Calls to scrap bus lane plans
COUNCIL RUNNING TRIAL FOR SIX MONTHS
ALMOST 4,000 people have signed a petition calling on the council to scrap its plans to extend the operational hours of the city’s bus lanes.
The petition, which claimed the scheme “will have a negative impact on the city of Hull and its citizens”, has not yet been officially submitted to the council, but had reached more than 3,700 signatures yesterday after being launched following the announcement last week.
Hull City Council had said the plan was to enforce the rules from 7am to 6.30pm.
The move, set to be enforced from today, comes as part of the council’s plans to overhaul its cycling infrastructure.
The measures were made temporarily so that a consultation could take place after implementation in line with the conditions for using central Government funds to invest in the scheme.
But the response to the new measures have been mixed at best, with members of the public suggesting it would “make the situation a lot worse” while others said it would be a “definite help”.
Councillor John Fareham, the leader of the council’s Conservative group, said the move means drivers are being “discriminated against” and that cyclists “don’t need a whole bus lane to be safe”.
Now signees of the petition on change.org have weighed in, agreeing with the organiser’s suggestion that road users were being “used as a cash cow”.
“The present debate regarding the bus lanes frequently turns into a slanging match with two apparent ‘sides’: motorists and cyclists,” they said.
“This isn’t a battle between these two parties, neither of them asked for this and I’m sure neither of them wants to see the other party disadvantaged or put in harm’s way. There are solutions that we can research, experiment and test that could eliminate many of the issues caused by HCC’S current proposal/dictation.
“But we need to look past the trivial differences and work together to get the results that will work for us and not against us.”
But while the organisers claimed to be on the side of both motorists and cyclists, they commented that “[cyclists] are apparently OK to play cat and mouse overtaking buses then being overtaken every quarter-mile.”
They also claimed the council was looking to “inflate the revenue” of number plate recognition cameras and make road users the “victim” by doing so.
A Hull City Council spokesman said: “Hull City Council is aware of the petition. The extension of the bus lane times is being made under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order, which means we are trialing it to see how it works and taking comments and concerns from residents and businesses over the next six months.”