ever since this bus lane was introduced the traffic has actually got worse. the buses and taxis see the road as their pwn private race track and zoom past at idiotic speeds.
you used to be able to walk out of victoria and straight accross the road quite safely but now you have to dodge these idiots!

Get rid of bus lanes, they are a complete waste of time and cause more congestion !!

I think it best we go the other way and ban all cabs from bus lanes. The black cabs abuse their position in the city continuously in any case. I can't see why people can pay their way out of congestion by paying for a black cab. Ban everything apart from pedal cycles and buses.

Private Hire Vehicles are licensed. In that position they should be included in using Bus Lanes.

Of course the real reason may be Bus Lane Cameras and telling the vehicle difference when dishing out the easy fines...

Cycles and taxis can use them only us car drivers can't. Get rid of them, I pay raod tax and should therefore be allowed to use the whole road!

bus lanes are a major cause of congestion, one bus every 5 mins after that its just a wasted lane!!!

Jay B, oldham
1/06/2009 at 08:31

God forbid Jay B, you might need one of these idiots one day should you be unfortunate enough to become elderly and infirm.

On the subject of bus lanes, Salford and Manchester Councils have proven themselves to be equally backward when it comes to moving forward particularly when they supported the congestion charge claiming they wanted a working transport infrastructure, they themselves have helped to create the congestion with their restrictions...the one way systems taking you on a major detour to get out of the city are a joke.
They are power mongers who like the sound of their own voices when it comes to dishing out their authoratative petty rules with the 'we won't back down attitude'.
Lack of common sense must be a legal requirement to become a councillor these days.

stalyvegasblue: You don't pay road tax, you pay vehicle excise duty, which by far not high enough to pay for the enviromental damage caused by cars.

Peter M - interesting observation. So why don't you pay Road Tax when your vehicle is off the road? We all know that Road tax alone is insufficient and that is why most people pay another £500 or so a year in fuel duties. Sometimes you need to see the whole picture.

Now lets ban black cabs from bus lanes before every car will find a reason to get an exempion. Remember the Congestion charge debate? First it was black cabs. Then private hire. Then hospital patients. Then hospital visitors. Then hospital staff and key workers. Then disabled badge users. In the end only 3 people were eligible to pay!!!

There's NO SUCH THING AS ROAD TAX, what you are referring to is called 'Vehicle excise duty' , it's a tax paid for the privilege of driving a motor vehicle. It doesn't pay for the roads.
VED is also there to mould transport policy, that’s why 'green' cars have zero VED.

Ban cars from the centre , Taxi's have some of the worst drivers on the road, not to mention vehicles not fit for purpose, keep them out of the bus lanes.

This selfish man has gone too far! Its one thing complaining that a taxi can't travel along a bus lane - at the same speed as a bus, therefore causing minimal actual delay until they do it in numbers - but quite another to block the bus lane to pick up a passenger, thus delaying hundreds of bus passengers for two or three minutes. What makes him totally dispcable is claiming that the existing rules discriminate against those with disabilities!
At anyone time, hundreds of bus stops are illegally blocked in Greater Manchester, and who is most inconvenienced by having to step out into the road and walk to the bus and step up onto the platform; the elderly and infirm. As for those with severe disabilities - forget it. These spiteful individuals must know that if a passenger fell whilst boarding or alighting a bus that has been prevented from accessing the stop, they are NOT insured.
What these taxi drivers are doing is basically forcing the elderly and disabled off mainstream public transport to pay for them to use their taxis! Additionally, they know that delaying buses will further drive (literally) customers off commercial bus services, in a political climate where there is billions to spend on Light Rail for those who have a car or bike to reach it, but there is virtually nothing left to subsidise essential bus services. Result, the taxi trade makes more money from those who lose their bus service, but can't raise enough cash to buy a car or who are prevented from driving .....through DISABILITY!
It should come as no surprise that the MP for Denton should support this nonsense. After all, Denton has had a major problem with bus stop blocking for many years. Their answer to illegal parking on one bus stop in the town centre was to close it, and force bus users to walk an extra 100 metres away from town to another location - usually blocked by the shop owner where the new stop is situated. All other stops in Denton town centre and many others in the area, especially Haughton Green are regularly obstructed. One man has been illegally obstructing the bus stop outside Wongs chippy numerous times a day for many years. Has he ever been fined? Still what do you expect when one of Gwynne's collegues has FIVE cars and illegally obstructed the bus stop outside her house PERMANENTLY for many years, until the stop mysteriously relocated fifty yards down the road, OPPOSITE a junction. Bus stops should never be located opposite road junctions. In fact, I think this itself is illegal. And what do expect from an MP whose Government exploited a quarter of century of antogonism towards Bus deregulation, to guarantee a NO vote in the TIF bid, to come back and say "Here's the money after all, and a couple of hundred million more! All your rail projects are safe, but the SELF-FINANCING bus improvements are scrapped, because you were stupid enough to believe the propoganda that some of the TIF money was going direct to Bus Industry shareholders. As for this convoy. I suggest all the bus operators between Newton Heath and Manchester log all the delays caused and inform the Traffic Commissioner and the Police. And the bus users delayed should report the illegal obstruction to the Police, and take legal advice with a view to suing this Brocklehurst bloke.
For my part, from now on I am going to record EVERY vehicle obstructing (including City counil vehicles, non-emergency Police, sleeping lorry/van drivers the lot) a bus stop in Greater Manchester, and EVERY taxi driver I see breaking any law. Each list will be sent to the relevant Local Authority that REFUSES TO ENFORCE the law, and to the Dept. of Transport. I suggest the other hundreds of thousands of non-motorists in Greater Manchester do the same.
As for Thursday's Election - all Political Parties value rail users (usually motorists) over bus users (usually non-motorists), so I'll be voting for the one Party that is open about its prejudices!

Buses are not allowed to use bus lanes when not in service. Therefore taxis of any kind should not be allowed to use them when empty.
And how many taxis abuse the system and use the bus lanes to ferry friends and family about for the weekly shopping ?

Andy, Wythenshawe taxi vehicles not fit for purpose??

Think you should of gone to specsavers mate!! Manchester privare Hire vehicles have 2 MOT checks every year,Manchester Council have very strict guidelines towards Hackney cabs and Private Hire Vehicles,and yes there are some bad drivers,but not all,whats makes me laugh is,you make one mistake in your shift and it's horns blasting at you,you should have a week has a Private Hire Driver or an Hackney Cab driver,it'll open yours eyes fellow at other people's driving,then again were not robots feel like it though sometimes!!,back to the state of the vehicles,Manchester Council are very strict,not only do we have to have 2 MOT'S a year,there is also patrols by Manchester City Council's Licensing through the day and night so any vehicle that looks unroad worthy is pulled in,drivers are also checked to ensure they are badge up and the car is proplely insured,drunks,abuse,attacks,stones being thrown at your vehicle, it's such an easy life being a taxi driver.

Phil L, Denton: One word: paragraphs.

Why go to the trouble to write all that when no-one will read a "wall of text" anyway?

Out of service buses can use the lanes depending on the type of bus lane

I have also thought of another practical argument; Most proper QBCs (more than just a bus lane) incorporate parking bays for motorists and taxis to access, minimising abstraction for road side businesses. The truth is these taxi/PH drivers want to legalise bus stop blocking and legalising bus lane blocking is the thin end of the wedge.

There is a culture in GM and certainly in Mr. Gwynne's constituency, that if given of choice of parking in a FREE available legal space (eg. Pub or Church Hall car park), or blocking a bus stop, a motorist or taxi driver will always block the bus stop.

As I've said before this motorist's tax argument is simplistic in the extreme. Bus fares go towards the fuel tax, VED and other taxes paid by the bus industry. And whilst the Euro4 and Euro5 engined double-deckers that make up the majority in Mr. Gwynnes constituency pay Fuel tax, 25 year old diesel trains DON'T. Also, virtually all Government investment (and a high proportion of subsidy) in "public" transport goes into Rail, which the vast majority of non-motorists can't reach.