Better Transport

Bus priority measures like bus lanes help buses to go faster and give people consistent and reliable journey times – making the bus a good alternative to the car.

Bus companies are usually in favour of these measures because faster buses means fewer buses are needed – less fuel is needed, which saves money and is better for the environment.

Bus lanes aren’t the only bus priority measure available. The use of red routes, bus-only streets, introduction and enforcement of on-street parking, traffic signal coordination, bus queue jumps at congested intersections and driver information systems can all help buses beat the traffic.

Find out whether any bus priority measures are being planned by talking to your transport authority. Find out about possible opposition to these measures and work to minimise that opposition. Shop owners may think bus lanes will affect business because there’ll be less car parking for potential shoppers. You can show them evidence that bus users will also spend lots of money (pdf) and that the improved environment may actually be good for business.

If there are no bus prority measures are being planned, talk to passengers about where these would help. Talk to the bus companies in your area about whether more bus priority measures would help them to operate a better bus service. Find out where they are needed most. Gather evidence, if you can, about where buses are held up by traffic.

Talk to the transport authority about what the barriers are to providing the bus lanes that are needed, and how you can help them to get over these barriers. Transport authorities will probably be more keen to put in a bus lane if there are bus companies willing to provide improvements to services in exchange, through a voluntary agreement or statutory partnership. Authorities need to introduce bus lanes where they are needed, rather than just on roads where opposition is limited. Bus companies may need to provide more buses or other improvements so that the bus lane is well used. Encourage the transport authority and the bus company to negotiate to make sure the agreement gets more people on to buses.

A bus lane might be provided as part of a major scheme, for example a bus rapid transit scheme. Find out if anything like this is being considered, and what you can do to promote it. If nothing like this is being considered, find out why not.
If your transport authority is reluctant to introduce bus priority measures, remind them that Government guidance encourages local authorities to provide bus priority.

Red routes – where parking is banned or strictly controlled - can be introduced on major roads to speed up the flow of traffic. Red routes are marked by red painted lines by the side of the road. They can be easier to introduce than bus lanes because they help all traffic to flow more smoothly – cars as well as buses. Obviously, buses are a better option if there are dedicated bus lanes, but buses can go faster on a red route than on a road blocked by parked cars.

Be sure to look at our general bus campaigning tips and to use bus facts to support your work. 

• Increased reliability
• More priority for buses 
• Better stations and stops  
• Clearer signage 
• Low-floor buses
• More buses 
• Lower fares