Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 21:35 28 Mar 2024
* Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
* Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Woman found murdered on Orpington to London train (*)

Train RunningCancelled
18:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:35 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
19:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
21:30 Shalford to Reading
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:11 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
22:10 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
23:04 Reading to Bedwyn
23:17 Bedwyn to Reading
Delayed
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 21:44:02 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[104] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[103] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[78] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[56] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[41] Return of the BRUTE?
[25] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Social Distancing On Buses - 2m to 1m  (Read 2246 times)
Bus_Lady
Moderator
Jr. Member
*****
Posts: 16


View Profile
« on: June 22, 2020, 09:27:15 »

One thing I thought that would be worth highlighting regarding social distancing on buses that I read....

As you may know, bus passenger numbers are limited on buses due to the 2 metre social distancing rule. This means on double decker buses that would normally carry 75 people now only carry 20 people. Single deckers that would normally carry I think around 50 now only carry 10 people.

I was shocked when I heard Tim Bowles, Metro Mayor of WECA» (West of England Combined Authority - about) say, changing the two-metre social distancing rule to 1 metre would only boost bus capacity by 1 passenger per vehicleMetrhttps://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/uk/relaxing-two-metre-rule-would-boost-bus-capacity-by-one-passenger-metro-mayor/

I know via the Travelwatch SouthWest Zoom fireside chats, Claire Walters, Chief Executive of Bus Users UK (United Kingdom) had been pushing for a relaxation of the rules for buses to 1 metre. But from what Tim Bowles was saying it doesn't seem it would have much effect...
Logged
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 9809



View Profile
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2020, 11:15:39 »

While I am sure the bus companies would welcome a reduction to one metre many have invested a lot of time and money in the last few weeks marking out vehicles with two metre signage and blocking off of seats which will need re-doing.
Logged
LiskeardRich
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 3457

richardwarwicker@hotmail.co.uk
View Profile
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2020, 12:49:38 »

While I am sure the bus companies would welcome a reduction to one metre many have invested a lot of time and money in the last few weeks marking out vehicles with two metre signage and blocking off of seats which will need re-doing.

And other haven’t bothered. Go Cornwall have nothing in place whereas First southwest In Kernow have gone full blown Social distancing, every bus gets touchpoints cleaned at every bus station. The passengers have noticed and are picking FSW where they can, clean buses knowing others won’t be sat close to them, it’s given FSW a clear advantage in passenger choice. Go Ahead are running round empty! FSW are carrying passengers albeit not back to hitting the social distance limits
Logged

All posts are my own personal believes, opinions and understandings!
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2020, 10:05:16 »

While I am sure the bus companies would welcome a reduction to one metre many have invested a lot of time and money in the last few weeks marking out vehicles with two metre signage and blocking off of seats which will need re-doing.

And other haven’t bothered. Go Cornwall have nothing in place whereas First southwest In Kernow have gone full blown Social distancing, every bus gets touchpoints cleaned at every bus station. The passengers have noticed and are picking FSW where they can, clean buses knowing others won’t be sat close to them, it’s given FSW a clear advantage in passenger choice. Go Ahead are running round empty! FSW are carrying passengers albeit not back to hitting the social distance limits

Does anyone know what the current government advice says about where to sit, relative to other people, on a bus?

TfL» (Transport for London - about) used their regular full page in Metro on 14th July to announce, for buses,  the reintroduction of all payments, front-door boarding, and an increase of capacity limits "in line with latest government guidance". But the gov.uk content was updated on 17th July, and on closer examination TfL were reporting the end of a programme announced on 22nd and 29th May (to finish "by mid-June"). That announcement also referred to revised government guidelines, which would have been the first set of "relaxations".

TfL don't seem to have anything on line that's the same length as that Metro article - the corresponding piece of 13th July is a lot shorter. Both say, roughly:
Quote
Temporary bus capacity limits have now been increased in line with the Government's latest social distancing guidance. Double-decker buses can now carry 30 passengers, while single-deckers, depending on size, can carry either 11 or 14 passengers.

Signs on buses clearly mark these new passenger limits, and drivers have the discretion to allow more customers on board if they are travelling in household groups. A one customer off, one customer on policy operates on buses at full capacity.

Customers on buses are advised to sit individually in each pair of seats, with the exception of those travelling in household groups.

That doesn't sound to me like 2 m spacing.

I've tried chasing links round .gov.uk looking for an answer to that Question "where should I sit?". I can't find one - at least, not one that's clear enough you'd ever know if you were following it. So are TfL saying, on a nudge-nudge-don't-ask basis, that "2 m if possible" should be understood to be 1 m on buses as 2 m isn't possible?
Logged
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 9809



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2020, 10:53:30 »

I travelled on a number of buses on Saturday.   Swindonbus have relabelled all their vehicles over the last week.  The former window stickers blocking off alternate rows have been replaced with one on each row urging people to only occupy the window seat (the view is better apparently).

The seat immediately behind the driver's cab was blocked off with a sash over the seat.

The same applied on Stagecoach regarding the sash but there was less signage on the rest of the vehicle.
Logged
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2020, 13:23:25 »

On my bus today there were 8 of us on the top deck.  Ten out of ten (or should that be 8 out of 8?) for properly worn face coverings.  Rather less that that for social distancing as the lure of the front seats meant five of the six seats were taken (occupied by three, maybe four separate households), with the remaining three passengers, including me, sat well apart in socially distanced luxury.
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page