Bus Lanes

I don't want to appear as having no green credentials BUT ...

"Bus lanes, what are they all about ? "

To be fair I can see they have a purpose in some places, perhaps they are useful in and around Manchester or large cities, assuming they are planned and implemented sensibly. I just cant see the point of the one we pass each Sunday on the way to church !!! Mainly because unlike all the other bus lanes around Oldham, it has no operation times.

Now most bus lanes allow you to drive in them "off peak" which would include Sundays... not this one. Your just never allowed in it. What makes it worse is the roundabout that feeds the A627 has 2 lanes of traffic off it, that then immediately have to squeeze into one lane, so the bus lane can remain empty. This can be clearly seen at the bottom right of the map, as the traffic follows the pale green route off the roundabout and down the screen along the A627 Manchester Road

Some other reasons this is annoying,

• The bus lane is only half a mile long, then due to the road narrowing to a single lane each way,  the bus's need to filter back into the traffic. What's the point of a half mile bus lane ??
• Those that don't know the area or don't care, use the bus lane anyway, which means after fighting to get out of the lane, you have to fight to get back across it to make a left turn off the main road.
• Hardly any buses run on a Sunday so the lane is always empty !

Finally, I still cant get my head round who came up with the idea of making bus lanes cycle lanes too, although we don't have Bendy buses in Oldham, they do in nearby Whitefield. Can you imagine being on cycle, in rush hour, sharing a lane with several of these 18m monsters ??

Of course I may be alone in my rant, feel free to comment !