White line along Boris’s Cycle Highway stops buses picking up passengers

Bus stop where buses can't stop Archant

Families and office workers can’t catch a bus at their nearest High Street bus-stop because of a thick white line painted along the road.

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Frustrated passengers at bus stop where buses can't stop Frustrated passengers at bus stop where buses can't stop

The line runs next to the newly-extended Cycle Highway 2 from the dangerous Bow Roundabout to Stratford—right in front of the bus-stop at Marshgate Lane.

It means bus-drivers would have to break the Highway Code if they crossed the line to pick up passengers.

“Rule 140 states drivers must not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation,” Transport for London has admitted to frustrated residents.

“The traffic order for the cycle lane was originally intended to allow buses to stop at Marshgate Lane by crossing the cycle lane. However, this was unfortunately missed out.”

So the transport authority which has powers in these matters suspended the bus-stop, even though it had put in a special lay-by and freshly-painted bus-stop markings when the blue cycleway was laid down along Stratford High Street in the summer. Nothing more was done, except removing the shelter on November 16.

Now fed-up residents are starting a petition to send to the Mayor of London.

“We have to cross Bow Roundabout to get to our nearest bus-stop,” said a frustrated Carole Reguero who is organising the petition with her neighbour Sofia Cusano.

“Four cyclists have been killed in two years on the roundabout, so it’s dangerous for pedestrians to cross.

“Some neighbours are elderly, some disabled and there are mums with children who have to walk a long way to get a bus.”

The families have even commissioned a Chartered Civil Engineer for an independent assessment to determine what work would be needed to get the bus-stop reinstated.

This could simply be replacing the solid line with a dotted line so buses can cross into the lay-by to pick up passengers, the assessment suggests—just like other bus-stops along the route.