Skip to main content

Independent review says most bus lanes should go

An independent review of Liverpool’s bus lanes is recommending that the majority be removed, but four in the city centre will be retained. On a number of other routes, measures such as bus detector loops are recommended. The city’s 26 bus lanes were suspended in October 2013 to monitor and analyse the effects on congestion and traffic flow. Transport consultant Mott MacDonald has carried out the review and their work was supported by groups of elected members, bus operators and the partners.
October 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
An independent review of Liverpool’s bus lanes is recommending that the majority be removed, but four in the city centre will be retained. On a number of other routes, measures such as bus detector loops are recommended.

The city’s 26 bus lanes were suspended in October 2013 to monitor and analyse the effects on congestion and traffic flow.

Transport consultant 1869 Mott MacDonald has carried out the review and their work was supported by groups of elected members, bus operators and the partners.

The bus lane review is part of a wider city transport plan which is to be concluded in February 2015, which aims to: Shape the future transport needs of the city; Forecast future demand for all modes of travel; Improve gateway routes, public realm and pedestrianisation; and improve all public transport infrastructure.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said: “I want to make sure that travelling through the city is a quick as possible for all road users. It’s vital for business, for residents, for visitors and I wasn’t convinced our routes were working as well as they could.

“Now for the first time we have robust data about the effects of bus lanes, rather than people’s opinions about how useful or otherwise they are. As a result of this thorough and independent review there a clear recommendations that the majority of bus lanes should be removed which I will honour.

“A number of issues that have emerged during the discussions include the level of indiscriminate parking on some of our key bus lane routes which disrupt traffic flow and we will take measures to prevent this including applying to the 1837 Department for Transport for permission to introduce red routes.

“There have also been discussions about how best we can provide facilities for cyclists. We are spending £80m on upgrading our main gateway routes over the next eight years and we will be looking at cycling measures as part of that.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Leeds City Council expands bus lane enforcement system
    November 17, 2015
    Leeds City Council is expanding the reach of its CCTV enforcement network to a further six sites as a direct result of the improvements that the Videalert-based system has delivered over the last four years. The council will now be enforcing bus lane contraventions at thirty sites throughout the city and expects to achieve further reductions in the number of offences committed and continue to meet its strategy of faster journey times for public transport users. The Videalert system was originally in
  • Silos are last century’s thinking
    April 21, 2016
    After 45 years in transportation, Ken Philmus sees the need for major change in a sector currently ill-prepared to meet the challenge of funding and rapidly advancing technological change. Having worked in both the public and private sectors, Ken Philmus, currently senior vice president of transportation solutions at Xerox, appreciates both approaches, but times are changing and he believes the sector needs to change too. “I like trains, planes and automobiles but I love the concept of mobility and that’s w
  • Great (shared) mobility expectations
    December 19, 2024
    An invitation to attend Movmi's Shared Mobility Fall Masterclass changed the way Adam Hill looked at micromobility - in particular his own attitude to risk
  • Maintaining momentum: learning lessons from the London Olympics
    November 15, 2013
    Japan will not only host this year’s ITS World Congress but has been selected for the 2020 Olympics. So what can Japan, and indeed Brazil, learn from the traffic management for London 2012 - Geoff Hadwick finds out. It was a key moment when Olympic boss Jacques Rogge signed off London 2012, calling the Games “happy and glorious.” Scarred by the logistical disaster of Atlanta 1996 and the last-minute building panic for Athens 2008, Rogge clearly thought London 2012 was an object lesson in how to plan and