PHV drivers have been pleading to use bus lanes to ease congestion in a busy city centre.
Belfast’s streets were gridlocked in the build-up to Christmas with roadworks and people getting ready for the festive period, with the standstills costing PHV drivers thousands of bookings a week.
As we have seen in other cities and towns such as Portsmouth and Reading, letting PHVs into bus lanes can make a difference to traffic. But there are many factors to consider and it is important to get the balance right and not just shift the problem elsewhere.
Gridlock
Belfast Live reports that motorists had been complaining for weeks about horrendous traffic problems and the city’s private-hire drivers had again appealed to be allowed to use bus lanes in a bid to ease the congestion.
But for the Licensed Taxi Operators Association, the decision to temporarily allow PHVs to enter bus lanes on December 18 was “too little, too late”, according to the BBC. Association co-ordinator Stephen Anton said: “Having seen the announcement today, we don’t think that’s going to help us as much as we would have liked.”
The association told Belfast Live: “In our opinion, taxis are public transport and are as much a part of the solution to these issues as buses and trains. The difference, however, is that increasing bus and train provision (which we wholeheartedly support) is a long-term solution which requires significant operational and financial investment, whereas improving taxi efficiency could be delivered quickly and with little cost to the public purse.
More efficient
“At present, congestion in the city centre is reducing the number of journeys that taxi drivers can complete – one Belfast based operator commented that if taxi journey efficiency was returned to pre-current congestion levels, it would allow them to offer an additional 2,000 bookings per week, and that’s just one operator.
“Even 2,000 bookings, with an average of 2.5 passengers per booking would mean that 5,000 extra passengers could be assisted – whether that’s getting to work, the pub, the hospital appointment, or to the supermarket.
“All of these additional journeys will help improve the fortunes of the hospitality and retail sectors and surely will help reduce specific time-related delays around missed hospital and doctors’ appointments.”
Solution
The association said that despite a previous announcement that certain bus lanes into Belfast would be open to public-hire taxis, nothing had happened.
It called for the exclusion of Class C vehicles – such as those used for weddings, funerals and courtesy transport – because it would cause confusion for other drivers and make enforcement more difficult.
The move called for PHVs to be allowed into the bus lanes only when they are working and have passengers on board or are on their way to collect fares.
Belfast Live reports that Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd told the Assembly he accepts there have been delays to car journey times in the city centre and urged the public to consider alternative methods of travel. He added that a strategic oversight group, which includes the PSNI and Translink, is considering what can be done to ease congestion at peak times.
Mixed results
Last year, private-hire drivers in Reading successfully campaigned to be allowed to use the bus lanes in both directions on the main King’s Road in and out of the town centre, having previously only been allowed to go into it.
And despite a hugely successful trial in Portsmouth, the city council decided not to extend PHV access beyond the five bus lanes designated for the pilot because there was “limited traffic flow benefit compared to the high costs involved”.
The rest of the city’s bus lanes remain reserved for buses, cyclists, rental e-scooters, hackney carriages, and emergency vehicles. Unauthorised vehicles, including PHVs, face a £70 fine if improperly using these lanes.
While it is clear there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the issue, it is difficult not to feel sympathy for Belfast drivers who face daily gridlock.
Allowing PHVs into bus lanes would take some traffic off busy streets and helps them move more freely. Plans for a permanent solution are being considered this month.
