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?

It's only empty because you're the only fucker using it.

If we all did what you're telling us we should be doing, it would still have other cars in it and you would take pretty much the same amount of time to get anywhere as anyone else.

Also - it isn't being a 'sheep' to treat road rules as law, and to abide by them - it's common sense, because when you break them you surprise people and surprised motorists aren't as safe as ones who are seeing others do as they expect.

If you break the rules you're being an immature idiot and putting people at risk.

If you really object to these rules then take it up with the highways department at county level. Don't goad everyone else on the road like some petulant 12yo.

In my town anyway, buses are few and far between

If demand for the bus service went up then perhaps so would supply :)

Don't follow the rule then - pay the fine. Tres simple isn't it?

Bus lanes are fab for those of us who took the bus to work. When I was a lawyer I could go door to door by bus in 15 minutes. The same by my car would be 45 minutes plus.

Abiding by laws isn't being a sheep.

Have you seen those empty pavements? Some are plenty wide enough for a car and the pedestrians don't pay 'road tax' either.

What a stupid thread. Use the bus lane and pay the fine if it bothers you so much.

You know what I will do a LOT for the environment - but catch a bus no fcking way ever - I caught the bus for years* :

Its expensive
Its inconvenient
I used to get to work with a migraine caused by other peoples perfume
I always got cornered by the scary person with mental health issues
I used to gag at unwashed bodies and unwashed hair
I struggle with the desire to murder anyone who laughs before 11am in the morning.
I dont want to hear the ting/ting/ting of your music or blow by blow details of the bloke you shagged last night.

I want to sit in my small car (with no migraine inducing air freshener) temperature set to my liking, listening to my music and when I needed to pop somewhere at lunchtime I can do it rather than have to cram all my chores into an already busy weekend.

But laws are laws - im not using the bus lane....so baaa (I guess)

Buses are few and far between where I live too, but as I can't drive, I've got no choice but to use them. And for the privilege, I pay an extortionate fare, (which not only goes towards keeping a driver in employment but would assume also gets put towards any taxes that the bus company pays) I regularly stand because there are no seats, clinging onto a sticky handrail for dear life, while the driver acts out his F1 fantasies. If I do get a seat, the chances are that school kids will have deposited their lunch on it, or it will have chewing gum on it. All this is assuming the bus actually turns up and I'm not left standing in the pouring rain for 40 minutes. And when the bus does turn up on time, it's another ten minute walk from the bus stop to my house.

And now us bloody outrageous bus users have the cheek to delay your door to door journey in a nice clean car by 15 minutes? That's terrible. I shall make sure I inform my fellow freeloading bus passengers tomorrow that we need to move over and make way for all you car drivers who have actually paid for the road.

No one drives in them cause you will get fined.

BUT Liverpool has suspended all bus lanes and awaiting to see what happens?

Magnumicelolly I dont think they necessarily need to get places faster, I think in order to stick to the timetable and have a reliable service a clear route is needed. There would be no bus service if noone had a clue when to expect them

Useless fact of the day.

Bus lanes require planning permission. Most councils forget to apply for it or don't renew it. If you have the time or the inclination, you could have hours of fun challenging fines and tickets!

"Entitled, smentititled" - really?! I rest my case, very intelligent comeback!

OP I expect you meant this post sincerely, but to be honest you sound like a troll something else.

OP says: "If car tax is not used for the roads, what is it used for?"

Vehicle Excise Duty is not actually hypothecated but a lot of lung and heart disease is attributable to vehicle emissions pollution. That alone costs the NHS lots of money. Not to mention several thousand road traffic injuries a year which are also expensive on taxpayer services (fire service rescues, ambulances, lost days of working, hospital stays). So don't worry, OP, you are not hard done by on the taxes front - car drivers do not pay more in taxes than they cost the country by driving their cars.

AKAK81 whilst you are out polluting the air we all breathe for no reason other than personal pleasure, please could you also drop some litter on my behalf as I don't do that either?

I follow the ridiculous rules because in our town there are cameras in the bus lane, and the fine is £60.

So you can drive in whichever lane you want, but I'd prefer to add a little time to the journey and keep my £60.

I prefer to use busses and am unable to drive anyway.
It's certainly cheaper than running a car.
OP, you sound entitled, but you have no more right because you drive a car.

Taking the ' i pay my road tax' arguemet to its illogical conclusion. The council tax of residents will have paid for the bus lane.

Do you live in the town OP

As a frequent driver in London I think bus lanes are great. They keep the buses moving, keep the buses from being in and out of the flow of traffic. And I give way to buses, too. I just look at the bus and imagine each of the passengers in a car in the road ahead. I am the problem, when I use my car, not the bus passengers or the cyclists.

It's easy to be caught out if you assume that a lane is rush hour only but is 24/7, so I tend to stay out of them where I am on unfamiliar territory.

I use a route into the city which has four buses merge into the same 5 mile stretch into the city centre. They're generally double deckers so hold approximately 70+ people. A bus roughly every 5-10 mins during rush hour/s from 7.30am-9.30am and pretty much every one is rammed.

We have a piddly quarter of a mile bus lane at one point in that journey. Now that's fecking ridiculous. If everyone who used those buses chose to use a car or bike the roads would be gridlocked. When I'm nosing into cars from my bus window 97% of people are sitting in cars on their own.

Still get feckers on the radio moaning about the miniscule amount of bus lanes in this city though.

That's the point of them - although I will concede that town planning is rarely logical so I would agree if you don't have the bus routes to use them it's a waste.

Maybe the council should turn them into cycle lanes

How about those bloody traffic lights? they always stop the traffic moving.

It's an oldie but it's a goody and no less true now than 20 yrs ago:
Real cost of roads far higher than VED.