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.
UTC

Related Content

  • April 28, 2025
    Vix Technology wins London passenger info upgrade
    Firm is expected to update UK capital's bus display estate by end of 2027
  • May 17, 2012
    Two initiatives announced to cut road works disruption in London
    A joint US$1.6 million fund to research and develop new technology to reduce the disruption caused by road works was announced yesterday by UK Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Confirmation of a lane rental scheme for roadworks was also announced at the same time.
  • January 13, 2023
    Signal prioritisation as silver bullet
    We can’t keep building roads to solve congestion. But help is available: transit signal prioritisation can easily reduce traffic and bring back riders to mass transit, says Bobby Lee of Lyt
  • September 30, 2014
    Siemens to implement average speed enforcement in London
    Transport for London (TfL) has awarded Siemens a contract to replace existing speed cameras on selected routes in the capital with new digital average speed enforcement systems. The contract, part of TfL’s London Safety Camera Replacement Project, includes the deployment of more than 100 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras over the next 24 months, covering four main routes across London, which Siemens says represents the largest roll-out of its SafeZone average speed enforcement solution in