Driving through bus gates even when slower

[py_megapixel]

A fairly common road layout involves a bus lane with its own set of traffic lights; when a bus is detected the lights turn red for the main traffic lane and green for the bus lane allowing buses to bypass the queue.

An example is here, on Mansfield Road, Sheffield (screenshot from Google Street View is at the bottom of this post).

This is useful for speeding buses up when car traffic is heavy, but when the road is free flowing, it actually slows the bus down as there is delay while the lights change.

In this case, the bus will sometimes bypass the bus gate and go through the main lane instead, but in my experience the vast majority of the time it will waste 30 seconds or so by stopping unnecessarily at the traffic lights.

Why is this done? Do the bus companies mandate it somehow? Is there some reason for drivers to prefer it?

 

[edwin_m]

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At this one, near Trent Bridge cricket ground, bus drivers pull out into the main traffic lane before they get to the detector loops when it's free flowing. When it isn't they will stay in the bus lane and trigger a priority, although they generally have to stop and start for it. It's main purpose, I think, is to create a gap in the traffic so buses turning right at the next junction can get into the right hand lane more easily.

 

[sytransport]

A fairly common road layout involves a bus lane with its own set of traffic lights; when a bus is detected the lights turn red for the main traffic lane and green for the bus lane allowing buses to bypass the queue.

An example is here, on Mansfield Road, Sheffield (screenshot from Google Street View is at the bottom of this post).

This is useful for speeding buses up when car traffic is heavy, but when the road is free flowing, it actually slows the bus down as there is delay while the lights change.

In this case, the bus will sometimes bypass the bus gate and go through the main lane instead, but in my experience the vast majority of the time it will waste 30 seconds or so by stopping unnecessarily at the traffic lights.

Why is this done? Do the bus companies mandate it somehow? Is there some reason for drivers to prefer it?

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There’s no reason or mandate but having driven on here more times than I care to count, I can assure you it is often a lot quicker for buses at peak times to use the lane — unfortunately just not all the time because bus priority in Sheffield is non-existent.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Down here in Oxford we have a bus-gate on Botley Road, near the junction with Binsey Lane. Some bus-drivers use it but many join the main traffic lane to save a few seconds. But traffic is light thanks to the railway bridge blockade (see other threads)

 

[mattb7tl]

Been on more than ten routes with this kind of priority setup and most of them are pretty poor in practice. The only genuinely good example is the A647 on the 72 between Bradford and Leeds. The priority there is so reliable that drivers will head straight towards the red at full speed because they know it is almost guaranteed to switch green.

 

[markymark2000]

A fairly common road layout involves a bus lane with its own set of traffic lights; when a bus is detected the lights turn red for the main traffic lane and green for the bus lane allowing buses to bypass the queue.

An example is here, on Mansfield Road, Sheffield (screenshot from Google Street View is at the bottom of this post).

This is useful for speeding buses up when car traffic is heavy, but when the road is free flowing, it actually slows the bus down as there is delay while the lights change.

In this case, the bus will sometimes bypass the bus gate and go through the main lane instead, but in my experience the vast majority of the time it will waste 30 seconds or so by stopping unnecessarily at the traffic lights.

Why is this done? Do the bus companies mandate it somehow? Is there some reason for drivers to prefer it?

These style of bus gates get on my wick. It's often just someone virtue signalling that they offer bus priority but in reality it does nothing but slow buses down.
I have a bus lane with a bus only set of lights, and the council love to preach that this is bus priority, yet what they fail to mention (and refuse to fix) is the fact that this releases buses last. It's actually motorist priority and if buses dare to use the bus lane (which is now normally limited to trainee/new drivers who are unaware), they often find that they are far further back in the queue of traffic, than if they didn't use the bus lane.


Everywhere should look to start adopting a style similar to Oxford London Road. The bus lane exits there have traffic lights for general traffic, and the bus lane is just a 'give way' so if the sensor doesn't work, buses treat it as a merge in turn. If the lights work then the bus gets out quickly and doesn't even have to slow down to wait for the bus lane lights.
The other style that I like is normal junctions but where there is a bus lane and normal traffic lane, there is an extra set of lights to hold back general traffic so it's almost like an advance bus stop line (similar to advance cycle stop lines but because of the layout, buses get to stop infront of cars). It really reinforces that bus is king and gets the priority. Cardiff Colum Road junction with North Road and also on North Road near the courts have this style of junction.

 

[RJ]

So many bus priority measures are incorrectly set up to stop the bus and give priority to all other traffic. Once drivers get wise to this they avoid using it.

I remember there was a junction near Hillingdon Hospital where the lights were supposed to turn or stay green when a U4 was detected on the approach, but actually turned red. I was in a meeting a couple of years later where this junction happened to be mentioned and it was mistakenly set up to do that and later rectified. So it’s worth reporting and hoping it reaches the people who can do something!