The M4 Bus Lane Shown To Be Stupid

Wednesday, 19. October 2011

Whilst you may not live near Heathrow if you’ve ever had the need to travel into London via the M4 past the airport you will know the frustration of sitting in the traffic whilst the bus lane remained empty except for the occasional bus and taxi. As you know the lane was reverted back to a general lane last December and since then 4.5 million cars have travelled down it saving on average a minute on the journey into London. But at what cost to the buses?

Non actually, latest figures reveal that the busses have also saved on average a minute so when Prescott turned the lane into a bus lane in 1999, in the hope that it would force motorists into public transport by cutting down journey times – he was wrong all the time!

Whilst this is likely to be a permanent arrangement the bus lane is expected to be reinstated for the 2012 Olympics to make sure that those commuting between Heathrow and venues are not delayed.

Hopefully, as one who occasionally makes the journey, the lane will return to an all traffic lane straight after the Olympics. By Graham Hill