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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that taxi's should NOT be allowed in bus lanes.

68 replies

cherryrednose · 06/12/2016 22:06

I've never understood why they are. They are not public service vehicles, as buses are, they are private businesses. They are not reducing congestion, as a bus is, as they quite often only have one passenger who might presumably otherwise have taken the bus.

I ride a bike and get sick of taxis harrassing me in bus lanes. As a driver I also get sick of taxis speeding past on my inside then cutting in at the last minute to get in the 'normal' lane.

AIBU?

OP posts:

Leanback · 07/12/2016 05:12

Pretty sure bikes are allowed in bus lanes because the safest place for them is right by the kerb, think op is getting unfairly bashed for that.

MsJamieFraser · 07/12/2016 06:15

Yabu and more so for using the word donut, what are you a teen?

CauliflowerSqueeze · 07/12/2016 06:26

There are cyclists round where I live that weave in and out of traffic, jump red lights, mount pavements and irritate lots of people.

I'd rather they got on the bus..

InfiniteSheldon · 07/12/2016 06:35

Well that went well. But of an unfair bashing OP it annoys me too and I thought your donut comment was gently funny rather than patronising still I'm afraid YABU taxis and cyclists both need to use the bus lane, both reduce congestion, both fill in gaps the bus service leaves.

Sirzy · 07/12/2016 06:48

Well I agree with you OP. We have a bus lane that runs past the bottom of our road. When traffic is queuing and you are turning right into the road you can see a bus coming, but not a taxi. They drive like lunatics.

Well if you can't manage to see a car coming - pretty scary! - how you do manage to see a bike coming?

RoseGoldHippie · 07/12/2016 12:05

Well if you can't manage to see a car coming - pretty scary! - how you do manage to see a bike coming?

Actually that's very true

tangerino · 07/12/2016 12:49

I've never understood why black cabs can go in the bus lane, nor why minicabs can't. All seems a bit bonkers. I'm not convinced that taxis cut down much on cars on the streets, certainly not in London where the alternative is generally public transport rather than taking one's own car.

Of course, when I'm the one in a cab I'm jolly pleased it can go in the bus lane, but that's not really the point.

myfavouritecolourispurple · 07/12/2016 13:22

The irony is you are one person in that lane and you too could have taken the bus

Really?

You can get thousands of bikes in a lane in place of a few buses!

Google the new cycle superhighway in London, filter by images and you will see how busy it gets. Look alongside at how few cars/buses/vans there are in comparison and yet the road is clogged up.

When I am in a bus I don't like taxis in bus lanes. When I am in a taxi I do :)

That said, at weekends when the bus lanes are not enforced journeys take so much longer by taxi and bus, really bus lanes should be enforced all the time.

OneManBucket · 07/12/2016 13:59

I actually think that taxis being allowed in the bus lane does reduce congestion as it encourages people to use taxis rather than their own car. The number of private cars in London is ridiculous and creates a serious pollution problem, I'd rather people driving in London took the bus or a taxi (or even better, cycled!) to reduce the amount of single occupancy cars, which is presumably why these modes of transport have priority lanes.

wasonthelist · 07/12/2016 14:08

If taxis were banned from the bus lanes they would be far less attractive as a means of transport and presumably demand would reduce - people who could would presumably transfer to their own car, or buses or even bikes - but those who need to use a taxi for various reasons (being physically disabled for example) would have to accept their journey being slowed to allow able-bodied cyclists and bus users to have priority.

OurBlanche · 07/12/2016 14:15

I've never understood why black cabs can go in the bus lane, nor why minicabs can't. Out here in NotLondon minicabs can and do use bus lanes.

NapQueen are you feeling better now? I missed this earlier but would have reassured you, your logic was impeccable... no wormholes to Insania here

tornandhurt · 07/12/2016 14:54

OMG I'm absolutely rolling around in hysterics at this post how funny!!

I have a question though - I use the bus for work. we have a bus lane. As unreliable as the buses are round here, quite often 2 or 3 may come together. 1 may be almost empty whilst the other is full. Therefore, if 1 of the buses only has 1 or 2 passengers (as was the case one day last week) does that mean they shouldn't use the bus lane??!!!

Original poster

cherryrednose · 07/12/2016 15:27

you came to MumsNet expecting a sensible answer about cycling. They're viewed as worse than even teachers around here!

Yes, daft of me to forget how toxic any mention of cyclists is! Is there any other country in the world where cyclists are viewed with such irrational loathing? Genuine question by the way.

That's another thread of course - my op wasn't actually about cycling per se but about the general crap driving of taxis in relation to bus lanes. So far I haven't seen one reason why taxis should be allowed there. Just because people need taxis - and I certainly haven't argued that they don't - doesn't mean their journeys should be made faster than any other road user.

OP posts:

Temporaryname137 · 07/12/2016 15:54

YABU. It would cost a fortune if they had to sit in traffic.

When they decided to allow cyclists in bus lanes, I remember seeing someone in the paper commenting that it was like allowing antelope and cheetahs to use the same lanes. And the same morning I read that, I saw a girl cycling down the bus lane on Holborn, a massive double decker bus right behind her, AND HER HEADPHONES ON. ffs!

Also, it's cyclists who are the ones swerving and dodging around in my experience as a driver, pedestrian and passenger on buses and taxis. Driving down somewhere like the strand, you are surrounded by morons peddling close to every single side of the car, all focussing on their time and how smug and sweaty they are rather than actual road sense and safety, and just expecting the poor bastard driver to keep an eye on all of them at once... Then they get to the traffic lights and all push to the front and bunch up together, so by the time they've gone through first, about 2 cars get through before the lights change and the next batch of cyclists races up... look love, you're not saving the planet. You're just causing traffic jams to build up all over it. And don't get me started on the ones who think things like zebra crossings don't apply to them.

This rant is not aimed at all cyclists by any means, but there is a worryingly large number of muppets who are allowed to cause carnage!

So not only are YBU, but cyclists should not be allowed in bus lanes or on very busy roads in city centres during peak hours, for their own safety and everyone else's. #andbreathe

Temporaryname137 · 07/12/2016 16:02

Also, how do you expect people to hail cabs and get in and out of them if the cabs can't use the bus lanes? If you have cabs going in and out of the bus lanes for all the pick-ups and drop-offs, that wouldn't help the flow of traffic at all.

VeryBitchyRestingFace · 07/12/2016 16:09

So far I haven't seen one reason why taxis should be allowed there

Have you not read the thread then?

LouBlue1507 · 07/12/2016 16:12

YABU - Cyclists shouldn't be allowed on the roads at all! Uchhhh.

EwanWhosearmy · 07/12/2016 17:08

Well if you can't manage to see a car coming - pretty scary! - how you do manage to see a bike coming?

Short answer is you can't always.

The road bends slightly right then left and with a solid queue of traffic sitting there you can easily see the bus. Another car is hidden behind the queue, and they drive as fast as they possibly can. Sometimes you can see the top of a cyclists head above the cars.

I also creep really slowly into the lane, leaning forward to see if something is coming. A bicycle you can see in time to stop. A taxi doing 40mph in a 30 limit is on you before you can react. It's a stupid junction.

Not everyone creeps. There have been a few knocks since we've been here, fortunately not a fatality.

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