Leeds pedestrian ‘fast lane’ being trialled on busy city street to help commuters “reclaim their time”
The 50m-long and 2.2m-wide tracks have appeared in high-footfall areas of Leeds and Glasgow.
Pedestrian 'fast lanes' are being trialled in two UK city centres - to allow fast walkers to cut through the crowds.
In Leeds, speedsters can strut their stuff along Briggate - the city’s bustling high street, known for its busy shoppers and street performers.
In Glasgow, the fast lane has been painted down Buchanan Street - famed for its packed shopping crowds and rushing commuters.
The fast lanes are clearly marked with bold icons and have been installed to celebrate the rollout of Sky Broadband’s Gigafast+ broadband packages, the fastest from any major provider in the UK.
Ben Case, managing director of connectivity at Sky, said: “From slow walkers to traffic jams, delays are part of everyday life.
"We’re launching ‘Fast Lanes’ to speed up more than just broadband, helping commuters reclaim their time and keep life moving frustration-free.”
It comes after research of 3,000 adults revealed transport delays (42 per cent), buffering internet pages (41 per cent) and slow walkers (33 per cent) are among the nation’s top time-consuming frustrations.
A fifth of Brits - the equivalent of 10.7 million adults - even consider themselves impatient by nature, with 27 per cent willing to wait less than three minutes before losing their cool.
When online tolerance runs even thinner, with 32 per cent admitting they can only stand a minute of waiting before irritation kicks in.
Public transport is another sore spot, with commuters typically seeing red after 12 minutes of delays.
Yet given that the average worker spends the same amount of time walking as part of their daily journey, 44 per cent would support introducing permanent pedestrian fast lanes.
When held up, many Brits resort to subtle coping tactics, including muttering under their breath (42 per cent) or suffering in silence (33 per cent).
Others admit to taking it out on their tech, with 30 per cent furiously refreshing apps, 28 per cent shouting at their smart speakers, and 21 per cent drumming their fingers while they wait.
However, Londoners rate themselves as the most patient (76 per cent), compared with 66 per cent of Scots and 64 per cent of Yorkshire residents.
Women report being slightly more patient than men (22 per cent vs 18 per cent), while Gen X has been crowned the least time-tolerant age group (24 per cent).
Gen Z, however, claim to keep their cool the most - only 12 per cent describe themselves as impatient.
And this is despite experiencing the greatest number of daily delays, with four on average in a typical day.
This is compared with three for Millennials and Gen X, and just two for Boomers.
To get around them, younger people are turning to time-saving hacks such as using AI platforms (36 per cent), opting for self-checkouts instead of cashiers (41 per cent), and even watching videos on double speed (42 per cent).
Top 10 things that frustrate impatient Brits
1. Transport delays (e.g. plane, train, bus delays)
2. Slow or buffering internet
3. Slow or bad drivers
4. Slow service (in any capacity)
5. Slow walkers
6. Queuing
7. Pedestrian traffic (e.g. people taking up the whole path or someone stopping in the middle of a path)
8. Waiting for or missing a delivery
9. Film or TV show buffering part way through
10. Waiting for something to download or update