March 2024
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Bus

Lothian Buses complaints (or praise): www.lothianbuses.com/customer-services or email to  mail@lothianbuses.com
Lothian Buses CCTV:  www.lothianbuses.com/cctv-policy  All Lothian buses have cameras recording what happens outside and inside the bus – but the recordings over-write after a period of (at least) 7 days so send your request promptly.

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2112 London 24/7  85km of London bus lane to be permanent 24/7 following successful trial: journey times down, reliability up.  TfL News  Spokes tweet

2111 Comiston Road 24/7 lane  Agreed to be 24/7 instead of peak, thanks to Green amendment when Spaces for People cycle lane converted to bus lane.  See papers for 11.11.21 TEC on covid page.

1911 CEC Bus Lane Hours 7-7-7 consultation [Change of heart!! – see also 1612, 1505 below].    Our tweets re Committee decision: tweet1 tweet2   Consultation web page   Spokes response   tweet of our response

1804 Cycle training for all Lothian Bus drivers  All drivers and many other LB staff, 1700 in total, to receive onroad cycle training  LB News   Evening News   Our tweet

1612 CEC Bus Lane cutbacks – Permanent Order TRO/16/87B – Bus Lanes – change operational hours.  Since the Council is determined to repel any objections (see 1611 & 1605 below) Spokes and Living Streets decided our time was better spent on other campaigns, so sent a short email repeating our previous objections.  We did not again object to the parallel allowing-motorcycles Order (TRO/16/87A) as the bus lane cutbacks were the top concern of ourselves and other objectors, and councillors anyway are equally determined on the M/C Order.

1611 CEC Bus Lane cutbacksCommittee report 1.11.16 to make bus lanes peak-only permanently [pdf].  Letter to councillors by Spokes & Living Streets [pdf].  Despite the objections, the Committee agrees to promote the permanent Order.

1505 CEC Bus Lanes ETROs – making bus lanes peak-only experimentally, and allowing motorbikes.  All documents are linked in news items:  Committee decision to go ahead  despite 150 objections including Spokes/LS objectionGlasgow 7-7-7 bus lanes decision  ETROs published

1504 Bromptons by Bus  Many bus companies [including Lothian & First – see 1002 below] officially only take folders if in a bag [& we have heard of occasional no-bag refusals].  Bus/bike expert Dave Holladay recommends an IKEA DIMPA bag, which, he says, also scrunches down to store when not in use.

1503 Glasgow Bus Lanes 7-7-7 decision – all bus lane times to be rationalised to 7am-7pm, 7 days a week.  Submission by Glasgow campaign group Go-Bike [pdf 209k].  Glasgow Committee report [pdf 128k]

1404 CEC Bus Lane Survey/Review  Council letter [pdf 58k] Council survey form [xls 17k]  Spokes response [pdf 232k]

1205 Lothian Buses cycling-awareness trainingreport by STV Local

1203 Cyclist / bus training video … great initiative by Lothian Buses – also well worth watching by anyone using a bike.  Video is also on youtube.

1106 Cyclists & Lothian Buses audio documentary … see Spokes news item 17.6.11.  The audio piece was created and donated to Spokes by sound artist Emma Quayle of Audio Spring.

1101 Lothian Bus drivers complimented on awareness of cyclist tramline dangers … see Spokes news item 7.1.11.

1002 Conditions of Carriage … confirming that folded bikes can now be carried on Lothian Buses, as promised by MD Ian Craig at our public meeting.  Also the slightly more complex conditions for First buses, who run most of the services in the Lothians – although we think that in practice this means that most folding bikes can be carried (and other bikes can’t).

Click on the link for the full conditions, or see the relevant extract below the link…

Lothian Buses conditions of carriage (Sep 2009) updated 2013 here.  The bike/bus condition below is unchanged but is renumbered 8b].

[Luggage – Section 8c]  The following may NOT be carried… “bicycles other than folding bicycles which are folded and fully enclosed in a suitable carrying bag

First Bus conditions of travel (Sep 2009)

[Luggage – Section 8.4B]  The following may NOT be carried… “bicycles, unless these fold to dimensions small enough to be accommodated in the luggage rack or the bus has a boot or side lockers and space available.

0809 Lothian Buses – bus/bike posters … Following discussions with Spokes in 2008 [see Bulletin 102 page 5] Lothian Buses new Managing Director Ian Craig took various initiatives, including producing this excellent series of driver-education posters.

Bike Poster 1:

Allow a car's width.
Allow a car’s width.

Bike Poster 2:

Avoid playing Leapfrog
Avoid playing Leapfrog

Bike Poster 3:

Look out for Cyclists
Look out for Cyclists

Bike Poster 4:

Respond to Road Markings Safely
Respond to Road Markings Safely