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End of the road for the M4 bus lane

You may well have missed it, but yesterday a small but significant event slipped by, largely unnoticed. The removal of the M4 bus lane was made permanent.

The M4 bus lane became something of a political totem since its introduction by John Prescott in 1999. It operated between junctions 3 and 2 of the eastbound M4 into London and was a tiny but symbolically important cog in the Labour government’s move to encourage people away from their car and on to public transport.

It did the trick in freeing the road for buses and coaches, but the jams, blamed by critics on the bus lane, made national headlines. One of the first acts of 2010’s incoming coalition government was to suspend it under temporary legislation.

The decision to revoke the temporary legislation was announced by the Highways Agency in August 2013 and its closure has just become permanent.

As a road user and also someone involved in transport policy I admit to feeling rather ambiguous about it. Bus lanes are a Good Thing in encouraging more use of passenger transport. But sitting in a jam heading into London with an urgent carload of materials for an exhibition, with an empty lane to my side, did raise the blood pressure somewhat. Pinching a lane from that already notorious pinch point seemed at that moment perhaps a principle too far.

Now Liverpool City Council has agreed to suspend all bus lanes in the city from 21 October. That’s Liverpool, not exactly a stronghold of Conservative ideology. The bus lanes are being suspended because the Council believes many of them simply don’t work.

It’s again a controversial decision. In a letter to the Mayor of Liverpool, Deputy CEO of Bus Users UK, Stephen Morris said: “Good public transport is essential to the wellbeing of any major city, in terms of the economy, social inclusion and the environment. Dependence on cars leads to congestion and poor air quality and cities where mobility is restricted simply die.”

As transport planning professionals where do we stand on this? Anything that increases take up of public transport helps free-up our cities and reduce pollution, yet anything that steals road space is less than popular with the general public. Perhaps managed bus lanes, rather like the motorways, are the answer. Now where could we try it out? I know, there’s a really annoying spot at the end of the M4...


Daniel Parker-Klein MILT BSc
Policy Manager


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