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?

There is no such thing as car tax. There is an emissions tax that you pay to (partially) make up some of the external cost of the pollution your vehicle produces - if you have an electric car, you won't pay it. The bus pays an emissions tax. Roads are paid for out of general taxation - including the taxes of most bus passengers.

The logic is that bus lanes do not slow down traffic - they simply enable buses to gain an advantage. Traffic flow is restricted at "nodes" ie at traffic lights and roundabouts. Usually at those points, there will be no bus lane. So your journey is not actually prolonged due to the bus lanes - it just feels that way.

If you want to use the bus lanes then go on the bus or go by bicycle.

Not all cars are subject to vehicle excise duty (mine isn't). And besides, many bus users own cars as well. I have a car but I also use the tube/bus/rail to get to work. Shocking, eh?

Jezza, is that you?

The council's plan is obviously working. It's supposed to make people like you use the buses instead so there's less cars on the road.

Why shouldn't people in buses get to work first? They've used their brains and taken the easy route. You should do the same.

If your journey is only five minutes why not get the bus, or walk?

I'm not a sheep. I just don't think that little paper disc on my windscreen means I own the place.

OP are you in Leeds?

We have a whole system of completely underused bus lanes. With a little know how though you can use most of them without risk as there aren't many cameras if you dare

I don't object one bit to well thought out and planned public-transport-integration-routes, or whatever it is they've called them, if there were EVER any bloody buses using them!

YANBU I agree 'tis infuriating.

If it's taking you 20 minutes to do a 5 minute journey, why don't you walk/cycle/catch the bus yourself?

The people who refuse to use a bus lane outside of operating hours are sheep though. Fucking morons! On the plus side it's like having your own private lane.

YABU. I choose not to drive because the thought of being in a car all by myself putting unnecessary emissions into the air when i could take a bus annoys me. I hate those pricks who take their 4X4s up the road to the supermarket. I hate it when people don't at least make an effort with car sharing to work where possible. I think it is stupid that for the years that the neighbours children went to school at the same time at my brothers, my mum or my neighbour didn't think to take turns at taking them down the road in the car (lived just in the countryside).

My point is, your car is not the most worthy thing on the road. IMO, buses deserve to be there more. If more people took up public transportation, then there would be less cars with just one solitary person sat in them, thereby reducing congestion. Anything that acts as an incentive for people to be that little more selfless green is fine by me.

I got the first fine of my life for "driving in a bus lane" recently. I was turning left and switched into the lane as it was ending, i.e. by the time my back wheels were crossing into the lane my front wheels were already out. I googled afterwards and found newspaper articles saying that the camera that caught me is the highest-earning one in the country, earning many millions per year for Camden.

There is another bus lane not far away that I regularly use in the mornings, usually sail past 30 - 50 vehicles. Apparently I'm the only one who can see the sign that it's only a bus lane from 4pm to 7pm.

What an unspeakably stupid thread to start.

Bus lanes need to be empty so that buses and taxis and cycles can get along them quickly when they turn up.

Filling them with cars - for that is all you would be doing - would not solve anything much.

It's like, look, imagine you have a marble run and you fill all the channels up with marbles, it isn't going to work is it?

Some routes in any system are supposed to be vacant. Your staircase at home is vacant yes? not full of furniture or stuff that needs to be moved from one floor to the other? like ours

It's meant to be that way.

Mostly, it's for emergency services to be able to bypass traffic queues easily. Well it works here for that, anyway.

you can use the bus lane all you like. Just get on the bloody bus.

Catch the bus, use the buslane. Free up the roads from congestion.

IN short you've completely missed the point.

What Rooners said.

It's particularly delightful for pedestrians, I find, going across bus lanes when some bloody idiot has decided to zoom along them. Which is in any case illegal under-taking.

And frankly, if you're using a car for a five-minute journey...words fail me. And they don't do that often.

Wow - entitled much?

I pay car tax (Not road tax) on 2 cars, I also catch the bus, ride my bike and use the train to get to work - care to let me know where in your world people like me fit in?

Baaaa

I remember reading an article saying (in a surprised way!) that when the bus lane restrictions were lifted in a certain area owing to roadworks nearby (meaning more cars were diverted onto this particular road), they had found that (drumroll!!) congestion had reduced- despite there being more traffic overall! Well duh...! Who'd have thought it- open another lane and the traffic jam reduces, wow! So the restrictions on that part of the road were lifted.

I quite agree though- I don't see why buses need to get where they are going any faster than anyone else. There might be a case to be made that at least emergency services could use them to bypass jams in busy areas though?

ffs it's not road tax. it's vehicle duty tax.
anyone who pays council tax pays for the upkeep of the roads.
so yabu.
but go ahead use the bus lane and pay the fine.

tracypenisbeaker you'd hate me then - I get 14mpg driving to work and back on my own in a nice thirsty large engined car. I also drive purely for pleasure - a £50 blast is not unusual and that's just for the sake of going for a drive. I shall dedicate my next hoon to you to make up for your lack of emissions!

Err 5 mins by car = a 30 minute 2 mile walk with a toddler and impossible to get to nursery on time after seeing older DC off to school.

I stand by my original post. In my town anyway, buses are few and far between so most people have no choice but to drive and yes, traffic would move much faster if there were two lanes instead of one congested one and one empty bus lane!

Car/road tax or vehicle excise duty WAS originally introduced for the upkeep and construction of roads. Now it's just another tax obviously . I wonder why we don't question this either? We're taxed on petrol, insurance and pay VAT when we buy the damn car. If car tax is not used for the roads, what is it used for?

High and mighty much?

You just come across as incredibly entitled and moronic.

entitled, smentitled

moronic no, just logical and able to think for myself, not to just follow ridiculous rules