Complete suspension a possibility according to Cllr Jason Stacey
Ealing Council has announced the opening up of six bus lanes during non-peak hours and at weekends.
On Monday 29th February at 10am Council Leader Jason Stacey will wave through the first motorists onto the northbound bus lane at Petts Hill, Northolt.
The controversial decision was taken after the council conducted an 18 month experiment ‘to prove to London Mayor, Ken Livingstone and Transport for London that the bus lanes are not needed or wanted’.
The lanes are currently in effect from 7.00am to 7.00pm, seven days a week. The new hours of operation will be Monday to Friday 7.00am to 10.00am and 4.00pm to 7.00pm, cutting the total numbers of hours they are in place from 84 to 30 hours per week.
Council Leader Jason Stacey said “This is a good result for our long-suffering residents who have voiced their resentment about these bus lanes, but I would like to stress that this is only the first step. The council will continue to monitor the lanes with a view to suspending them completely if our studies show that this initial change in hours has had a positive impact on traffic flow.”
The initiative is a marked contrast from reports less than twelve months ago of the 63,967 fines were issued by the council to motorists who strayed into a bus lanes.
February 28, 2007