Viewing 16 posts - 1 through 16 (of 16 total)
  • Cycling in the bus lane…?
  • robinbetts
    Free Member

    Can anyone tell me where you should cycle when there’s a bus lane??

    If you cycle in the bus lane and there is traffic in the other lanes, you either end up holding up any buses, or getting squashed into the curb as they sqeeze by. Or you cycle in the traffic lane, to the right of the bus lane, and risk getting sandwiched between bus and car!

    What are you ment to do, is it in the highway code?

    theflatboy
    Free Member

    cycle wherever is safest and least obstructed at any time. if that means riding down an empty bus lane, do that. if it’s safer and easier in the normal lane of traffic do that. worry about what’s best for you cos you can be sure nobody else will be!

    Steve-Austin
    Free Member

    Right in the middle of it.

    its not a bus lane. its a lane for cycles, buses and taxis.

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    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    its not a bus lane. its a lane for cycles, buses and taxis.

    It’s not necessarily actually…Although it usually is.
    I was looking into this the other day and cycles are not allowed to use a bus lane unless instructed to on the signs. No bike on sign, no bike in bus lane. It’s mainly to do with the available width of said bus lane.
    It’s all in the Highway Code.
    The nearest bus lave to my house is not marked for bikes

    Bus Lanes. Most bus lanes may be used by cyclists as indicated on signs.

    robinbetts
    Free Member

    None of the bus lanes around here (cardiff) seem to have bike signs that I’ve noticed. As I said, they’re not really wide enough for a bus to pass you safely, without pulling out.

    I suppose

    cycle wherever is safest and least obstructed at any time

    is as gooder rule as any.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    cycle where its safest – thats a good rule of thumb. In bus lanes I tend to cycle in the middle moving in to the left when there is a bus or taxi behind me and there is room for them to safely pass. Never ever cycle along the line between two lanes – its asking to get crushed

    Interestingly over the last couple of years I have noticed a change in the attitude of bus drivers – now they seem more co operative with cyclists with lots of waving thru and waving thanks and even giving way to bikes. dunno why this is.

    mrchrispy
    Full Member

    dead centre of the lane. you dont want to leave enough room to make the driver think he can get through as he’ll probably get it wrong and you’ll make a mess of his/her bus with you head when is squashed.

    willy
    Free Member

    if its a bus lane, especially in the city (im not trying to sound big headed here) but are you not normally faster than the bus? i seem to find myself catching up with busses, therefore cycling in the bus lane and in the middle of it seems to be the best as busses wont pass you as they arent as fast as you? that not seem to be the case with anyone else.

    hh45
    Free Member

    I have an email from TFL confirming that all bus lanes are for cycles as well so if you are in London then a bus lane is really a bus and cycle lane. Taxis certainly are restricted much to their umbrage.

    A cyclist’s rights are as good as anyone’s so stick to the middle to make your self visible and to discourage optimistic overtaking by cars. IME this is what all cyclists do and normally when I get stuck behind a bus it turns out the bus was stuck behind a slower cyclist but thats the rules and quite right too IMO.

    I agree that bus drivers have improved in recent years that I put down to critical mass and people like me complaining about being abused by them for being in bus lanes that it turns out we have every right to be in – hence the exchange of emails a few years back after some bus driver said I should be ring the bus lane in Piccadilly.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    i cycle in them and agree buses cant catch you either (though it s down hill a bit the only one I use) Cant set the speed camera off on the bike and been through it at 40 ish in a 30 😥

    thepodge
    Free Member

    you can cycle in any sheffield bus lane. its a local bylaw

    project
    Free Member

    So its ok to cycle in a bus lane,and hold up all the passengers, on the bus and the following buses,all these people may beto poor to own a car, and travel with all the unwashed masses,then you hold them up, either get a car, or go another way.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    Depends on the bus lane as to whether cyclists are faster or not but from my experience, generally it’s about the same speed.

    Although whoever decided that the ideal partners for the same piece of road is a 12-ton bus and a soft squishy cyclist clearly wasn’t thinking straight in the first place…

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    In Nottingham we get to share the bus lanes with the buses – great idea that is, the biggest and the littlest squeezed into one lane…..

    druidh
    Free Member

    project – Member

    So its ok to cycle in a bus lane,and hold up all the passengers, on the bus and the following buses,all these people may beto poor to own a car, and travel with all the unwashed masses,then you hold them up, either get a car, or go another way.

    I think we’ve already covered the fact that it’s not actually a bus lane. it’s a lane for bikes, buses and taxis.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    Unless there is queuing traffic alongside, surely most bus drivers would indicate and just overtake you. Maybe they just don’t bother as they know they are stopping in 200 yards.

Viewing 16 posts - 1 through 16 (of 16 total)

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