Steve Berry on bus lanes

[User]

 

[domd1979]

I don't think motorbikes should be allowed into bus lanes. Nothing to do with safety - it goes against the whole point of bus lanes which is to prioritise public transport over private motorised transport.

FWIW, I see little problem in allowing responsible and experienced bikers into bus lanes. It's the idiots who collide with cyclists though, and unfortunately if you let one in you've got to let them all in.

 

[PatrickPending]

steve 'rent a quote' berry always appears on these phone in shows. God knows why as he seems incapable of reasoned intelligent debate as you heard earlier.

 

[Muddyfox]

Oh, and I forgot to say. According to him we're all beardy blokes who never cycle on the road and instead spend all our time on the internet moaning about how we hate all other road users.

Which is completely untrue. All of it. Well, er,...

I had to laugh when he called the CTC guy a " Weirdy Beardy Bloke " and the bit about internet forums i thought it was 20 Inch or ccsimon

 

[wafflycat]

It shocked me. He always seemed able to string a sentence together when I've seen him on motoring programmes.

Oh, and I forgot to say. According to him we're all beardy blokes who never cycle on the road and instead spend all our time on the internet moaning about how we hate all other road users.

Which is completely untrue. All of it. Well, er,...

*adjusts large bosum in the manner of Les Dawson character*

A vile slur! I'll have him know my hormonal imbalance due to being a lady of a certain age means I shave at least three times a day! No beard for me! That and he hasn't read my Tarmac thread. Harrumph!

*miffed twiddling of pearls & adjusting of twinset*

 

[LLB]

I don't think motorbikes should be allowed into bus lanes. Nothing to do with safety - it goes against the whole point of bus lanes which is to prioritise public transport over private motorised transport.

Which defeats the object of allowing cyclists into there as well

 

[domd1979]

I have no problem with cyclists in bus lanes because a) they're not motorised transport and buses and cycles have similar average speeds.

Which defeats the object of allowing cyclists into there as well

 

[LLB]

The idea of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes is to allow people to commute in a less congesting way over greater distances than they would be able to on a cycle. Also the safety aspect is one to be considered.

Not everyone rides a motorcycle with disregard to others in the same way that not everyone on a cycle rides on the pavement or regularly RLJs.

I think it unfair that the majority should be judged on the actions of the minority....

 

[zimzum42]

I don't think motorbikes should be allowed into bus lanes. Nothing to do with safety - it goes against the whole point of bus lanes which is to prioritise public transport over private motorised transport.

I accept that point about prioritisation, but do think that practically it's more to do with letting buses beat the queues, hence why so many only operate at certain times of day.

Motorbikes do not cause queues, in fact they lessen them since each biker is potentially one fewer car on the road.

It would be fairly simple to have a system where bikers keep to the right of the lane and cyclists to the left, though whether either party would stick to it i don't know.

I think we have a lot in common with bikers though, we are both vulnerable road users, and I don't think moaning on about this paints us in a very good light. We wanted to be 'treated as traffic', but then we also keep asking for special priviledges......

 

[LLB]

Yes, but as I said if you open up bus lanes to bikers, then you let the cycle/pedestrian killers in.

How could you allow access without doing this?

Has Spinners hacked your account MrP ?

 

[LLB]

Yes, but as I said if you open up bus lanes to bikers, then you let the cycle/pedestrian killers in.

How could you allow access without doing this?

Well to be fair, 'Cyclist and Pedestrian killers' are already allowed into the bus lanes in the shape of Buses, taxis, and emergency vehicles. This is existing and present danger and police vehicles carry with them a very high accident rate.

 

[Jaded]

The idea of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes is to allow people to commute in a less congesting way over greater distances than they would be able to on a cycle.

Should we really be encouraging commuting over greater distances? It's the reason our roads are congested, our communities have been broken up and the motor vehicle is king.

I think it gives out all the wrong signals. There is motorised transport in bus lanes already. People can use that if they want to.

 

[LLB]

That doesn't address the issue of adding further danger. Have you listened to the Jeremy Vine discussion? Aside from discussing the pollution aspects of powered 2-wheelers, there are some stats quoted about the risks to peds and cyclists from bikes. And they're not good.

We've all been buzzed dangerously by the idiot bikers who are already where they shouldn't be and put saving a few seconds over the safety of other vulnerable road users. Tell them that belting up the bus lane is now ok and you'll only increase the risk.

So how do we address this?

By enforcing speed limits in them (for all vehicles). The technology is already in place to do this.

 

[LLB]

So a cyclist at 10mph will be perfectly safe being buzzed by a bike at 30mph?

no better or worse than a taxi, emergency vehicle and a damn sight safer than a bus doing this. Motorcycles don't need the width which a bus does to pass safely. You could say the same about a child in a bus lane being 'buzzed' by a reckless roadie @ 25mph. A motorcycle doesn't take up a lot more room than a cycle with all things considered.

 

[zimzum42]

We've all been buzzed dangerously by the idiot bikers

maybe I'm special, but this has never happened to me......

However, I have been passed dangerously by buses and taxis many times, and have been knocked off by a taxi more than a couple of times.