Bucharest City Hall intends to create special lanes for public transport on several roads in the area of ​​Herăstrău Park

This was announced by the vice-mayor of the capital, Stelian Buyduveanu.

3 plots with lanes for public transport are offered:

On King Mihai I Boulevard:

Between the Free Press Square and the Arc de Triomphe, traffic is carried out in three sections.

The central section has three lanes, two of which run from Piața Presei Libere to the Arc de Triomphe.

One of these two lanes will become a public transport corridor.

On Kiselyova Boulevard:

From the Arc de Triomphe to Piața Victoriei, traffic is one-way (towards Piața Victoriei) with four lanes.

The first of them will be dedicated to local public transport.

On Aviatoror boulevard, the reorganization of traffic is carried out in two sectors and is aimed at both directions of traffic, at different sections.

Traffic flows change between Arka Iona Minka Street and Place Charles de Gaulle (TVR). Currently, traffic is moving in both directions on this section. There are six lanes of traffic, three in each direction. After the reconfiguration of traffic flows, the direction from Victory Square (from the Aviator statue) to Charles de Gaulle Square will have four lanes, one of which will be designated for public transport (two STB bus lines). In the direction from Charles de Gaulle Square to the Aviator statue, two traffic lanes will remain (there is no local public transport here, public transport flows of line 205 and express 783 are directed to the parallel artery of Kiselyov, respectively. boulevard). Between Beijing Boulevard and Charles de Gaulle Square, the traffic flow has been changed in the same way. And on this section of Aviatorny boulevard, traffic is currently carried out in both directions. There are six lanes, three in each direction. After the traffic reconfiguration, four lanes of traffic will be created in the direction of Place Charles de Gaulle. One of them will be turned into a special lane for local public transport. In the other direction, the number of lanes has been reduced from three to two for general traffic (even though there are now two public transport lines in that direction, bus lines 301 and 343 respectively). The implementation of this system will have a limited impact, as on other parts of the routes, public transport is returned to roads that do not have corridors separated from the rest of the road traffic. In addition, on the Aviatorior Boulevard, only the sector between Arca Iona Minku Street (Statuia Aviatorilor) and Charles de Gaulle Square will benefit from a lane dedicated to public transport, while the other sector of the street, from Piața Victoriei to the Aviatorior Statue, will remain unchanged (no dedicated lanes for public transport), although traffic is carried out in both directions, also three lanes in each direction. There are a number of elements and details that distinguish failure from success in the implementation of separate corridors for public transport.

1 PREPARATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT

The creation of corridors for public road transport in cities is carried out, in many cases, by reducing the number of lanes for general traffic.

Thus, the success of the event depends on the information campaign, the method and period of implementation, additional traffic management measures and the degree of acceptance by users of the street network.

The first condition for the success of the implementation of traffic corridors for public transport is related to informing and popularizing this measure.

A campaign is needed, carried out through various channels, including on the ground, with the help of which road users are informed about the changes to be made.

As a rule, the creation of separate lanes for local public transport is carried out during periods of less crowding, especially during holidays and vacations.

2 ORGANIZATION OF TRANSPORT FLOWS

The organization of lanes allocated for public transport is achieved through gradual measures.

Separation of public transport lanes from general traffic lanes is the last measure in the creation of traffic lanes.

At the first stage, lanes intended for public transport (especially in the case of road traffic) are marked.

In subsequent stages, local authorities and the police intervene to direct traffic and free up public transport lanes marked as such.

At these stages, drivers are not penalized, but they are directed to other traffic lanes intended for general traffic flow.

At the entire stage of preparation for the introduction of lanes allocated for public transport, it is necessary to take into account that the final measure, that is, the physical separation of the general transport corridor from other traffic flows and the prohibition of the movement of other vehicles on these special lanes should be used during the period of less crowding.

It is this set of actions that makes the difference between failure and success of a vital urban transport initiative.

Bucharest also provides an example of how the disastrous preparation of the single lane and the abrupt implementation without gradual measures led to a failure of proportions of the measure.

At the end of May 2017, the city hall of the capital decided to introduce a separate corridor for buses (RATB/STB) on the road Bucharest – Ploiesti, in the direction of the center of the capital.

All traffic was disrupted, and the idea was quickly abandoned.

Without a detailed plan for the introduction of public transport lanes, without realistic solutions, without expert advice superficially based on image gains, a single public transport lane risks becoming a failure (as it happened in 2017). – Read the entire article and comment on contributors.ro