to think we're all bloody sheep - empty bus lanes

[InsanityandBeyond]

So in the car at rush hour this morning doing a 5 minute (outside of rush hour) journey which takes 20 minutes thinking, wtaf, the bus lanes are bloody empty, why the hell are us numpties queuing for miles down the flipping road when there is a whole lane next to us empty but we are too scared to use it.

Why the hell should people on a bus who are not paying car tax get to where they want to go before us who are actually paying for the roads and probably paid for the bus lanes to be put in. Same for taxis.

My town is full of usually empty bus lanes and it is gridlock in rush hour. I just find it amazing that the council's get away with this and we're too apathetic to challenge it.

AIBU?

Well go ahead and use the bus lane if you're happy to pay the fine.
Bus passengers don't exist in some taxless bubble. They will have paid taxes too. If you're jealous of them whizzing past you then you could always catch the bus too.

so challenge it. Contact the council and start a petition for more buses or fewer bus lanes.

love the idea that people are on a bus because they don't have a car.

The bus will have paid road tax.

I don't think 'car tax' actually pays for the roads though. I think bus lanes are great where I live, but they are used pretty much constantly. You know that people pay to use the bus right? (albeit subsidised) I can see how it would be annoying if buses never use the lane but, where I live at least, traffic would be much worse if people didn't use buses.

take the bus then

if there were fewer car drivers then all the traffic would move faster

If more people used buses there'd be less traffic on the road! I have a car but use buses far more as parking is a nightmare in the town I live in.

is this not, like, the whole point of bus lanes - an empty lane to give the bus priority over queueing traffic, thereby encouraging public transport use?

I get what you are saying if the Lane is under utilised but DH was fined £60 for cutting into a bus lane (one they had just put in so it was out of ignorance rather than defiance.)

I thought there was talk of getting rid of some because they weren't sure they were helping.

Yes, just get the bus

And there is no 'road tax' either. It's vehicle excise duty...

see?

If everyone used the bus Lane to drive in there would just be two lanes of queued traffic. People are not 'sheep' for obeying a law, that's the point of having a social structure. Car tax doesn't specifically pay for roads, I'm pretty certain.

Bus lanes are to encourage the use of public transport because this is better for the environment.

(

(and reduces congestion etc)

I always use bus lanes outside operating hours, I drive a lot for work and wouldn't otherwise get anywhere fast! Was once fined being caught on cam, waiting at lights turning left in Twickenham on London Road. Outraged, I challenged the council with a 'when is a bus lane not a bus lane?' letter. Didn't hear anything further, next time I drove past it had been repainted! (Punches air!)

PS Liverpool is great now they've removed the Bus Lanes!

Ditto what offler said - there is no 'road tax'

If it's only a five minute journey normally, why don't you walk, it sounds like you'll get there quicker.

Do you need your car to travel out of the office for work, is that why you have to drive?

yes YABU - but please DO use the bus lane and pay the fines - feel free

YABU.

Buses carry more people in one vehicle, so are better for the environment. It's called doing something for the greater good.

Does it bother you on a crowded motorway seeing that empty and tempting hard-shoulder?

Why the hell should people on a bus who are not paying car tax get to where they want to go before us who are actually paying for the roads and probably paid for the bus lanes to be put in
actually you know what, the whole tone of your post has pissed me off, as though you are looking down on bus-users.
many people do not drive for valid reasons, eg epilepsy, blindness, mental health problems,
many others simply do not want to.
you certainly did not 'pay for the bus lanes to be put in'
the arrogance is astounding.

It is annoying when the bus lanes aren't in operation and people don't use them. Even more so if there is then the odd car parked in them and because the traffic is so right hand lane heavy you end up undertaking lots of cars, then having to stop and indicate in and out of the other lane.

There are changing signson one bus lane near me which read 'bus lane' in rush hour but 'use both lanes' at other times, they are effective but probably are more expensive/complcated to maintain as there must be power involved.

YABU and come across as completely entitled.

In any case, in a lot of situations the capacity is determined by the junctions. Opening up the other lane may not actually get you there much faster. It does enable buses, which are a far more efficient form of transport to get ahead of the cars. If everyone went on the bus it would be much better all round.

Hiya!

I pay car tax AND take the bus and sometimes I even take the train, so is it ok for me to go in the bus lanes?

Have you been in a bus recently?? it costs a fortune!
I'd pay double at least to go to my nearest town on the bus than it would cost me in petrol!

I'd expect special road privileges for that price!!