Letter to council sent recently.

Dear Cllr Wynn,

As a resident at Five Lamps and cyclist in the Duffield Road area I have concerns about the recently introduced bus lanes on Duffield Road. I now see that in the press a 'battle' is being fought between groups that are pro and anti the bus lane on Duffield Road. I note the comment that an early review of the bus lane is now proposed.

From my house I have a grandstand view of the traffic signals at Five Lamps Junction. The timings of the traffic lights at Five Lamps are the determining factor as to which traffic flows [Kedleston Road or Duffield Road] will have the easier run into the city. The timings at these traffic signals can be and sometimes are altered to favour in bound traffic from either Duffield Road or Kedleston Road. Yesterday traffic seemed to be flowing better along Duffield Road.

It is vital that the start of the review period is from when the lanes were put in, not when the decision was made to have an early review.

I am sure that given your business background you will appreciate that altering the external conditions during an experiment completely invalidates any results.

It may be possible to alter the traffic signals at Five Lamps to 'favour' Duffield Road and thus allow Trent Barton buses to be able to say 'We have figures to prove that since the introduction of the lane our services has greatly improved'. There are approximately 5 buses per hour inbound on Duffield Road.

However altering the lights at Five Lamps to aid this improvement to the Duffield Road bus services can only be to the detriment of bus traffic from Kedleston Road. Kedleston Road has a greater number of buses on it than Duffield Road.

During the bus lane review process it is also important that Trent Barton use the same parameters as for Duffield Road when monitor the performance of their Kedleston Road services. Selective use of information does aid a review process. Again results are invalidated if such factors are ignored in any review process.

Could you please confirm that the timings of the lights at Five Lamps have not been altered since the bus lane was introduced.

Could you also please confirm that the timings of the lights will not be altered during the review process.

Thanking you in advance for your help in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Butler