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Bikers in bus lanes will force cyclists off streets
• I AM hoping that through the Tribune I can voice my unease at the decision by Mayor of London Boris Johnson to allow motorcycles in bus lanes (Let bikers in bus lanes, October 31).
I have been a cyclist since 1981 and have always found that in the chaos that is the rush hour the bus lane provides a space for cyclists where we can journey in a relatively safe environment.
Until a proper network of cycle lanes is established in London, bus lanes are the only space we have in braving our daily commute through already-congested streets. To allow motorbikes will only force off the road those cyclists who are unsure on our streets or put off would-be cyclists.
We need to encourage more bicycle users not discourage them, and now more so than ever. As the financial crisis deepens there has never been a better time for London to take the initiative and get people to make that change in lifestyle which in turn will make this city a better place to live in. It is time to get people to leave their cars and get on their bikes, Mr Mayor.
Luis Blanco
Drayton Park, N5
• ISLINGTON Cyclists Action Group welcomes the motion by Islington Council against London Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to allow motorbikes in bus lanes.
Cyclists across London have been opposed to the scheme. More than 3,500 cyclists have signed an online petition against the move and another 400 have signed petitions in Islington.
On October 9, the council passed a motion calling for motorbikes to be banned from bus lanes under its control if the proposal goes ahead.
Cyclists and motorcyclists have much in common when it comes to facing risk on the road, such as unobservant car drivers and poor road surfaces.
We feel that if Mr Johnson wants to improve road safety he would do better to address these issues.
We need genuine road safety measures such as a London-wide 20mph limit which will improve the safety of all road users and not a scheme which might benefit a handful at the expense of more vulnerable road users.
Stephen Taylor
Eburne Road, N7
• MOTORCYCLES in bus lanes are a bad idea. The drivers of two-wheeled, motorised vehicles seem to believe the traffic rules do not apply to them. I’ve seen them go the wrong way down one-way streets, ride on the pavement (in front of a primary school with pupils leaving), run traffic signals and pull into advance stop zones supposedly restricted to pedal cyclists.
When I used to live in Canonbury, scooter drivers would routinely zip through junctions using their hooters instead of their brakes. Perhaps London drivers would love to see this sort of behaviour shunted off into bus lanes and out of their way, but has anyone asked the bus and taxi drivers?
It’s bad enough to have to cope with motorcyclists’ random acts of mayhem, but when something goes wrong they seriously delay the flow of traffic in lanes designed specifically to ease congestion. Twice in the past couple of months I’ve been on a bus that had to stop because of a motorcycle or motor scooter in the bus lane. And this was before they are even allowed in the lanes.
The whole idea has not been carefully thought out. For instance, groups representing vulnerable road-users, such as London Cycling Campaign (LCC) or Living Streets, do not appear to have been consulted.
The unloved bendy bus is considered too dangerous, and will be phased out, but in this case smaller is not safer. Why should motorcycles and scooters be given bus-lane privileges? They certainly are not a cleaner/greener option; those small engines cause more pollution than a full-sized car.
Elaine Bradtke
Martha’s Buildings, EC1
• MAYOR of London Boris Johnson’s appalling decision to allow motorcycles in bus lanes goes directly against the advice of cyclists’ organisations CTC and LCC, let alone common sense.
CTC is the main cycling body in the UK which, at the behest of the government, set up and runs national cycle training as well as many other aspects.
LCC is the London campaigning body for cyclists, with decades of experience of cycling in the capital.
There is no evidence that allowing motorcyclists in bus lanes will decrease their injuries but it will increase the hazards facing cyclists and discourage them from cycling in the first place.
Bus lanes are a welcome haven for cyclists on busy roads. We need them – motorcyclists don’t.
S Wagland
Via email
• HULKING, noisy, polluting motorbikes will hog large amounts of red tarmac on the eleven-and-a-half feet-wide bus lanes.
Their handlebars and two side mirrors are generally around three-feet wide; bicycle handlebars around two feet. Motorbikes are motor vehicles with two wheels and with the power of about 40 horses. They are not bicycles with a motor on.
These fast-moving, powerful motor vehicles do not mix well with comparatively slow-moving bicycles powered by one human – a fraction of a horsepower. With more and more bicycles using the bus lanes, motorbikes roaring up to a phalanx of bicycles surely is a mismatch. A pedal cyclist could easily be clipped by a side mirror and tipped into moving traffic.
Among machines and creatures that move, bicycles are No1 for using the least amount of energy to cover a given distance – far more efficient than a person walking, a motor vehicle or a horse. Indeed, 53 times more efficient than cars, according to a 10-page survey in Scientific American.
The supremely efficient bicycle should be nurtured, its path not made more difficult. Silent and non-polluting, it can run on so many forms of energy — lamb chops, steak and kidney, beans, couscous, spaghetti bolognese, it’s all the same to a bike.
Many motorcyclists also seem to need the apparent testosterone enhancement provided by faulty mufflers that don’t muffle.
A roaring, polluting motorbike coming up beside a silent bicycle is more than discomforting. Pedestrians as well as cyclists have had experience of this.
A two-wheel motorcycle has plenty of power to weave in and out of other motor traffic on the highway. It is actually an efficient way of dealing with the problem of four-wheel cars often with just one occupant.
These wide, noisy, motorised two-wheelers do not need to be allowed into bus lanes, which are protective of riders on silent, non-polluting bicycles.
LEO CHAPMAN,
Dufferin Street, EC1.
• BORIS Johnson’s raison d’etre for getting rid of the bendy buses is that he thinks they deter cycling. So motorcycles in bus lanes won’t deter cycling?
Is the problem with a cycling Mayor that he thinks he knows enough about cycling himself and doesn’t need to consult cycling organisations about matters that affect them, such as sharing bus lanes?
I hope to be proved wrong about powered two-wheelers in bus lanes, but Transport for London should at least repair the sunken manholes and potholes.
Ross Corben
Via email
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