Coventry bus lanes could be scrapped, if new council leader gets his way

[dutchman]

Coun George Duggins will review bus lanes in the city over concerns they contribute to delays and pollution



Coventry's bus lanes will be scrapped if the new leader of Coventry City Council gets his way.

Coun George Duggins has slammed bus lanes in the city as ineffective and suggested they actually worsen the city’s traffic problems rather than improve congestion.

The Labour leader will order a full review after he raised concerns over the level of air pollution caused by the lanes which he said often caused traffic to slow down or stop completely.

Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: “I will be asking for a review of bus lanes in the city.

“My own view is that I personally, although it’s not a policy thing yet, would favour getting rid of all the bus lanes.

“They have done it in Liverpool and I don’t see why we can’t do it.

“I think, certainly, it would ensure a better flow of traffic.”

Coun Duggins first raised concerns that the bus lanes were contributing to slow traffic and high pollution levels - especially in the north of the city - during a council scrutiny meeting in November 2014.

A council report at the time showed that 52 out every 100,000 people in Coventry will die as result of air pollution - compared to 49 for obesity and 41 for alcohol.

There were also concerns the council could be landed with a share of a £400million fine if it doesn’t improve air quality after Europe recently warned the UK it is failing to meet pollution targets.

More than one year on, and after being elected as leader of the city council, Coun Duggins insisted his views had not changed.

He said: “I definitely want to look at bus lanes, I haven’t changed my mind on that.

“That scrutiny meeting in 2014 looked at the bus lanes in terms of air quality. It was an issue raised which said that where traffic stops or slows down then the air quality is poorer.

“That’s not surprising but, linking to that, bus lanes were identified as being a bit of a problem.

“I do think in parts of the city, especially around the Foleshill Road, the bus lanes do slow the traffic down.

“The natural flow of traffic is curtailed by them. I have believed that for some time, and I haven’t changed my mind on that.”

He added: “There are parts on the Foleshill Road where you have a two lane road basically reduced to one.

“The tailbacks are, in my mind, unnecessary.”

There would be difficulties with removing bus lanes from the city entirely.

Potential issues have been raised by former Conservative council leader Coun Ken Taylor who previously suggested the city could be forced to stick with the bus lanes due to the way they were funded through central government.

It is also likely to cost a substantial amount of money to remove tens of miles of bus lanes from Coventry’s roads.

Furthermore, bus lane fines generate a substantial amount of income for the council which goes towards the bill for managing roads in the city.

[dutchman]

Bus lanes could disappear from Coventry's streets within three months

Bus lanes look likely to vanish off the face of Coventry from this autumn.

Coun Jayne Innes, the city council cabinet member for city services, said she hopes to see the start of groundwork on the abolition of bus lanes by September.

And any decision on bus lanes removal would go to cabinet but not full council, explained Coun Innes.

She said a council delegation will travel to Liverpool next Thursday to “learn from their experiences” of getting rid of bus lanes but added Coventry would keep some of its bus gates.

Coventry’s new council leader Coun George Duggins had already criticised having bus lanes in the city and suggested they actually worsen traffic problems rather than improve congestion.

Coun Innes said: “For a lot of the day bus lanes just stand empty. It seems like given that we’re a growing city what we can’t afford to do is have part of the road network sitting idle.

“Removing the bus lanes is about making the best of the available road network in terms of making traffic flow more freely, reducing congestion and also pollution and we’ll be doing it in such a way it doesn’t make the roads less safe.”

The Telegraph recently revealed a whopping £3,749,020 had been generated by seven bus lane cameras and one mobile parking camera in the city between April 2012 and September 2015.

That means an average of 108 motorists a day were automatically issued with fines ranging from £50 to £70 for driving in bus lanes or parking illegally between 2014 and 2015.

The Telegraph has asked the council to provide a figure of how much it would cost to remove bus lanes.

[rebbonk]

So they put in bus lanes and removed bus stop bays for nowt! It really is time that these wastrels that reside in Earl St are brought to book.

[Melisandre]

This is the British council for you Rebbonk they learn it from an early age the proof is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulsFONO-qZg

[dutchman]

Coventry bus lanes to be scrapped for six-month trial period in New Year



Bus lanes in Coventry are set to be suspended for six months at the start of next year.

The move is lined up to be rubber-stamped by Coventry City Council’s cabinet during a public meeting on November 29.

Plans to scrap bus lanes in the city were first revealed by the Telegraph earlier this year, and the trial is the first move towards following in the footsteps of Liverpool council which has removed its bus lanes.

Council officials hope the move will reduce congestion on the city’s roads and hope the trial, which will cover a quarter of the city’s bus lanes, will provide evidence to back this up.

[dutchman]

Bus lanes to be scrapped NEXT WEEK in new congestion-busting trial



Some bus lanes in Coventry will be suspended from next week as part of a six month trial to try and cut congestion in Coventry.

The move means the city is following in the footsteps of Liverpool’s council, which has already axed bus lanes.

Plans to scrap bus lanes were first revealed by the Telegraph last year, but on Monday January 16, the trial will be introduced.

Yellow and black signs will be used to warn motorists which bus lanes have been suspended and which remain live.

Council leader Cllr George Duggins, said: “We want to make it really clear for motorists which bus lanes they can use, so the signs will be up at those bus lanes that have been suspended so that motorists know that they can drive down it.”

“As a bus user myself I’m confident that we will see improvements for all road users in the locations where we remove bus lanes. I’d also like to thank the bus companies for agreeing to give this trial a go.”

Bus lanes that do not have a sign near them have not been suspended and are still being used as bus lanes.

Councillor Jayne Innes, cabinet member for city services, said: “We know motorists are frustrated when they sit in a queue with an empty lane next to them so we are hoping this trial will show improvements to traffic flow. Of course we want buses to run to time too so we will monitor carefully over the next six months.

“We have other work to do, like removing some of the road markings, that’s why this is a phased approach. But I hope we see positive results right from the start.”

The works to the lines and signs along the routes that are being suspended in this first phase will be completed by the end of February.

The bus lanes will be suspended for nine months under what is known as an “experimental traffic regulation order”.

After six months council officers will report their findings back to council so further decisions can be made.

The bus lanes that will be suspended in a phased approach are:

• Ansty Road outbound at Clifford Bridge Road junction
  
• Ansty Road inbound at Burns Road
  
• Binley Road outbound – full length
  
• Foleshill Road – at Old Church Road in both directions
  
• Holbrook Lane outbound between Burnaby Road and Holbrook Lane
  
• London Road outbound at St James Lane
  
• Tile Hill gyratory – on Tile Hill Lane inbound between Beech Tree Ave and the rugby club entrance. After the rugby club entrance there is a bus gate and no access for cars.
  
• Tile Hill gyratory – outbound between Renown Ave and Vanguard Ave and on going between Vangaurd and the left turn toward London on the A45. Note the right turn bus lane towards Birmingham remains in operation.

[dutchman]

Five more Coventry bus lanes to be suspended as city grapples with congestion nightmare



Five more bus lanes are set to be suspended in Coventry in a bid to cut congestion.

Seven bus lanes were suspended at the beginning of the year in the first phase of a six-month trial phase.

Now bus lanes in Kirby Corner Road, Herald Road, Radford Road and Butts Road are set to be temporarily suspended.

And the bus lane on Foleshill Road will be permanently suspended between Junction 1 of the ring road and Broad Street and Lockhurst Lane.

The bus lanes will be suspended from tomorrow and will run for an initial period of six months. The phase 1 trial will be extended for a further six months. This means the data will cover a full 12 months.

Drivers will know which suspended bus lanes they can use when they see new signs which encourage motorists to use the newly available lanes.

The yellow and black signs will say ‘Bus lane suspended. Use both lanes’.

Work will involve changes to signs and lines on the road as well as changes to the running of traffic signals to assist buses to keep to their timetables.

This work should be completed by mid-October.

[rebbonk]

The council are creating a problem with this. People are unsure of which bus lanes are active, hence they aren't using them like they might be. The bus lanes that are now out of use need completely removing.

[Melisandre]

The bus lanes that are now out of use need completely removing.

I agree with that especially coming from town some go in both lanes to go straight on to Longford by Foleshill fire station and Old Church Rd .

[dutchman]

Nine Coventry bus lanes to be scrapped following trial suspension



Some of Coventry's bus lanes will be permanently scrapped in a new move by Coventry City Council.

A temporary suspension was put in place on a number of lanes after Coventry saw an increase of 20 per cent in traffic in the past 15 years according to a report by the Department for Transport.

The same report also suggests that Coventry has the fastest rising levels of congestion due to population and economic growth.

As a result of this increasing congestion and air quality issues Coventry is reviewing the operation of bus lanes to ensure it keeps traffic moving on the road network.

And now it will be permanently scrapping a number of bus lanes following the assessment of a recent trial.
Which bus lanes will now be scrapped?

• Ansty Road outbound at Clifford Bridge Road junction
  
• Ansty Road inbound at Burns Road
  
• Binley Road outbound - full length
  
• Foleshill Road - at Old Church Road in both directions
  
• Longford Road inbound from King George's Avenue and Holbrook Lane
  
• Holbrook Lane outbound between Burnaby Road and Holbrook Lane
  
• London Road outbound at St James Lane
  
• Tile Hill gyratory - outbound between Beech Tree Avenue and the entrance to Old Coventrians Rugby Club (after the entrance there is a bus gate and no access for cars)
  
• Tile Hill gyratory - outbound between Renown Ave and Vanguard Ave and ongoing between Vanguard and the left turn toward London on the A45 (the right turn bus lane towards Birmingham on Herald Avenue has been suspended under Bus Lane Review Trial Suspension Phase Two)

The Butts Road already has a big sign up telling motorists to use the bus lane. The stupid thing is the road is seven lanes wide at one point but only two lanes at others!