Confusion reigns among many bikers when it comes to using bus lanes.

In Plymouth, Devon, motorbikes are allowed to use bus lanes. In Exeter, another city in the same county, you’ll get a fine for riding the red top.

In London, most bikers think you can use any bus lane in a Red Route. It’s not true. Motorcycles are only allowed to use the majority of Red Routes, not all.

It’s clearly not an ideal situation, which is why another page on Biker & Bike advises on when you can use a motorbike in a bus lane.

With such an unsatisfactory state of affairs, it’s time the Government decided on a national policy towards motorbike use in bus lanes. Leaving the decision to local authorities clearly isn’t working.

A petition has been created. You can see the details here and you can post to get as many signups as possible:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/139983

In our view there is a clear mandate for allowing motorbikes to use bus lanes in every town and city:

- Bus lanes, when used correctly are safer than filtering towards oncoming traffic.

- Many drivers are also bikers, but often they don’t like filtering. If you are then going to have to sit in traffic anyway, on a cold winter’s day, it’s probably nicer to be inside a car. Opening up bus lanes, which they may consider to be safer than filtering, may persuade these motorists to abandon their cars and commute by bike.

- A single policy that sees more bikes in bus lanes will make non-biking drivers more aware of the benefits of using a motorbike for commuting, leading to less congestion and pollution.

- Cyclists, who already benefit from bus lane use but who may not cycle in winter, seeing bikes still using the lanes during colder months because bikers have warmer gear, may be tempted out of their cars.

- Cyclists and bikers will become better at sharing the road, rather than the current climate of confusion where arguments can start when bikers have legally or illegally used a bus lane (cyclists can use most bus lanes already, motorbikes only some).

We do ask, though, that if motorcyclists are granted universal access to bus lanes, an educational campaign is released so that the lanes aren’t treated in the same way as normal carriageway lanes and that cyclists, in particular, are persuaded of the advantages to all of the increased lane share.

Get everyone sorted:

Please sign the petition. It takes less than a minute.