Yesterday’s outcome to the motorcycles in bus lanes consultation provides new evidence of the non-existent political concern for motorcyclists. MAG will call on the Government to rethink this consultation decision.
The Government quietly released an outcome to the motorcycles in bus lanes consultation yesterday (21st November). The outcome was published on the Department for Transport (DfT) website without a press release or any wider ministerial comment.
The outcome summary states that safety benefits of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes are not clear. It points out that the response rate to this consultation from local authorities and stakeholder organisations was low and did not provide a robust evidence base to amend current policy. The decision was therefore that there is “little justification” for moving away from a position of local authority choice to one in which allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes is the default.
MAG has pointed out that default access does not remove local authority choice. Pedal cycles have default access, but local authorities can and do restrict pedal cycles in certain cases. The default status merely indicates that a conscious decision to exclude motorcycles needs to be justified rather than a conscious decision to allow them.
Question 22 of the consultation received 14309 responses. Only 197 disagreed with the statement: ‘If it is safe to do so, motorcycles should be allowed to access bus lanes by default’.
MAG research carried out in 2022 revealed that 159 UK local transport authorities (LTAs) have bus lanes in their road network. Of these 159 LTAs, 56 allow motorcycle access. Yet only 7 LTAs that allow access responded to the consultation. Therefore 49 LTAs have carried out expensive, taxpayer funded trials and concluded a positive outcome yet chose not to share their findings with the DfT.
The DfT outcome points to the fact that response from LTAs was low and yet simultaneously states that one combined authority and two transport authority responses were excluded because they “did not identify as local authorities”
The Government has stated that it “does not intend to change any of the current restrictions as a result of this consultation. Further work would be needed to consider the implications of the other changes suggested and there are no plans to do this.” It also confirms that it “has no policy to encourage greater use of motorcycles.”
MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said:
“The outcome decision is ridiculous. It flies in the face of strong indications given by the previous Government that the outcome would favour default access. The Department is complaining about a low response rate from local authorities whilst rejecting responses from local authorities simply because they forgot to tick a box saying they were a local authority. All trials carried out on motorcycle access for bus lanes were publicly funded and the Government should be able to demand those trial reports and data are handed over. There is much in the detail of the outcome that needs to be reviewed in depth and MAG will be doing so over the coming weeks before making the formal case for a rethink of the outcome. In the meantime, I would ask the Government to look at the message it just sent to UK motorcyclists. That message is one of contempt thinly veiled as indifference.”
Full DfT outcome report: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/motorcycles-in-bus-lanes/outcome/motorcycles-in-bus-lanes-consultation-outcome
MAG’s bus lane stocktake document: https://wiki.mag-uk.org/images/6/65/Bus_Lane_Stocktake_2022.pdf