§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to allow licensed minicabs to use bus lanes. [158748]
§ Mr. HillIt is for the relevant highway authority, usually the local authority, to decide what classes of vehicles, if any, other than buses should be allowed to use bus lanes.
My Department provides guidance for local authorities on bus priority measures in Local Transport Note 1–97 "Keeping Buses Moving". The use of bus lanes by licensed minicabs is not recommended. When a wide range of vehicles are allowed access, enforcement can be more difficult and the benefits to buses reduced. In particular, where licensed minicabs do not have obvious features to identify them as minicabs, it is difficult to distinguish them from private cars and this can encourage more widespread violation as other cars follow them into a bus lane.
Local highway authorities would need to consider these issues, in liaison with the police, in deciding whether to allow licensed minicabs to use a particular bus lane.