MR Alan Ramsdale asks why the Deane Road and St Helens Road bus lanes have different hours of operation ('Bus lane lessons are needed', Bolton Evening News, January 27).
GMPTE is working with the local councils to introduce Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) on several major routes in Greater Manchester. As part of these schemes, properly designed bus lanes can achieve significant journey time savings for bus passengers, with minimal adverse effects on other road users.
Wherever possible, we want to make sure that bus lanes are in operation 24 hours a day so that they can provide the maximum benefit for bus users. However, plans for any length of bus lane need to take into account factors such as the existing road space and the need to allow access to any shops or businesses.
On Deane Road, conditions were right to allow for the introduction of a 24-hour bus lane.
However, when proposals were made for bus lanes along the Leigh-Bolton QBC, it was clear that sections of St Helens Road could not accommodate a 24-hour bus lane without impacting on other road users and commercial activity in the area. Consequently, the bus lanes only operate at peak hours from 7.30am-10am and 4pm-6.30pm. At other times they are available for use by other car users and can be used to allow deliveries to local businesses.
Wherever possible we want to ensure that all bus lanes along a QBC operate during the same hours to ensure consistency and ease of understanding - and this is the case along the length of the Leigh-Bolton QBC.
Road safety is a priority when introducing any new road measures and, when plans for a bus lane are suggested, GMPTE works very closely with the local council, as the highway authority, and Greater Manchester Police. Extensive consultation is also undertaken with local people at every step of the process to educate them about bus lanes and the way in which they operate.
Finally, once a bus lane is up and running, the operating hours are clearly advertised with blue signs at the start, end and along the length of the bus lane.
GMPTE believes that enforcement is the key factor to the successful operation of bus lanes and that this will help to keep all traffic, not just buses, moving in a safe manner.
Keith Howcroft
Director of Planning
and Communications
GMPTE
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