Bike Insurance

28 May, 2009

A motorcycling group has welcomed the opening up of London bus lanes to bikers, but has found that many riders are incurring penalties for unwittingly using closed lanes.

According to the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF), riders have been confused because the only bus lanes opened up are on those 'red routes', which are governed by Transport for London (TfL).

Some bus lanes can on a stretch of road may be designated for use by bikers, but others on the same street may not, which can lead to misunderstanding among riders.

In response to the confusion, the BMF is suggesting that TfL takes control of all the capital's bus lanes and recognise their strategic importance by making them all red routes.

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Commenting, the organisation said that such a move would be "a logical extension of TfL's management of and responsibility for London's bus service as a whole and it is therefore nonsense to split bus lane designations in this way".

In March this year the Telegraph reported that a TfL-commissioned report into the safety benefits of allowing motorbikes to use bus lanes had been suppressed for political reasons.

While allowing bikes to use all bus lanes could prevent many injuries, a significant number of voters were shown to disapprove of the plans.

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