Buses just too big (From York Press)

Buses just too big

10:23am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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THAT is it. I have experienced my third brush with death at a street corner in York in the past week.

A large, empty bus, speeding, ran red lights where Micklegate joins Bridge Street and several pedestrians – including me – had to jump out of the way. The green man showed it was ‘safe’ to cross.

The buses are too big. They are often almost empty. They hold up traffic and some (as in last night) shoot red lights.

Twice I have had to jump back out of the way, as the front of a bus comes two feet over the pavement. This is potentially lethal. Cyclists and tiny children in buggies are most at risk, as are the elderly, who may not be able to get out of the way quickly.

These buses are too big for the streets of the city centre. We need a fleet of small, zippy, easy-to-board and cheap-to-run electric buses that will run frequently and to capacity.

There is literally no room for the huge buses that threaten our safety, squeeze out cyclists and hold up the flow of traffic on a daily basis.

The drivers are not at fault (except for this particular urban cowboy.) They have to swing the front of the bus or coach over the pavement to get round. But sooner or later someone will be killed or seriously injured. Then it will be too late.

Cut emissions, save pedestrians and cyclists and provide a decent, reliable shuttle service into town by selling the current fleet or cancelling the contracts, and replacing them with electric vehicles suited to the scale of our city streets.

Susan Wade Weeks, Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for York Central and member of York Environment Forum, St John Street, York.