Cyclists using Europe’s busiest bus route have welcomed new lanes that let them ride behind bus stops in Manchester.

The first of 13 Dutch-style cycle lanes was officially opened on Oxford Road today - and cyclists told the M.E.N. they felt much safer on it.

By the end of 2016, every bus stop but one on Oxford Road from Moss Lane East to Portland Street will have the new lane.

It funnels cyclists off the road around a metre before a bus stop, giving them a slip road back on around a metre past.

The bus stop towards the city centre near the Temple of Convenience pub is the only one where it will not be possible to build one of the lanes.

(Image: Matt Ratcliffe)

In a separate scheme, the filter lanes will also be built all the way down Wilmslow Road from Moss Lane East south until the clock tower in Didsbury Village.

Pavements will not be cut into to create the lanes, with roads made narrower instead.

The aim is to get less confident cyclists back in the saddle by helping them feel safer on major routes - part of a target to get 10 per cent of every journey in Greater Manchester made by bike by 2025.

At the launch today, cyclists and pedestrians the MEN spoke to seemed to agree it would work.

(Image: Matt Ratcliffe)

Student Flora Winstanley, 21, who commutes to the University of Manchester from Fallowfield by bike every day, said: “It’s so much better - I bike to uni every day and this bit of Oxford Road is a nightmare.

“It makes so much sense, if you’re coming along this part of Oxford Road you’re constantly looking out for the buses.”

Dee Ashcroft, 29, a care worker, said: “I think it’s amazing. At the moment the roads are just set up for cyclists so it’s good to see we’re getting there.

“I’ve had a few close encounters with buses - once you have had a close call you know you have to stop and check a lot.”

(Image: Matt Ratcliffe)

Student Piers Larkman, 19, from Victoria Park, said the new lanes would encourage him to take up cycling again. He said: “I’m in my second year now and never cycled in my first - I just didn’t fancy it with the buses. If you can just cut in and go straight past the bus stops that will make me feel much safer.”

In total £42M is being spent on phase one of Manchester’s Cycle City scheme which runs until December 2016.

Council workers will be stationed at the new lane on Oxford Road next week to get people’s opinions which will be used in deciding future phases of the project.

Councillor Andrew Fender, Transport for Greater Manchester chair, said: “What we’re recognising is that where you have people, vehicles and cyclists it’s better to segregate them on heavily used routes and that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

How the Oxford Road scheme was first envisioned by Transport for Greater Manchester