Equating buses and lorries is not on
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THE Road Haulage Association's admirable submission to the inquiry into London lorry bans is, I think, wrong to equate lorries and buses. The public is undoubtedly more indulgent towards buses because it uses them personally but I dispute the RHA's claim: "Buses are as big and noisy as lorries and as visually intrusive."
First, there are no 15-metre double-deck buses. Secondly, even if the total volume of noise from a bus is the same as from a heavy lorry, it is somehow less obtrusive. Thirdly, a bus is far less visually intrusive than a high van because about half its elevation is glass. Standing or sitting in a car close beside a double-deck bus, one has not that sense of menace that a 15metre container-carrying artic is liable to create.
Van liveries can be designed to reduce apparent height but they are no substitute for a large glazed area. Moreover, buses are generally pleasing in shape and colour and may be an aesthetic attraction in a town, which cannot be said of most heavy lorries, essential though they are to modern life.