Silviya Barrett: Bus Priority

Buses are an essential means for many to get to work, college or school, to the shops or hospital, or to see friends and family. In busy cities and towns, buses can get you there quicker than driving and without the headache and expense of parking. More people on the bus also means clearer roads for people who need to drive. But when bus journeys become too slow, passenger numbers start to fall, clogging roads up for everyone.

Bus priority measures, including priority at junctions and bus lanes, are the best way to ensure that urban buses can keep moving in traffic to speed up journey times and improve reliability thus boosting passenger numbers. Evidence shows investment in bus priority delivers manifold economic benefits including quicker journeys for passengers, greater access to jobs, improved health through physical activity, reduced air pollution and carbon emissions, and wider social benefits.

On the flipside, buses caught up in delays cost more to run – a 10% decrease in bus speeds increases bus operating costs by £400 million per year. As long as bus priority measures are well designed and correctly implemented in the right locations, they can improve the efficiency of the whole transport network, reducing congestion and delays for all roads users.

Yet despite the proven effectiveness of bus priority measures, recent UK Government policies have sought to limit the use of bus lanes in our towns and cities. The Plan for Drivers published in October 2023 is a deeply flawed document in many respects, and its rhetoric threatens to undo previous progress towards sustainable transport. Among several measures, it included plans to limit the use of bus lanes to “only when buses are running, or when traffic is heavy enough to cause delay to buses”.

This approach is retrograde for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it runs directly counter to policies laid out in the Government’s 2021 National Bus Strategy, Bus Back Better. As part of a package of bus improvement measures, local transport authorities bidding for a chink of the £3 billion investment were expected to deliver “bus lanes on any roads where there is a frequent bus service, congestion, and physical space to install them. Bus lanes should be full-time and as continuous as possible.”

The Strategy highlighted the West Midlands as an example of good practice, stating that its 2.5 km of bus lanes had “delivered an 11% boost” to passenger numbers. In West Sussex, bus priority measures along just two core routes resulted in a 160% growth in passenger numbers and an increase in passenger satisfaction.

Secondly, local transport authorities already have the power to vary the hours of bus lane operation. Across the country, already there is variation in the hours of operation ranging from 24 hours a day in London to continuous 12-hour blocks (typically 7am to 7pm) or morning and evening peak times. This suggests that stronger guidance is not necessary.

Thirdly, restricting the operation of bus lanes to “only when traffic is heavy enough to cause delay to buses” is unlikely to bring any tangible benefit to drivers. If there is no congestion on the road at a certain time, opening up the bus lane to traffic won’t speed up journeys significantly. On the contrary, time-limited bus lanes can confuse drivers and risk more people receiving penalty charge notices at times when the lane is in operation.

So why, when bus lanes have formed a cornerstone of national transport policy for so long and all the evidence shows they work, is the Government suddenly back-tracking? The reason is a belief that bus lanes are unpopular with the majority of people. However, this is mistaken. In fact, research we at Campaign for Better Transport commissioned, revealed huge public support for bus lanes, with 68% of people (63% of drivers and 78% of public transport users) agreeing that buses should have priority over cars on busy roads.

Regardless of whether the proposal in the Plan for Drivers leads to any substantive policy changes or not, the change of rhetoric is deeply worrying. Supported by the five main UK bus companies, we called on the Government to rethink these plans. Having given valuable financial support to the bus industry both during and post-pandemic and boosted passenger numbers with the £2 cap on bus fares, rowing back on priority measures is the last thing buses need. It would only undermine all the Government’s previous good work.

Silviya Barrett, Director of Policy and Research, Campaign for Better Transport