Bus damage

[Martin Cassini]

In today's Observer, Sebastian Faulks notes that local objections to a new bus route through his W11 conservation area were ignored. As predicted, average occupancy is low, with empty buses - called a 'Boris' - commonplace. The area, writes Faulks, has been turned "into an 18-hours-a-day skid-pan-cum-test track for roaring, empty single-deckers." Coincidentally, when getting the paper, I had noted buses speeding between lights, and braking sharply at red. As mentioned in my article No Idle Matter, the traffic control system encourages this wasteful stop-start drive cycle. What would I do? In addition to reforming the system, I'd incentivise smooth bus driving by rewarding drivers for returning higher mpg and lower CO2 figures.

[Martin Cassini]

Drivers are less to blame than a system that winds them up. You've been stopped at red, again and again, often pointlessly. Is it surprising that you might want to accelerate away, to vent some of the frustration you feel, and in a bid to avoid the next red?