Bus Lane Petition

[Lincsman]

Please sign and forward to whoever you want, if you'd like Motorbikes to use bus lanes.

The petition raised by Dr Mirza Ahmad can be found here:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/614294
Thank You.

[Brockett]

  Good post

[Rusty Nuts]

Would we have to keep stopping to pick up snd drop off passengers?

[Fat Rat]

Why just England?

[The Doctor 46]

It's been legal for motorcyclists to use bus lanes in Plymouth, Devon for years and it works. It takes no time to travel through the city on a motorbike whatever the traffic. Strange though, 45 minutes ride up the road to Exeter, also in Devon and bikes are not allowed in bus lanes?

I remember riding a road somewhere in London on my way to The Ace Cafe many years ago. The outside lane was a taxi and motorcycle lane, I can't remember if buses used it too but it made for really easy progress for motorcyclist on a heavily congested road.

[MartinW]

We can use Bus Lanes in Swindon. I do wish it was standard everywhere.

[Lincsman]

If memory serves me right, it was the M4 motorway. Used that a few times on the way to the Ace Cafe

[kwackboy]

In London,  you can use many bus lanes but there are as many you cannot.
 
It's designed to trick you to raise revenue.. 

[Pannier Down]

Yep, lots of London bus lanes can be used but as you need to be careful to avoid those you can't,  I tend not to bother.

[Hugo Magnus]

Why not include the motorway hard shoulder too

[Rusty Nuts]

Because that'd be dangerous and stupid, probably.

[Barbel Mick]

Derby allows motorcycles into bus lanes, not sure if it's all of them or not, as I can choose not to ride in the city much. However after using one for the first time a few years back and had two vehicles turn across me to turn left I choose not to use them now.
Motorists might check their mirror before they turn but they are looking for a large bus (taxis too) but not a motorcycle.   

[user650]

I use the bus lanes in York all the time.....oh wait 

York does allow you to use most but not all bus lanes, even on the same stretch of road it can change, so you need to keep checking.

[UK_Vstrom650]

Sheffield allow the use if bus lanes. Leeds does not. According to Leeds Council, if they let motorcycles/scooters use bus lanes then they'd have to let private hire cars use them (taxis are allowed in bus lanes). Motorcycles are also dangerous to cyclists who use bus lanes with buses...
Leeds have recently narrowed several roads to install cycle lanes but it makes filtering much harder/almost impossible in parts. Opening bus lanes, even if limited, could encourage more people to travel by PTW.

[kwackboy]

Because that'd be dangerous and stupid, probably.

Some EU countries allow hard shoulder filtering for bikes .

I once spent hours fighting my way through a motorway traffic jam in Italy in 35deg heat,  during that time I was watching lots of bikes riding in the hard shoulder.

There's me thinking I'm abiding by the law and they're all getting tickts but, to my amazement it allowed .. 

[Rusty Nuts]

The amount of debris on the hard shoulder, never mind broken down vehicles every so often, would put me off. If we want 4 Lane motorways, we should get them, but not like that. And certainly not "smart" motorways with occasional shoulder use.

[kwackboy]

Very true, my first concern would be getting a puncture.

It's bonkers the rules are not nation wide and left to individual councils to make up their own revenue raising tactics...

[Rusty Nuts]

London must be a minefield. Allowed in one Borough, but not another. What could possibly go wrong?

[The Doctor 46]

I think hard shoulder riding should be allowed. Maybe only when traffic is stationary and the motorbike to stay to the left of the hard shoulder at max 20 MPH that would seem safe to me. I did a stint using the M5 from Devon to Wales most Fridays at about 1700 hrs. It was a nightmare as I had to use my panniers and couldn't filter. I got away early one Friday at about noon and left later on an other occasion, it was just the same.

As for so called smart motorways, in my opinion they are lethal. Traffic travelling at speeds of up to 70 mph on part time hard shoulder's? Even the transport minister at the time who agreed to them and gave the go ahead has since said they are dangerous and admitted his mistake but said he was misguided by his advisers.

[Hugo Magnus]

Yes, you don't have to go flat out on the hard shoulder but it would save you from cooking if the traffic was at a standstill. ,After all it is not bikes that are causing the gridlock.