PCV Driver Not to Blame for Slow London Bus Service

The turtle-like speed of the London bus service is well known throughout the country. With hundreds of routes and tens of thousands of passengers to service every day, buses in the British capital do not run nearly as fast as they do in other parts of the country. Now we know, based on what has been observed in Hackney, that the average PCV driver is not to blame.

According to the Hackney Gazette, Transport for London recently released speed data on each of the several hundred buses it manages. It turns out that service in Hackney is the worst. One particular route, the number 38 route, is the slowest in London. It runs at an average speed of just 6.4 mph during peak morning hours.

How slow is that? By comparison, the Hackney Gazette says that a mouse travels at 8 mph while a chicken tops out at 9 mph. The number 38 bus in Hackney moves slower than both of them. It can take more than an hour just to get from one end of the route to the other in good traffic. During the morning rush, it is anyone’s guess.

Transport for London says there are two things in play. First are the stops the bus makes along the route. Not only does it service Piccadilly Circus and Tottenham Court Road, but the route also has so many additional stops that a new bus has to come by every minute to keep the route moving during the morning rush hour. That equals a lot of buses moving a lot of people.

The other problem with the number 38 route is traffic congestion. Some speculate the buses on the route could not go any faster even if drivers wanted them to. There is just too much traffic and too many stops to get the buses up to speed.

Dedicated Drivers Doing Their Jobs

Driving a bus in London is no easy job. Every day, dedicated drivers have to endure terrible congestion, unpredictable tourist traffic, weather conditions and unhappy riders who just want to get where they are going. They must do it with an eye for safety and a smile on their faces as well.

We believe the nation’s bus drivers deserve credit for the difficult work they do. Without their willingness to ferry others around, our public transport system would look decidedly different. We owe a lot to the average PCV driver who makes it his/her business to make sure the rest of us get where we are going.

Have you ever thought about becoming a bus or coach driver? If so, the HGV Training Centre offers a world-class PCV driver training course that can have you ready to start looking for work in under two months. Our programme utilises a proven training approach that teaches students how to be safe and productive drivers while also preparing them to pass the government-mandated Driver CPC tests. At the end of the day, we believe our drivers are among the very best.

Sources:

Hackney Gazette – http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/the-real-speed-of-vital-hackney-bus-services-revealed-1-4422917