BUS GATES
Early Bus Gates
The words "BUS GATE" are appearing more frequently on roads and motorists are penalised for going through them. But what are they and why are they so called? I believe that the answer lies in something which existed about 20 years ago but which was fairly rare.
The centre of Cambridge has had traffic problems for many years. Its road layout is mediaeval and roads can't be widened because the buildings are Grade I. In order to restrict traffic entering the centre but allow buses to do so, rising bollards were installed on Bridge Street south of Thompsons Lane. These were normally raised and physically blocked ordinary motor vehicles (but not motorbikes). Buses were fitted with transponders which, when the bus approached, caused the bollards to be lowered into the road so that the bus could pass over them. Once it had done so, the bollards rose again to obstruct other vehicles.
Such a system of rising bollards which opens for buses performed the same function as a gate with a gate-keeper. It was natural to call such an arrangement a "bus gate". But they were expensive to install and run and the drivers of other vehicles (taxis, medics, etc) wanted to be given transponders. They could also be dangerous as drivers tailgated buses to get through.
The consequence has been that local authorities have simplified the original concept, removing the expensive equipment and installing a video camera instead. But they have retained the name "bus gate". This creates problems for motorists as the term "BUS GATE" written on the road surface is intrinsically meaningless. It appears nowhere in legislation nor does it appear in the Highway Code (even the 2024 edition).
Traffic Signs Manual
The first official document to use the term "bus gate" was Chapter 3 of the Traffic Signs Manual (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782724/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-03.pdf). Section 9.7.3 of this states:
9.7.3. A bus gate is a short length of bus‑only street. On a two‑way road, access may be restricted to buses in one direction only, with all traffic permitted in the opposite direction, i.e. similar to a contraflow lane, but too short to be signed as such. In this case, that part of the carriageway reserved for buses should be separated from the opposing flow of traffic by a traffic island and not by a continuous line marking to diagram 1049A (see Figure 9‑25). Bus gates are often used to remove through traffic from a road but allow full access. They effectively create a “no through road” for all traffic other than buses. The bus gate may be located either at a junction or part way along a road, and may be used by other vehicles where permitted by the order. If a bus gate is placed on a road that was previously a signed route or was used by significant through traffic, consideration should be given to providing or changing directional signing to guide prohibited traffic to use the preferred alternative route, as described in 5.1.2. An example is shown in Figure 9‑26
Bus-only streets are defined in section 9.7.1 and 9.7.2:
9.7.1. Where a one‑way or two‑way road is reserved for buses and any other permitted vehicles, the entry points may be indicated by upright signs in following ways:
The “bus only” sign to diagram 953, 953A or 953B ...
The “no entry” sign to diagram 616 with an appropriate exception plate (S3‑2‑10)...
The “no motor vehicles” sign to diagram 619 with an appropriate supplementary plate (S3‑2‑12)...
Diagram 617 with an appropriate exception plate (S3‑2‑11)...
The other end of a one‑way road must have “no entry” signs to diagram 616 in accordance with 4.9.5 to 4.9.7...
9.7.2. The upright signs need to be placed as near as practicable to the point where the restriction commences, but there is no specific requirement to provide a sign on each side of the carriageway... Drivers should not be placed in the situation where they might not see the sign before starting to turn at a road junction. Also, at a junction where the side road is at an acute angle with the major road, two signs might be required so that it is clear as to which road the prohibition applies
Bus gates are also defined in Bus and cycle signs and road markings (updated 5 December 2023) (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/know-your-traffic-signs/bus-and-cycle-signs-and-road-markings):
A bus gate is a short length of bus-only street.
Bus Gates in Bus-only Streets
The rising bollards in Cambridge were in a section of Bridge Street on which the only permitted motor vehicles were buses and vehicles serving premises on that section of Bridge Street. That approach has been retained in the official documents listed above. The only exception is that a two-way road can be bus-only in one direction but not the other. Camrose Avenue does not fall into this category because other traffic can bypass the restrictions in both directions.
Bus-only streets are typically regarded as pedestrianised in that section and have the appropriate signage at each end. Usually the section of road which is bus-only runs between junctions at each end with advance signage for motorists approaching the junction indicating that the particular direction is bus-only. There is always an exit from the junction where the driver can go to avoid entering the bus-only street.
Provided the advance signage is adequate, this form of bus gate seems to me unexceptionable. It is what Bridge Street in Cambridge has become. Motorists are directed away from the bus-only street and so never reach that short section of it which has the cameras. In Bridge Street the section with the words "BUS GATE" and the cameras has red-dressed tarmac, which tells vehicles serving the shops where they need to turn back.
Bus Lanes
Bus lanes are defined in legislation and the signage for them is set out in the Traffic Signs Manual. These ensure that motorists can see where they're not meant to be. Motorists using the road which has a bus lane get mandatory advanced warning:
- a sign to diagram 958 (the rectangular blue sign showing a white bus and other types of permitted vehicle with a solid white line to the right and a dashed slanting white line below) sited 30 m in advance of the lead‑in taper
- a lead-in taper with a broken broad white line at its front, with a minimum clear visibility distance of 45 m; or, where there is an adjacent junction with a side road, a broken broad white line curving from the junction to the start of the bus lane
- a solid broad white line marking the outside of the bus lane
- the words "BUS LANE" on the road at the start of the bus lane
Local authorities create bus lanes using TROs (TMOs in London). The legislation about signage ensure that motorists are adequately warned.
Roll-your-own Bus Gates
We now come to the area where problems arise. Local authorities have started using TROs and TMOs to designate sections of road as "bus-only" (which often includes cycles and taxis).
Camrose Avenue can be regarded as an early form of this. The original scheme (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/documents_relating_to_camrose_av/response/652750/attach/3/1838596) from 2008 used red surface-dressing to distinguish the bus-only sections of road from the others and had the words "BUS & <cycle> ONLY across their start. Eastbound there was a lead-in taper (as for a bus lane) while westbound (where Dale Avenue makes this impracticable) there was a solid white line curving from Dale Avenue to the traffic island. There were also diversionary arrows which, if followed, took motorists to the centre of the road. What there was not was advance signage on posts, such as is mandated for bus lanes.
In 2018 the TMO for Camrose Avenue was amended to permit taxis. The road was resurfaced without the red dressing and the words which meaningfully indicated to motorists who was permitted were replaced by the cryptic "BUS GATE". These were placed further into the restricted area than the meaningful words had been. Worse, the solid white line was removed westbound and the second arrow eastbound was shortened and moved towards the kerb so that it pointed into the restricted area rather than away from it.
Harrow Council were able to do this because they are the authors of these restrictions and they are not following any guidance from the Department for Transport as the latter does not recognise that they exist. They are "roll-your-own".
It would be interesting to know whether the number of PCNs issued on Camrose
Avenue jumped after the 2018 resurfacing and how those numbers compare between eastbound (where the arrows direct motorists into the "bus gate") and westbound (where they don't).
Legislative Framework for Bus-only Routes
In 2010 a working group appointed by the PATROL Adjudication Joint Committee and the Bus Lane Adjudication Service Joint Committee met to review the drafting of Bus Lane Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). Page 5 of its report (https://www.patrol-uk.info/docs/Bus_Lane_Paper.pdf) states:
Some existing TROs refer to “bus only streets” and “bus gates” which don’t appear to be defined by legislation but are terms used in the Traffic Signs Manual issued by the DfT. In the Traffic Signs Manual, a “bus only street” is a one way or two way road which is for use by buses (cycles and/or taxis) and a “bus gate” is a short length of bus only street. The DfT’s approach to signage appears to differ depending on whether there is a bus lane, as defined in the TSRGD 2002, a “bus only street” or a “bus gate”.
If the terms “bus only streets” and “bus gates” are to be used in a TRO, in order to ensure that they are enforceable, they would need to be defined as bus lanes in accordance with the Transport Act 2000.
It's worth noting that The Harrow (Bus Priority) Traffic Order 2011 (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/traffic_management_order_5/response/365762/attach/2/Traffic), which superseded the original TMO for Camrose Avenue, had two schedules. Schedule 1 was concerned with bus lanes while Schedule 2 (which included Camrose Avenue) was concerned with "bus-only routes". That appears to be Harrow's own variant of the "bus only streets" which the PATROL/BLAS working group advised needed to be defined as bus lanes to be enforceable.
Some adjudications of appeals from PCNs have asserted that "bus gates" are short sections of bus lane. Would that they were, as bus lanes have well-defined signage which provides vastly better warning than the roll-your-own efforts of local authorities.
Conclusion
The roll-your-own nature of bus-only routes defined by TROs and TMOs outside the legislative framework of bus lanes has allowed local authorities to create sections of road with wholly inadequate signage which locals know to avoid but which entrap those from outside the local area. Many "bus gate" schemes serve as a source of income for a council which bears on those who cannot vote it out.
Local authorities should beware of the conclusions of the working group of the PATROL/Bus Lane Adjudication Service:
if “bus only streets” and “bus gates” are to be used in a TRO, in order to ensure that they are enforceable, they would need to be defined as bus lanes in accordance with the Transport Act 2000.
PCNs in respect of "bus gates" should be appealed with reference to the PATROL /BLAS report and the signage requirements of bus lanes. The words "BUS GATE" are intrinsically meaningless and not in the Highway Code. Motorists are expected to be alert to road signs and to respond to them. They are not expected to be mind-readers or capable of parsing words strung together in apparently meaningless ways. Adjudicators need to be reminded that, although they now know what "BUS GATE" means, to the appellant the words might as well be "BUS FARM".