"Paul Oter" <
[email protected]> writes:
> "Tony W" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > We are, apparently, going to get fancy new bus lanes with traffic lights that know when a bus or
> > a taxi with the right bit of electronics is approaching.
> >
> > When asked 'what about cyclists' there were a few shrugs, some scratching
> of
> > bollox and an 'oh, we're studying that' (i.e. oh f*ck, forgot about them).
> >
> > Are there suitable solutions in other parts of the world/country?
> >
>
> Yes, very much yes. Here in Cambridge we have six locations with traffic signals at the end of bus
> lanes, triggered by transponder devices carried by buses. In four of these locations there isn't a
> junction - the lights are purely to stop the cars and let the buses jump the queue.
>
> At five of these locations a green cycle filter light, which is *permanently on* exempts cyclists
> from having to stop.
>
>
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/17/article17.html describes a location where bus signals
> were installed at the end of a bus lane, and Cambridge Cycling Campaign were lobbying to get a
> cycle filter installed.
>
>
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/20/article19.html was written a few months later, and shows
> that this campaign was successful.
Apart from "But not all such good news: still the lights at Ditton Lane don't detect bikes", which
is still true over four years later, so cyclists have the choices of swing back out of the bus/cycle
lane, detour up onto the (shared use, so legal) pavement, or just go straight through the red light.
Are there any plans to _ever_ fix it? (Personally I think a permanent filter that allowed bikes
through in the left lane even when the right lane was stopped to allow traffic to turn right from
Ditton Lane would be safe.)