A Freedom of Information request has revealed that the Mayor’s decision to suspend Liverpool’s bus lanes ignored crucial evidence that five of the closed routes had been reviewed in 2009 or 2010 showing continued benefits from their use.
Cllr Sarah Jennings, Deputy Leader of the Greens, who are now the biggest opposition group on the council, said: “This Freedom of Information request has uncovered real evidence that Liverpool’s bus lanes were working, had been reviewed and were showing continued benefit for the city. Yet these findings were totally omitted from Mayoral recommendation to shut down all bus lanes. [1]
“46% of Liverpool’s households don’t have a car [2], yet the administration pushed ahead with a decision that flies in the face of evidence from within the city that bus lanes were working.”
A joint Liverpool City Council/Merseytravel review in 2009 of bus lanes in Kensington, Prescot Road and East Prescot Road had concluded that “benefits still resulted from the measures”.
The outbound bus corridor on Rice Lane was then reviewed and revised in 2010 as part of the Liverpool City Council A59 Integrated Corridor Management scheme, at which time the lane was found to bring significant benefits.
The bus lane on Upper Parliament Street had also only been introduced in 2009/10 and was assessed and approved by Liverpool City Council under the contemporary guidelines for bus lanes and the design met the latest criteria for bus lane introduction.
Cllr Jennings added: “It’s simply not credible that within three or four years of the introduction or review of these bus lanes that suddenly they would all be having a negative impact. The Labour council has simply failed to properly scrutinise a Mayoral proposal that simply appeared out of the blue.”
[1] Mayoral Recommendation EDR/49/13
[2] Figure taken from 2011 Census for Liverpool
You can view the article on this in the Liverpool Echo here