidB wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 18:07 I've just been out for my main weekly food shopping and for the third time in four outings in the last couple of weeks I was tailgated when doing 40 in a 40 zone. I've just opened Twitter and saw the following from the BBC News reporter Danny Savage:
https://twitter.com/dannysavage/status/ ... 4260103169
.@NYorksRPG say they’ve seen a rise in the number of people driving excessively fast on quieter roads. One idiot was caught at 132mph in a 70. “Frankly ridiculous” & “unbelievable” say @NYorksPolice
Also had a 117mph and “several” at nearly a 100 🙄
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M4 Cardiff
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by M4 Cardiff »

Rather than start a new thread for just one question, and it is sort of related, in an inverse manner, those who live near railways and see what's running, does there appear to have been an increase in freight traffic, especially railway works trains?
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JohnnyMo
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Re: Is Coronavirus Reducing Levels of Traffic?

Post by JohnnyMo »

This is a good site for seeing what trains are running -- https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/
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