Red Arrows On target"
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TE new Red Arrow bus service of London Transport got off to a fairly smooth start this week, with the public showing a considerable interest in the service and its vehicles. One feature which was not understood, however, was the practice of operating empty return trips against the main traffic flow during the morning and evening peaks, which nearly led to a "punch up" between an angry would-be passenger and a bus inspector at Victoria on Monday evening.
A London Transport spokesman stated on Monday that the Red Arrow seemed to have been on target and I would be inclined to agree with him, apart from strong reservations about the practice described above. The spontaneous reply I received to my first enquiry of a passenger was "pretty good".
I made two trips on the evening peakhour service from Marble Arch. On the first trip we left about 4.35 p.m. and the journey time to Victoria, including a stop at the bottom of Park Lane to pick up more passengers, took about seven minutes. The second journey, about forty minutes later, and with no stop in Park Lane, took about 14 minutes, due to the build-up of traffic.
On the first journey I was one of about 25 standing passengers, but on the second trip there were another 10 standing passengers on board. Official maximum standing load is 48 passengers, but this would be a little uncomfortable should the bus be held up in a traffic jam. The 25 seats in the rear portion of the buses were quickly filled at the start of each journey.
Some fumbling about looking for sixpences, or trying to make the change-giving machines accept the sixpenny piece instead of inserting it at the Passimeter turnstile, led to inevitable delays, but these were really remarkably slight. And, as one woman passenger remarked, it was just a question of practice to speed up the loading of the new vehicles. The worst part of the delays was being stuck in the pouring rain whilst waiting to board the bus.
It was the same pouring rain which led to a heavy build-up of traffic in Park Lane as the evening peak progressed. This must have further lengthened the journey time, but London Transport were still able to keep up a high-frequency service, and full loads were carried throughout the peaks, with the intermediate stop in Park Lane being bypassed during the height of the evening peak.
The off-peak shoppers' service, circular from Victoria via Park Lane, Grosvenor Square, Hanover Square, Oxford Street, Park Lane and return to Victoria was also quite well supported, especially considering the inclement weather, and average loadings reported by LTB were "half-full".
London Transport's main intention behind the decision to operate a one-way-only service during peaks is to get the buses back to the source of the main traffic as quickly as possible. I fail to see, however, why the carrying of passengers in this direction should delay the departure of the buses. There was ample time to pick up the dozen would-be passengers at Victoria whilst the bus was emptying, and these passengers could have been able to disembark at Marble Arch whilst the bus was picking up a fresh load.
In fairness to LTB, the 16 bus service follows the same route to Marble Arch, and Red Arrows were being "stacked" at Speaker's Corner in order to provide an even-frequency departure for Victoria. But try explaining this to the public. Surely it would be much better to encourage public goodwill and accept would-be passengers— especially when there is a long queue for the 16.
The Red Arrow buses themselves were illustrated and described in COMMERCIAL MOTOR of March 11.
Derek Moses