There's a worrying report in the Northampton Chronicle that the County Council want to open bus lanes to more traffic. The report says that "bus lanes could be used by lorries, motorbikes, taxis and cars with more than one person in them." I'm trying to think if there's any excluded category left. They'll need some pretty big signs to fit that list on.
Councillor Heather Smith (Con, Prebendal) reportedly said: “I imagine the only people who might object to it would be the bus companies." Heather can't imagine anyone cycling, evidently.
Ironically though, this might actually make life worse for car drivers and other motors excluded from bus lanes, because the capacity of a road system is for the most part determined by junction, not link capacity. If you allow significant numbers of motors to jump the queue for a junction by using a bus lane, the poor old car driver in the general traffic lane will end up waiting longer.
For those of us who don't live in Northampton, hopefully this won't set a precedent. Even by UK standards it's difficult to imagine a more anti-cycling measure.
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I imagine the only people who might object to it would be the bus companies.
ReplyDeleteErrr... is the Conservative councillor aware that there are people who travel on buses?
My daughter (living in Northampton) has just tweeted to say that she is unaware that there are any bus lanes in Northampton. ?
ReplyDeleteThere are bus lanes in Northampton.
ReplyDeleteHere is one.