Cycle and bus lanes...... love them or hate them.

It is a huge problem at the moment and I am sure many other posters will have some suggestions. Whatever they decide to do I hope they will also tackle the increasing number of these e-scooters in our towns and cities. They are becoming a menace.

The death of the high street is much more complex than the building of retail parks, but of course that was a contributory factor. Is it the design in your town? Lots of European towns seem to manage cycle lanes well.

I think we need to get to a position where a car is not a necessity for most people (though I’m not sure I agree that it is). Tinkering with road layouts and cycle lanes is completely pointless if we don’t have frequent, affordable, safe public transport. I’m often impressed by what’s on offer in other areas compared to the expensive, unreliable, one per hour, finishes at 6pm service we have to our nearest sizeable town. When we moved here many years ago there were 4 buses an hour until midnight and the prospect of a local station being reopened (which of course never happened). The local buses came under one authority - now they’re run by six different companies that have no interest in coordinating services, and it’s nigh on impossible to get a cheap day or weekend ticket worth using, as they’re only valid on one company’s vehicles. People have been forced into using their cars and the falling passenger numbers are then used as an excuse to cut services.

A bus lane that cuts a couple of minutes off the journey certainly isn’t a priority here.

Bus lanes are a good idea in theory. But when I was commuting they used to be sitting empty for ages, before an occasional bus would come chugging down while all the cars were sitting in long traffic jams in the bit of road left available to them.

Cycle lanes are fine as long as they're not on roads that simply aren't wide enough for a car and a cycle lane. In those situations they're dangerous.

I live in the London outskirts and bus/bike lanes work well in my area. Although it is frustrating for drivers that’s really the point, the bus is quicker but only if it’s going where you need to go I suppose. Of course unlike many people we have a very comprehensive transport system. If I had to give up my car I could still get to wherever I needed.

Whereas I like the theory of safe cycle lanes (although I am not able to use them), the whole thing in most towns and cities has been badly managed. Cycle lanes should be quite separate from roads, not just the inside (nearest to kerb area), coned off for them. It is almost impossible to make such alterations in our already far too busy town streets without virtually starting from scratch. The London borough in which I used to live, narrowed extremely busy roads, but just making a cycle lane along the edge. This has resulted in so much traffic congestion along the main roads, that air quality has got very much worse.

To start with, it needs a really excellent and reliable and economic public transport system. This would encourage people not to use their cars. Of course, vans for tradesmen, and lorries for deliveries are still going to need roads, as will buses. Because of the cycle lane, narrowing the main roads so much, the buses are not able to keep to any sort of proper timetable - so people trying to use these to get to and from work have been unable to do so - so back into their cars!!!

In any case, it is not healthy for cyclists to have to go along the side of those vans, lorries and buses. They need totally separate areas.

I do think bus lanes have a place - to permit this sort of public transport to proceed quickly and easily. I find it strange how in some places these bus lanes seem to start and stop as no road widening has taken place, or else the road has actually been narrowed with the cycle lanes.

We have cycle lanes in our town where I live unused by so many, they seem to love to bomb along on the pavements right next to them, and this is the adults,

We are keen cyclists, but always avoid roads whether there are lanes or not. When you’re in a car, the lanes seem wide enough, but from the perspective of a bike, they’re actually not.
We would like more cycle paths off road, but then I suppose we cycle for exercise and leisure, not as our form of transport.
I can’t see it really changing to be honest, unless everyone cycles, and that is not going to happen.

Cycle lanes here but most cyclists seem to ride side by side especially in the country lanes.

I often think that the cycling lobby is too strong and self-centred. Transport planners need to listen just as carefully to bus users' groups - and forget Mrs Thatcher's dictum that anyone using a bus over the age of 30 was a loser.

There are a lot of new cycle lanes around here, but you still see cyclists on the pavements.
I don’t use them - dh does - but they don’t bother me.

I really appreciated bus lanes when I took a ‘very-few-stops’ bus to Heathrow a couple of years ago. I was meeting a sister from the US who was going to hire a car and was unsure of the route to our house.

My goodness, even in the rush hour that bus really zoomed along! I was rather too early for DSis, but far better than being late - especially since I hadn’t told her I was coming!

I agree with Maggiemaybe that we need to get away from the notion that the car is the default way to get around. We need better public transport and good provision for cycling and walking whether in cities, towns or country areas.

The roads leading to the centre of our village have visitors' cars parked all along them so the highwway is reduced to a single lane. Some cars park partly on the pavement obstructiing pedestrians and forcing anyone with a pram or a wheelchair to walk in the road. This is at its worst on weekends and bank holidays. I avoid these.

Perhaps the ban on new diesel and petrol cars will reduce -, though alas not solve - the problem of car-dependency. We can but hope!

I live in a London suburb and there is a loud minority of drivers who campaign against bike lanes and low traffic neighbourhoods and seem to think they have some god given right to drive everywhere despite the fact that the majority of journeys are very short and we do have a good transport system. We have a climate emergency and it's just not possible for the amount of motor traffic to continue as it is. Cars are a very inefficient use of space on the streets so the easier it is for buses to get around and the safer it is for cyclists and pedestrians, the better, leaving the roads clearer for delivery vans, businesses who need to transport goods, disabled drivers and those who really don't have any alternative but to use a car for their journey.

One thing I know for sure is that I'm going to have to do a little refreshing on the meaning of many of the new bits of cycle artistry appearing on the roads. Find them seriously confusing especially on the corner of bus stop markings. I assume the Highway Code is updated regularly to encompass these.

I agree with Maggiemaybe.

My local city centre has done the same, and even cut the number of disabled parking spaces to make room for cyclists. Fine if you are able to get about on foot or ride a bike, but for older people or the disabled it is not so simple, and they are always overlooked when it comes to town planning.

Switzerland has free/cheap reliable clean public transport, and most people use it. I would 100% support that happening over here. It could be paid for out of an increase in car tax.