Transport for London has taken on board the problem of quieter buses, which is that people cannot hear them coming, and can walk into a dangerous place. This is known as "Acoustic Conspicuity".
"Acoustic Conspicuity
An Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) is a system to make quiet running (e.g. electric, hybrid-electric, and hydrogen) buses as identifiable to pedestrians, and other road users outside the vehicle, as a standard diesel bus. This is intended to help Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) detect the presence of a bus and the collision risk it represents if they were to cross in front of it.
Regulation will require that electric and hybrid buses are fitted with AVAS on new models from July 2019, and on all new builds from 2021. TfL is mirroring the regulatory requirements but has chosen to implement them sooner, subject to legal review.
The current sounds that are being used are developed by motor manufacturers to reflect their individual brand and vehicle characteristics. The technology can be transferred to buses (Category M3) provided an appropriate sound is developed to characterise a unique larger vehicle. TfL is investigating the development of an"urban bus" sound. The aim of this is to harmonise the AVAS sounds across London's bus fleet, regardless of which company has manufactured the bus, thereby minimising the number of new sounds introduced into an already very busy and noisy environment, and avoid the risk of confusing VRUs."
https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-safety-standard-acoustic-conspicuity.pdf
Won't help the deaf. Perhaps a small diesel engine belching out stinky black smoke would do the trick.
That's how things work today!
Interestingly, wen ah wer a lad in Bradford, we had trolley buses on some routes which, to the best of my memory, were virtually silent except perhaps for tyre noise.
For some reason, we didn't need any 'Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems'.
We simply used our eyes.
A lost skill, perhaps?
I suppose in those days no-one had those noise-generating machines which plugged into your ears, along with mobile phones which, I understand, are designed to make you look directly down at them rather than at your surroundings!
There is a simple solution. Put fencing along the kerb so that people cannot step onto the road at all, except at designated spots which have electric gates which open at times. A bit like the London Underground has on some of its stations.
Quote from: dextrous63 on April 28, 2024, 06:48:14 PMThere is a simple solution. Put fencing along the kerb so that people cannot step onto the road at all, except at designated spots which have electric gates which open at times. A bit like the London Underground has on some of its stations.
Wouldn't work. Some of the 'walkman types' would just walk into each other!
Quote from: JBR on April 28, 2024, 06:57:27 PMWouldn't work. Some of the 'walkman types' would just walk into each other!
What about if we make it a legal obligation for pedestrians to wear inflatable smimming rings around their waists and heads? Sort of personalised buoys?
Quote from: dextrous63 on April 28, 2024, 06:59:33 PMWhat about if we make it a legal obligation for pedestrians to wear inflatable smimming rings around their waists and heads? Sort of personalised buoys?
No, I disagree.
It would serve them better if they continued to walk into each other, hopefully banging their heads together and knocking a bit of sense into themselves.
We could wear wing mirrors on our heads.. !
Or helicopter helmets so we could fly across the roads safely and also decongest busy pavements.
Iron Man has no issues
How about a good strong dose of 'common sense' ??
Quote from: Silver Tabby on April 29, 2024, 10:04:42 AMHow about a good strong dose of 'common sense' ??
That'll never work.
I wonder what they will make them sound like. I gather, by the way, that devices to make your car sound more interesting, have been around since about 2009.
I'd like our buses to sound like Concord taking off.
Of the other suggestions, putting fences up with automatic gates in them along every bus route would cost about 3 trillion pounds without future maintenance, so it's probably the solution the mayor will adopt.
On the other hand, the same mayor who is so keen on having zero bus/pedestrian incidents by 2041 is building cycle lanes all over London which run between the road where the bus stops and the pavement where the bus stop is. The bus plays a warning to watch out for cyclists when leaving the bus.
Quote from: Ashy on April 29, 2024, 12:25:01 PMOn the other hand, the same mayor who is so keen on having zero bus/pedestrian incidents by 2041 is building cycle lanes all over London which run between the road where the bus stops and the pavement where the bus stop is. The bus plays a warning to watch out for cyclists when leaving the bus.
I can see the benefits of encouraging cycling for a number of reasons: healthy transportation, no emissions, etc., but when cyclists are given more rights on the road but without any means of identification if and when they break the law, it will lead to trouble.
If Khan wants to try to punish law-abiding motorists, I believe he will eventually turn many more people against him - law abiding people.
Perhaps the pavement should play a warning to tell us there is a bus coming.
They used to use single deckers on the route that goes past mine. They seem to be exclusively double deckers now. They run every 15 minutes each way with a different service on a 30 minute schedule. They catch my eye as they stop across the road and so far as I can see there are very few times when there are more than a handful of passengers. That's a big diesel virtually empty all the time and completely empty apart from the driver other times. Not very eco friendly but of course if they ran less frequently they would get used even less.