DLR vs Docklands Busway

[@ADAMEDWARDS17]

We love the DLR. Many years ago when my children were not 20 somethings we did a front seat trip, very exciting for my youngest. We then had to go over to manual control, so Daddy was evicted and the woman driver took over sitting next to youngest. Two stops later and the computer was back on, so she locked up the console and turned to Frederica and shook her hand saying "Thank you for helping me drive the train"! Child thrilled and Dad with slighly moist eyes.

[@ricequackers]

I think a significant part of the DLRs success was the fact that it was a futuristic fully automated railway. That alone attracts attention and goodwill, and makes people feel good about investing in the area on top of more prosaic matters like ease of travel.

[@robertward7449]

Yay, my favourite railway too! Who doesn't like trying to grab the front seat...

[@radagastwiz]

The 'minitram' approach is generally referred to these days as Personal Rapid Transit. As Jago mentions, it's generally found at airports, but there is a bigger one that's existed since 1975 - the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system in West Virginia. It primarily serves a university campus.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Yup. Morgantown, West Virginia is a small college town that's constrained by the steep slopes of river valleys in the Appalachian Mountains. When West Virginia University grew in the 1950s and beyond, there wasn't much room to expand the existing campus, so they built a _second_ campus a ways away. But steep valley slopes meant there couldn't be very many roads connecting to it, and frequent shuttle busses kept getting stuck in big-city-style traffic. In the late '60s and early '70s, as _many_ US cities grappled with increasing traffic and air pollution, the federal government started funding the development of new transit systems, including a few experimental ones like PRTs. And Morgantown was chosen as the first place to build a "real" PRT for actual service, in the early-to-mid '70s. The Morgantown PRT is basically an automated, guided busway with fairly small, specially-built "pod" busses. At peak times it runs more like a regular transit service that stops at every station. And at off-peak times it runs on-demand like a horizontal elevator: push the button for your station, and the next available pod arrives to take you straight there nonstop. It largely _has_ been successful, though its aging systems did lead to more breakdowns in the 2000s-2010s. The pods got some major refurbishments in the late 2010s, and another round of renovation just got funded in 2024. But despite the Morgantown PRT's relative success, few others have been built elsewhere, for the usual reasons a gadgetbahn doesn't catch on. Sure, it works, but it's more expensive than conventional transit, since few of them exist and there aren't multiple companies building them as standard equipment. And it's rarely enough of an improvement over conventional transit to justify the extra cost. So it never _gets_ the kind of mass adoption that _could_ bring the cost down, even for the few situations where it _might_ be better.

[@highpath4776]

@@AaronOfMpls See also parry people mover - Stourbridge in the West Midlands in UK

[@mattevans4377]

The DLR and Elizabeth line really need to be promoted more to show how the bean counters don't know everything

[@rupep2424]

Indeed - tho, strictly speaking, it was creative bean counters who counted other beans that enabled the DLR 🙂

[@lodgemj1971]

And the elizabeth line

[@ADAMEDWARDS17]

The Elizabeth line has been a massive success. Tottenham Court Road is now the third busiest railway station in the whole UK, entirely due to the Lizzie. So I think word of mouth and ease of use have promoted it very effectively. It's always very well used when I am on it.

[@gavinathling]

@@ADAMEDWARDS17I think their point was that it’s clear other schemes are viable (like say HS2/3), but the bean counters don’t believe it even with evidence like Lizzie.

[@peabody1976]

"We're going to go back in time to the 70's". Brilliant. 👏 And happy 2025, Jago!

[@roboftherock]

What! No Tardis FX? (0:35)

[@camenbert5837]

I was hoping for a pic of Jago in flares...

[@roboftherock]

@@camenbert5837 Since the heyday of flares (aka bell-bottoms) was 1969-79 perhaps that's an impossibility.

[@Thim22Z7]

As a tourst I'm very glad the DLR is there (and on the Tube map) to be honest. Saves me from having to figure out London's busnetwork!

[@hairyairey]

No need to, the online TFL journey planner is good enough. Remember multiple bus journeys are a fixed price within an hour. Some journeys are faster by bus than rail

[@tonys1636]

The London Bus Map is quite easy to follow, note the route numbers serving the stop one wishes to start from and compare with the destination ones, any the same is the bus to get, if none just back track until matches are found. That gives where and onto which bus to change.

[@Rohan-iq6zb]

​@@hairyairey Overall the TfL journey planner is pretty rubbish tbh.

[@Thim22Z7]

@Rohan-iq6zb It's fine, but definitely not the greatest. I've used better apps at least. I used the live tubemap quite a bit on holiday, which was quite useful. I did a lot of the wayfinding by looking at the closest station on Google maps and then tracking my way back from there to my current station. However the journey planning itself wasn't as great, especially compared to the NS app I use at home in The Netherlands, which I think is much more easy to use and clear.

[@hairyairey]

@Rohan-iq6zb There is a setting to search for bus only journey - I use it a lot

[@harrisonthorburn7415]

2:59 Any proposal from the 70s has to have some sort of weird people mover thing. We got one here in Toronto and we're only now starting to replace it. Funnily enough, its temporary replacement is a busway until the proper subway expansion is completed.

[@Play_fare]

And it went out of service prematurely with a bit of an unintended bang. This was i tended to be a bit of a showcase for that particular technology, which considering how fast population growth occurred in Toronto, it would have been overwhelmed by demand fairly quickly.

[@jtsholtod.79]

To be fair, the initial Vancouver SkyTrain also implemented the same driverless, linear-induction ICTS technology as Scarborough RT/TTC Line 3, and it's been a huge success. It's far more than a "gadgetbahn" people mover. But Toronto never expanded it, or made significant investment in it like Vancouver, so it was bound to fail eventually.

[@stephenspackman5573]

But … we have to move weird people!

[@kennethmacneil686]

Haha Stephen, there certainly are a lot of weird people to move in Toronto.

[@stevieinselby]

Wait, you mean there are people who _don't_ have a favourite railway system? 🤯

[@InevitableMe]

If there are people who don't have a favourite railway system, does that mean that there are people who do not have a favourite pantograph design? The horror!!!!!!!

[@roboftherock]

I have to confess, I'm one of them. In my defence I just like railways.

[@stephenspackman5573]

0:39 Tardis failed to fade back in. I am so confused, I was already hearing it wheeze in my head.

[@scottthompson8386]

Genuinely don't understand why the form of DLR hasnt been emoloyed on rail reopenings around the UK esp with the increasing focus on battery technology and the fact the track gauge is the same as normal rail... the construction unit cost per kilometre must be considerably lower than tram or srandard "heavy" rail... so more DLR type rail around the UK please!

[@ADAMEDWARDS17]

The DLR has more in common with trams than conventional rail, hence the generic term light rail. You can get a tram or DLR train around some very tight corners, not possible with the tube or a train. If you look at the Manchester Metrolink, which has trams with highlevel floors and makes extensive use of old railways, theres quite a lot in common, indeed they famously took a DLR car north, added a pantograph and gave opinion formers trips to encourage them to supprt the trams.

[@grassytramtracks]

​@@ADAMEDWARDS17 there are some metro systems with very sharp turns like the Paris metro (at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette it turns 90° under the road just like that). Light rail is so broadly used that it's borderline meaningless as it can be anything from a tram to something like the DLR, not all that far short of a full metro in comparison

[@loulou53137]

It would of been great in Cambridge though we would of lost direct access to the city centre.

[@telhudson863]

The problem with light rail is, it is slow. This is not a problem for very short lines or lines with stations that are very close together. Nevertheless the speed (or lack of it) of light rail is a severe limit for their applicability.

[@cmw3737]

@@telhudson863 The slowness is more than made up for when there are waterways in the way that you'd have to circumvent via longer routes otherwise. I think a lot of he benefit of the DLR is from the tunnels and bridges that connect short distances that would otherwise be even slower or impossible by bus.

[@NinjaSurferTrainspotting]

The dlr is like a busway because they are both cheap (to introduce), have many unstaffed stops, are slower than trains but faster than convential buses, and are soooo shaky.

[@hairyairey]

I believe a busway would be shakier and slower

[@NinjaSurferTrainspotting]

@hairyairey similar, but not the same then

[@hairyairey]

@NinjaSurferTrainspotting I wouldn't know, I have no intention of travelling on a guided busway.

[@NinjaSurferTrainspotting]

@@hairyairey oh ok

[@stephenspackman5573]

@@hairyairey Unguided buses are so much more exciting!

[@DavidShepheard]

The only real advantage for a "busway service" is that you can bring in a busway service, at the same time as building a railway line and use it as a "railway replacement service" for a route that is not open yet. Back when Tramlink was authorised, the direct railway line between Wimbledon and West Croydon shut down and a special express bus was run, that provided a service somewhere between what the old railway line provided and what the new trams would provide.

[@davidbosher8377]

I love the DLR too and who would have thought from those first two routes between Stratford and Tower Gateway to Island Gardens in 1987 that it would have expanded into the vast system it is today, also serving London City Airport and extending to Bank in central London and under the Thames to Lewisham and Woolwich in south-east London? One of the original plans not mentioned was the proposal for a single unit tramcar to run west from Bow along Bow Road to terminate at Mile End station but this was dropped by diverting the line to Stratford along what was then a disused line adjacent to the ex-GER main line. From Mile End, the link to the old North London line at Bow would have been even steeper than the one that now sees trains running to and from Stratford. The line was seriously underbuilt when it opened in 1987 with single units stopping at stations with platforms only long enough to accommodate them, in fact that at Canary Wharf was never opened even though trains stopped there. It would have been hopelessly inadequate for the area that grew up here with all its homes and offices and which eventually led to a complete rebuilding of the original statons on the Tower Gateway/Stratford to Island Gardens corridor. The present Canary Wharf station is quite incredible for what is termed a "light railway". While the original Mudcute and Island Gardens station were re-sited wih the extension to Lewisham in 1999 which, sadly, saw the end of trains running across the old Millwall Extension Railway viaduct in and out of Island Gardens which had closed at the time of the General Strike in 1926 and never reopened until 1987 when it was utilised for 12 years by the DLR. The original Island Gardens station stood on the site of the old North Greenwich station that had also closed in 1926 and is not to be confused with the present North Greenwich station on the south side of the Thames on the LU Jubilee Line Extension that also opened in 1999. David, Crouch End, N8.

[@lazrseagull54]

I love the DLR too. I wish more UK cities had this kind of thing.

[@Chevy-jordan]

DLR is my fav London Train system. Scary to think how the UK economic system would look if we went with the ‘busway’ as the main transit line to Canary Wharf.

[@tr1ck5h07]

The DLR and the Lizzie Line are 2 of my favourite railways

[@amanda-we9fv]

you must love stratford, canary wharf, custom house, and woolwich then!

[@BroonParker]

Be honest. You only like it so much for the same reasons that I do. You can sit at the front and pretend to drive it! Love doing that.

[@zeph2312]

I recall the mockery that greeted the DLR in its early days. It was seen as an expensive yuppy (remember them?) toy which had endless teething pains (trains breaking down and even IIRC bursting into flame). Now it looks like a model of clean, fast, comfortable public transport. And it's nice to see that one of the many schemes that promised to give Lewisham further connections to central London actually come to fruition since we've been snubbed so often. The area around Lewisham station is being extensively redeveloped so maybe one day we'll be able to entice the Bakerloo line down this way.

[@kharmalade544]

Yes, it's forgotten now just how much popular derision was heaped on the DLR when it opened.

[@grassytramtracks]

​@@kharmalade544 and how widespread automatic metros have become. at the time, the only ones were the Vancouver Sky Train, Lille Metro and Kobe metro and that was it, but now they exist all over the place

[@srfurley]

Busways were used in Runcorn, they were featured in the Channel 4 series ‘Losing Track’ in 1984.

[@scottc1589]

And speaking of favorites, my favorite DLR video of yours is "An Abstract Portrait of the DLR (10,000+ Subscribers!)" It still stands out in my mind, but it is hard to believe you released this when you reached 10,000 subscribers!

[@brassen]

[01:44] 'Tower Hamlets' has the only pronunciation which comforts my foreign mind, even though it conjures up the wackiest imagery. But the others would definitely shibboleth me to death: New Ham, Louis Ham, Green Witch, South Wark.

[@ACELog]

🤣

[@laurencefraser]

The bulk of the money produced by public transport is almost always in the form of taxes on businesses which are suddenly having a much easier time getting both workers and customers, and thus making more money. Bonus points if you also own the land/buildings that the businesses are renting to operate out of. Whinging about ticket prices not covering the costs are always a distraction intended to hide other, usually more malicious, motivations for preventing/worsening public transport systems. Yes, this Does mean that private enterprise running public transport is only viable with substantial governmental subsidization of one stripe or another (The bussiest routes may well turn a pretty nice proffit... so long as the less busy, UNprofitable routes, exist to feed passengers into them, and someone has to pay for Those! ... turns out if you get rid of them the routes they were feeding suddenly aren't so profitable anymore, in most cases). Fun part is that planes and cars don't actually dodge the 'government subsidies are necessary for this to be viable' issues, they've just been more thoroughly normalised/hidden and politicians are less prone to deciding that there's benefit to be had from breaking them even more than they already are.

[@vaclav_fejt]

5:35 What is this bus? One like this is parked in a park at Viktoria Žižkov in Prague, and it serves as a café. It has Spitfires in glass tables and everything.

[@Mikeb1001]

The reg comes back as an MCW Metrobus. I think they were fairly common in the UK in the 70s and 80s (this one is registered in early 1984)

[@vaclav_fejt]

@@Mikeb1001 Thanks!

[@18robsmith]

I join you in considering the DLR to be the best (modern) railway. Due in part to memories of taking my nephew up to London for a birthday day out (including Hamleys of course), Met Line, tube trains, buses (front of top deck), river buses and the DLR, front seat on an empty unit and a very friendly train captain who "opened the lid" 🙂 which got his vote as well 🙂

[@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe]

Whato Jago, Of course there is a busway between Cambridge and St Ives (Huntingdonshire not the West County one). This is street running and has its own guided concrete paths. I've used it once and it was fun but I can't help thinking an electric tramway would have been better. Too late now.

[@hairyairey]

@@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe It's awful! All the disadvantages of a bus and none of the advantages of a train. And they want to build another one!

[@Clavichordist]

London did the smart thing. Over here in Boston, MA they took the lazy route when they set out to redevelop the waterfront in South Boston. The South Boston trolley line was ripped up in the early 1960s and the only service to South Boston that remained was buses. In 1999 the MBTA had the opportunity to build a new light rail line from South Boston and the waterfront and integrate that line into the existing service that remained in operation. The MBTA management being what it is and was, they chose the easy route and went with BRT which utilizes nothing but trouble CNG and electric buses that run from South Boston to a terminus in an existing tunnel where the line would have connected to the light rail system. Since that time, they've expanded the line to Logan International Airport. When the BRT line was forced on the public, it was not well received due to promises being made to the residents in the area about the return of a direct connection to the transit lines in downtown and instead they were stuck with another bus line.

[@stuartparks8094]

Never actually thought about it in those terms, but definitely the DLR is my favourite! People just like sitting at the front, even people who don't have any other interest in trains. And it generally works properly most of the time which helps

[@kr46428]

As a mere visitor to London, I preferred the DLR over the tube simply because the DLR was above ground. It was faster to enter/exit the stations, and there is plenty of light and fresh air.

[@GorgieGus]

I enjoyed my use of the DLR when I flew into London City Airport on business, despite it always being very busy. It was different in an interesting way, but alas, the Underground network will always be my favourite mode of transport in London.

[@Graham_Rule]

When I heard "busway" I thought of a stretch of road for exclusive use of certain Edinburgh buses. Not only was it bus-only but buses were steered by small side-facing wheels on the bus and not quite tracks at the side. I'm probably not explaining it well but buses seemed to be able to move faster along these stretches. It all later became part of the tram line.

[@Newarks]

The dlr beats the busway easily

[@saldol9862]

Agreed. It’s great that the DLR got built and it’s nice to actually have more elevated rail in London

[@ΚωνσταντίνοςΚυριάκου-λ1υ]

Great video as always. Today looking at a railway map of London the following question come to mind. Why didn't the dlr get connected to the waterloo and city line at bank. This would allow dlr trains to terminate at waterloo.

[@isoroxuk]

Waterloo and city was owned by BR at the time. And I suspect for capacity was an order of magnitude less than w&c.

[@clickrick]

Ah, yes. Cost-to-Benefit Analysis. Or CBA, as it's known in some parts of the project management trade.

[@mountainview547]

A similar outcome occurred here in Brisbane which has several dedicated Busways, the first of which was intended to host a light rail system and bring "trams" back to the city. In the end there wasn't enough left to buy the light rail system after the SE Busway was completed, so it became a dedicated bus way instead. Different traffic dynamics out here make it a very fast journey into the City; although now it is victim of its own success and we have bus jams😀. This is about to be ameliorated by new electric buses with many of the diesel buses removed from the Busway.

[@roderickmain9697]

It is quite a cool system. I wonder if it has reached its effective limits - given that the Jubilee line and Elizabeth Line have turned up. If it were to be extended in any direction I surmise that it would need greater capacity at its terminal ends - ie Bank and Tower Gateway. But as its such a cool system and its reused and recycled old infrastructure, I still want to it succeed more...if thats possible.

[@ricktownend9144]

Maybe it could be extended westwards - beyond bank? How about that branch of the DLR taking over the Lioness line to Watford? - or at least to Queens Park, with the Bakerloo taking over all services thereafter. New under-ground platforms at Euston for the line might help the general capacity issue for main-line trains there.

[@marcelwiszowaty1751]

​@@ricktownend9144 It has been suggested that the DLR be extended westward from Bank via Aldwych and to terminate in the now disused platforms of the original section of the Jubilee Line at Charing Cross... the overrun tunnels from there extend almost as far as Aldwych.

[@lazrseagull54]

​@@marcelwiszowaty1751I think it would also get a new stop in the Bank tunnel at Tower Hill to replace Tower Gateway so that all 24 trains per hour can serve all the central London stations instead of the current 18tph at Bank and 6tph at Tower Gateway.

[@Alto53]

​@marcelwiszowaty1751 there was also the other idea of extending the DLR from bank to Euston/St. Pancras via City Thameslink and Holborn.

[@marcelwiszowaty1751]

@Alto53 I did vaguely remember that but wasn't sure so didn't feel qualified to comment. Did that proposal utilise the old Piccadilly branch, do you know?

[@highpath4776]

I think we should have had the fleet line and the jubilee line - one going Charing Cross - Aldwych-Blackfriars - Liverpool St/ Bank - Canary Wharf - Barking Riverside - Rainham, one going Westminster - Southwark - Old Kent Road - Lewisham - Thamesmead. However the connection joining up Stratford was useful, but basically one part of Fleet Line (really needed two - doing part of what Elizabeth Line does in the East and something to take some strain off the Central Line ''s eastern peak route

[@MichaelCampin]

I remember when they closed the "Docklands Lines" before reusing the old Lines to introduce the DLR , just look at the state of Stepney East ,sorry now Limehouse. The route to Stratford via West Ham used to go to Stratford Low Level and then out to Stanstead via Rye House. Ideal for Broxbourne and Rye House Speedway on a Sunday.

[@AlphaBee6]

It still does go to Stratford (Low Level) at least in 'spirit'. Just the links beyond to the Lea Valley route and the North London line (aka Crosstown Link) have been severed, and it just serves Stratford Int'l now. I find the Stratford route via Poplar and Bow Church more interesting personally - yeah, it's mostly straight and boring but... well that's of the reasons why. :-)

[@Mikeb1001]

Sounds like the busway is the idea of the guided busway that runs parallel to the East Lancs in greater Manchester. The buses run on a concrete ‘track’ and have side mounted guide wheels

[@conradharcourt8263]

The rate at which the DLR has grown is truly spectacular. I often wonder whether any similar networks could be built in any other city.

[@jimmeade2976]

Jago, you know how I love the DLR, and how it was originally built for 77 million pounds, a true bargain that has more than proved its worth to East and South London.

[@bclocomotiveco]

League of Gentlemen reference was very well done

[@caw25sha]

This is a local perspective for local people. There's nothing for you here.

[@VictorianDad]

Completely missed that. What was it?

[@caw25sha]

​@@VictorianDad 2:00

[@VictorianDad]

@caw25sha Thank you!

[@ChoobChoob]

I'm reminded of when they ran the Docklands Sprinter Buses to supplement the DLR.

[@swedneck]

A busway to me is just what you build when you need to transport a fair bit of people, but can't justify proper rail yet. Gothenburg has a nice busway to one of its former docklands (with a lovely MASSIVE red crane as a landmark) and i feel it's basically the platonic ideal busway: short distance and serves dense housing, but there's only housing on one side so in practice there aren't *that* many passengers.

[@neilscotter5191]

0:58 The Gun, my favourite pub on the Isle of Dogs.

[@mdhazeldine]

CBA is not a great way to evaluate a transport project because it tends to not take into account induced demand and the future potential growth that the project could create around it. I'm glad that the LDDC had the foresight and business mind to understand that. I am hoping that the DLR and Elizabeth Line's success will show current and future governments what better transport links can do, and will help them make better evaluations of other proposals.

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

Due to overrunning road works .A Bus replacement Train is operating to day

[@pleappleappleap]

This is the first time I'm hearing the term QUANGO since I first heard it watching "Yes, Minister".

[@davidellis2021]

My economics teacher made the same mistake of confusing Milton and Maynard Keynes.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisation.

[@gdclemo]

I thought Quango Hazzard was Jago's brother...

[@paulhaynes8045]

Funny how things turn out - Thatcher's great success needed trains to work - the mode of transport she most disliked. Ditto the Channel Tunnel. There's a message in their somewhere...

[@bostonrailfan2427]

0:35 i knew it: Jago is a Time Lord! that’s how he gets accurate facts- just go to the past and see for himself! 🤣 as someone whose city has a busway, what could work is a hybrid between a private, closed right of way and street-running as an emergency alignment. the capacity can be met with frequent buses and if done right it could be converted to light rail or tram(or a hybrid of both)

[@barneypaws4883]

100% he's a Timelord, I've always thought he was. Just a shame he doesn't film his film his travels.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

@ can’t upset the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey balance

[@dukethelostengine258]

Fascinating history as usual, but you’re a bit off on the economics. Conventional BCA isn’t “how much money” a project makes, it’s mainly the time savings and extra travel opportunities a project allows. (Otherwise almost no project would pass.) You’re right though that this doesn’t count all the development opportunities opened up, which is probably important in the docklands case.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I liked your time traveling method! Also, you’re indeed cool for having a favourite railway.

[@andrewbailey7999]

Unfortunately Cambridge went down the Busway route instead of adopting light rail. It's not even just a dedicated road for express buses. They decided to make a guided busway, so basically just a railway but worse!

[@imsbvs]

I have always considered that DLR stands for "Dinky Little Railway" .. for obvious reasons. I watched the Stratford terminus be constructed as I commuted to school (on the Central Line) .. since then the DLR has grown up to a network that could grace many a city ... not just a district of a city! Airconditioned trains next year, now that's proper establishment material!

[@markfoxwell2411]

I always think of the jubilee being constructed between Baker Street and Charing cross.( Rather than Stanmore) . Always catches me out.

[@RoccondilRinon]

If you don’t consider the wider economic effects, you’re not doing a cost/benefit analysis - you’re just doing a profit estimate, which is a terrible way to plan any kind of infrastructure.

[@whyyoulidl]

James Alexander Gordon: "DL Rovers 1, DB Wanderers nil" 🤗

[@Dan-cd6hm]

The North Greenwich busway is probably a could indicator of how a docklands busway would have turned out

[@matthamilton33]

Love the Earls Court Tardis

[@article12]

I live in Bristol and what happened to london docklands is what should of happened to our own disused "floating harbour" as it had a perfectly functional railway (the harbour railway) that could of easily been repurposed the same way that the DLR used it former railways. But alas Bristol instead thought cars were the future... so a simple car journey from portishead to Bristol temple mead can now take a hour and half. While it used to take only half a hour. Alot of the railway got lifted thanks to beeching. And today our solution to the traffic problems was a "guided bus" which hardly works most of the time. So these bus ways basically is what we have now in bristol.

[@lazrseagull54]

The UK seems to have pioneered the guided busway over the last 2 decades but I hope they can still be converted to light rail like the one in Edinburgh.

[@jackmartinleith]

It wouldn't have gone to the right places, just Temple Meads > Wapping Wharf > Ashton Gate > Parson Street. I suppose there could have been a station at Canons Marsh, but that would have been a round-the-houses route. Then there's the North Somerset line from Whitchurch and Brislington to Temple Meads. Connecting this to the docks railway would require the construction of new platforms alongside the Midland Shed. This would prevent access from Temple Meads side entrance to Friary and the two footbridges. All in all, potential would be limited. Comments welcome!

[@Name-iq8te]

There were, however, the old Docklands Express buses into central.

[@stickynorth]

Driverless metro systems are the future. It's just the future arrives at different times for different places. Thankfully this part of London is near the Prime Meridian so the future arrives first there, right? ;-)

[@grassytramtracks]

The Lille metro opened in 1983, 4 years before the DLR and is actually fully unattended and has platform edge doors. There was also one in Kobe in 1981

[@jamespallister2031]

Try convincing any union friendly authority of that

[@msg5507]

​@grassytramtracks not only that, but because Paris is east of the Prime Meridian it's day starts earlier than London's, so the original commenter's premise is in error. 😊

[@vaclav_fejt]

7:10 Look, it's the 2024 Ferrari formula 1 livery "mustard and cream"!

[@phaasch]

Mini trams= upscaled, cheesy 70s fairground ride made out of fibreglass, hopelessly unreliable, due to people regularly getting their flares caught in the doors😊

[@cmacca9109]

Would be great to see a video on the Greenwich peninsula busway - was this part of a larger scheme and how was it all meant to work? It’s an odd piece of infrastructure that feels like it was meant to be more.

[@jaakkomantyjarvi7515]

The problem with a Local Perspective for Local People is of course that once you get to where you're going you'll never leave.

[@blazikem]

So we built this kinda affordable, automated light metro system they could've been replicated everywhere and decided to never do it again. And now everything costs would be exorbitant if we tried this today.

[@TheLambSauce659]

Technically we have a dockland busway already: the D3, 6, 7 and 8 (there were more before)

[@AtheistOrphan]

Last time I rode on the DLR I got my coat stuck in the folding doors. (It’s been a while).

[@eattherich9215]

The busway might only have worked if it ran in a segreated corridor and didn't have to mix in with other vehicles. I don't use the DLR as much since I moved from Lewisham town centre, but I will sometimes change on to it from the tube or train.

[@hairyairey]

@@eattherich9215 Too slow and too limited on passenger numbers.

[@WhiskeyGulf71]

2:01 who else went to 'League of gentlemen' when they heard "Local People"

[@teecefamilykent]

Fantastic video sir, award yourself some points.

[@PenryMMJ]

It should be compulsory to consider the wider economic benefits of any transport proposal. After all, if you take things in the other direction, doing nothing costs nothing. But it doesn't meet anyone's needs either.

[@tantaf123]

sure I’m one hour late. but that won’t stop me from watching another masterpiece from Jago Hazzard :)

[@TheCcponyboy]

Just an observation. Three rail routes in one city. How much could the North have benefited from this investment. We got the guided buses!

[@Mirz-ei6tg]

You are my DLR to my Bussin Line

[@GreenJimll]

So when do we get the video about the minitram/cabtrack PRT development/failure?

[@andyilsley2448]

❤ the DLR ! I do like a good busway though - I grew up in Birmingham and I was fascinated by the pioneering but sadly short-lived Tracline 65 !

[@asldkjaslkdj]

Completely irrelevant fact; the scene at 0.47 was used for filming in The Professionals episode 'Blind Run.' I watch a lot of ITV4...

[@markomarten]

Maybe they could do a similar thing with Kingston/Richmond it’s about time South West London was modernised in transport terms.

[@pauljmccluskey5532]

Like me, I reckon that anyone who’s had the pleasure of travelling on the DLR have gone to the front and pretended to be the driver? The DLR will always be the best!!

[@richardeyers322]

o yeah then it was extended to lewisham and woolwich,which i have done both and both ways.

[@caw25sha]

So were they proposing a guided busway like the one in Cambridge?

[@Inverse_to_Chaos]

0:36 Of course, the British means of time travel. All we’ve got is a DeLorean that cannot even be started proper.

[@mattmclafferty6265]

Phanx Duke of Hazzard! Hare Krishna

[@jakeandrews-iz4wf]

Your videos are the Mexican hot sauce to my fried eggs on toast.

[@pleappleappleap]

With the criterion of economic benefit, I think it was still shortsighted. They should've built it to full Tube specifications.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Maybe it’s me but I’m drawing parallels between the OG ‘Tuppeny Tube’ and the DLR.

[@SeverityOne]

Why does the DLR always seem to run so slowly? Is it because it's always filmed near a station, or is it just slow?

[@Andrewjg_89]

A mini-tram or mono-rail would have been ideal for the Docklands. Before the Docklands Light Railway were built that the DLR today serves the whole area of the Docklands in East London and Southeast London. And the Jubilee Line could have extended to London City Airport and Thamesmead.

[@laurencefraser]

wouldn't have done anything the DLR doesn't, and would have been propriatary tech on top of that (which just massively increases the upkeep costs and creates potential legal headaches and supply bottlenecks if the company signed up to do the job turns out to be rubbish). Here's a quick hint: if the word 'pod' comes up, it will have major deficiencies, and by the time you've finished Fixing the deficiencies you will have arrived at either 'regular train' or 'bicycle'. (you may have passed through 'car' to get there, but 'car' is basically what you get when you make a 'pod' version of a bus... though cars, at least, do have viable use cases (situations where mass transit is legitimately non-viable), only becoming gadgetbahn equivalent when used outside of those usecases... ... ... which is something like 99% of the time, mind you, due to mostly being used to move individual people around cities).

[@Andrewjg_89]

Couldn’t agree more

[@smb6995]

Isle of Docks.

[@MakeSomeNoisePlaylists]

Red Elephant....I really liked tha.

[@18robsmith]

Dogs running on the street???? Oh. Buses to the Isle of Dogs running on the street.

[@vfrhawk7633]

Sorry to post off topic: I just watched the Regents Canal vid from a few years back, but can't find part 2? Did that never happen?

[@stephenspackman5573]

I don't quite understand city planners who view transit as a means to make money rather than a tool to change the effective size and geometry of the city. I mean, it's very bad at the former and very good at the latter.

[@francesconicoletti2547]

Its called neo liberalism and is slowly destroying society.

[@billsinkins361]

I heard the bulk of this video in Tom Baker's voice

[@philiptaylor7902]

I once took the Luton/Dunstable busway, an odd experience.

[@truckerallikatuk]

You are the busway to my under-developed areas.

[@Covid-bv4hp]

I remember heaing that DLR is free transit because no one pays for it.. I didnt believe it so I searched it up and apparently there are no gates ? Whats the reason behind that ? An honesty based system in 2024 ? Lol. Would love to hear some feedback by people who regularly use it.

[@Jimyjames73]

Very good info Jago 🙂🚂🚂🚂

[@AtheistOrphan]

Jacko?

[@Jimyjames73]

@@AtheistOrphan Opps that was suppose to be Jago - that was me typing to fast - I've changed it now!!! - Sorry Jago 😉🚂🚂🚂