Skip to main content

London invests in bus priority schemes to help keep bus passengers moving

With London’s roads seeing an increase in congestion due to a construction boom and a significant growth in population, Transport for London is investing heavily in helping keep the roads moving through a range of means. Part of this programme is designed to help buses get through congested areas quicker and more reliably. A US$284 million investment in new bus priority schemes in the capital includes changes to road layouts and junctions and enabling small changes to routes so that buses can avoid traff
January 26, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
With London’s roads seeing an increase in congestion due to a construction boom and a significant growth in population, 1466 Transport for London is investing heavily in helping keep the roads moving through a range of means.

Part of this programme is designed to help buses get through congested areas quicker and more reliably. A US$284 million investment in new bus priority schemes in the capital includes changes to road layouts and junctions and enabling small changes to routes so that buses can avoid traffic hotspots.

Around 50 bus priority schemes were delivered across the Capital in 2015 and a total of 116 will be in place by the end of April.  These improvements will benefit passengers in 17 London boroughs right across the Capital.  

Mike Weston, TfL’s director of buses, said: “London’s continued success means that it is a very busy city with a huge range of construction projects underway, particularly in central London, and this is having an effect on traffic.  To ensure that the bus network remains reliable and efficient, we are investing US$284 million in modernising roads across the Capital so that bus passengers can avoid potential delays to their journeys.  Fifty schemes were completed last year and there are dozens more that will be completed over the next few months, ensuring that bus journeys are as quick and easy as possible.

“We’re working 24-hours a day to relieve congestion through our traffic control centre and cracking down on illegal or inconsiderate drivers through our expanded team of dedicated traffic enforcement officers.”

Bus priority schemes are TfL-funded but delivered in partnership with local boroughs, which are often responsible for the local roads that the buses serve and represent the communities around them.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Illinois transportation safety analysis contract for Iteris
    July 1, 2024
    Blackhawk Hills Regional Council will prioritise needs of local disadvantaged communities
  • Bluetooth and Wi-Fi offer new options for travel time measurements
    November 20, 2013
    New trials show Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals can be reliably used for measuring travel times and at a lower cost than an ANPR system, but which is the better proposition depends on many factors. Measuring travel times has traditionally relied automatic number plate (or licence plate) recognition (ANPR/ALPR) cameras capturing the progress of vehicles travelling along a pre-defined route. Such systems also have the benefit of being able to count passing traffic and have become a vital tool in dealing with c
  • Time for a rethink on road user charging
    February 1, 2012
    There is no value in further US VMT charging trials, except to delay the inevitable. These trials should end after completion of the University of Iowa's National Evaluation of a Mileage-based Road User Charge. There is far greater promise in unleashing private operators to commence profitable, non-tolling services, then using these for toll assessment and collection as fuel distributors are currently used to collect fuel taxation. Bern Grush writes
  • Mass changes in travel patterns may require inter-generational ‘evolution’
    March 14, 2017
    While ITS technology has been developing apace, making travel safer, quicker and more sustainable, changing the public’s travel habits is progressing at a much slower rate. Indeed some would say it hasn’t progressed at all in that once an individual establishes a travel pattern for regular journeys, they do not consider other options and will continue to travel in the same way unless a drastic change occurs. Perhaps Sir Isaac Newton would call it the first law of commuting.