Liverpool Bus Lanes

Evolution driving school can confirm that Mayor Joe Anderson has suspended the bus lanes in Liverpool until November 2014.

The suspension still only affects bus lanes which are in Liverpool borough council. Other Merseyside regions such as Sefton, Knowsley and Wirral will still have active bus lanes which are still in operation. So when you're driving within the Meseyside region don't forget to look well ahead for signs on the opproach to a bus lane to ascertain if it is active or not.

Bus Lanes being removed on Kensington.

A nine-month trial was due to end on July 28 but due to the amount of road works taking place in the city centre the council has decided to continue the suspension until November to allow them to collect more data.

The suspension was introduced by the Mayor to improve traffic flow in the city back in October, but the idea has come under fire from bus company Arriva and The Green Party who argued that bus lanes do work in the city centre.

Arriva started an online petition to try to secure the future of the bus lanes and bus companies and taxi operators have experienced problems with congestion on Saturdays in front of Lime Street since the lanes were axed.

Mayor Anderson said: "We've had an excessive amount of road works in the city centre over the past few months.

"We wanted to get a better and clearer picture of what effect the suspension is having so we have decided to extend the project.

"The whole point of doing a review is to find out what works and doesn't work and we can't do that without having the right data.

"There has been lots of roadworks taking place in traffic filled areas such as Smithdown Road and various other locations and we don't want it to be unclear if it is the roadworks or the bus lane suspension making the difference.

"We need more evidence and a clear picture before we make any big decisions.

"We need to make sure it's done properly and that the results are not tainted in any way."

Tom Crone, Green Party councillor for St Michaels ward said: “We’ve consistently been in favour of bus lanes. Lots of countries all over Europe have bus lanes and are increasing them rather than scrapping them so we have always struggled to understand this decision.

“We want the mayor to show us the data that he already has because an FOI request has shown that the mayor knew some bus lanes were working before he implemented this blanket ban and we want to know what he’s found out since.

“We need to start getting this data out in the open so rather than carrying on this all-out ban we can start reinstating the vital bus lanes that do work and improving commuters lives as a result.