Friday 28 August 2015
Media Enquiry from Guernsey Press:
Now that the work along the seafront to revert the two lanes is complete, I was wondering whether the department had considered reinstating the bus lay-by opposite the Tourist Information Centre? Has a decision been made on whether to reinstate it? If not, will it be considered in the future? Any other comments.
If it is possible to get a comment by 3pm today it would be much appreciated as we are running something in tomorrow's paper.
Environment Department Response:
The Environment Department has previously explained both through the media and in direct response to individual enquiries its reasons for removing the bus lay-by opposite the Tourist Information Centre. These reasons were entirely road safety related and the Department's view in this regard has not changed.
I am sure that the majority of your readership will remember that the previous bus lay-by was extremely narrow and that it was simply not possible for buses (or any other vehicles for that matter) to pull entirely off the public highway in order to offload passengers. At just 1.4 metres wide, leaving a pavement width of 1.7 metres, the restrictions of the previous lay-by meant that buses temporarily offloading passengers impeded traffic flow in the left-hand traffic lane. Whilst no different in terms of its actual impact on traffic flows to the current arrangements, the previous position was actually far more dangerous as car drivers would look to pass the bus in the left-hand traffic lane only to then suddenly veer into the right-hand traffic lane as they realised that there was insufficient room to pass.
Re-instating the lay-by would narrow the pavement back down to around 1.7 metres and would also mean that buses would once again be in danger of overhanging the pavement and presenting a risk to pedestrians as they attempted to manoeuvre into what would still be a sub-standard width lay-by.
Notwithstanding the road safety benefits of the present arrangements and the fact that reintroducing a bus lay-by would not actually address the perceived problem, it is a sad reflection on society today if it is considered that buses stopping temporarily to drop off passengers would have a material impact on traffic flows in the area.
Contact Information:
Karl Guille, Traffic and Transport Services Manager
Environment Department
Tel: 243400
