Council removes bus lanes and cameras

18-month experiment raises Livingstone's ire

By PH Staff / Friday, 30 June 2006 / Loading comments

Bus lane causes congestion

Ealing Council, in the west of London, is to dump some of its bus lanes -- and that's prompted a threat of legal action from city mayor Ken Livingstone.

The council's decided to declare a temporary removal of bus lanes and enforcement cameras in Yeading and Northolt for 18 months to see if they really are needed. The recently-elected Tory councillors said they were responding to calls from residents who said the systems increased congestion.

So the council decided to see if that was true and will remove them for 18 months. The council leader John Stacey told the BBC: "We will be totally open about what we decide after the 18 months is up and if it appears the bus lanes are needed, then we'll keep them."

The reaction from the city's transport body, Transport for London (TfL) was negative, saying that said the move was "retrograde and anti-commuter". TfL said that it couldn't agree to an methodology that ignores its citywide responsibilities for transport -- including buses -- in favour of a so-called piecemeal approach. It then said that the mayor would consider all options including legal action to stop the council.

A spokesman said: "This is an anti-commuter, anti-public transport announcement that does not seem to consider the needs of bus users."