A new one-way bus lane is set to come to the seafront early next year.
Brighton and Hove City Council is asking for feedback on plans for the combined bus and cycle lane, which will run on the westbound carriageway of Marine Parade between Lower Rock Gardens and the Sea Life Centre.
An online consultation began today, and will run until 28 June. Feedback will be used to finalise the designs before the bus lane is due to be installed in early 2025. There will then be a further six-month consultation period after the bus lane is introduced.
Plans for a cycle lane on the same road, for which the council was awarded £1.2 million in funding from the government two years ago, have yet to materialise.
Councillor Trevor Muten, Chair of the Transport and Sustainability committee said: “We have a fantastic bus network in Brighton and Hove, but we’re always looking for ways to improve reliability and journey times.
“A new bus lane on Marine Parade will mean passengers reach their destination on time more often, reducing delays on a busy part of the seafront. because of the width of the road, they’ll be no need to remove any traffic lanes.
“We’ve already used funding from the Bus Service Improvement Plan to make travelling by bus cheaper for families and young people, run buses later and more frequently and provide a lifeline for Breeze Buses to the South Downs.
“This new bus lane will mean more reliable journey times into the heart of the city and I would encourage people to give us their feedback.”
The bus lane would operate 24 hours a day and could also be used by taxis and cyclists. As this part of the road is very wide, there wouldn’t be any need to reduce the number of traffic lanes. We’ll also be providing a new pedestrian crossing on the road.
It would be installed under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO). This means, if necessary, the council can make changes for up to 18 months before a decision is made on whether to make it permanent.
People can also give feedback on the bus lane during the first six months it’s in operation.
The bus lane is being paid for from the £28 million awarded to the council for its bus service improvement plan by the government in 2022.
That money has also been used to pay for free child fares.
Marine Parade is a major bus route with over 250 buses in each direction per day. Traffic flow on Marine Parade varies throughout the day and year.
Congestion at busy times can be unpredictable which makes bus journey times unreliable, sometimes causing buses to terminate routes early or start late. A bus lane will help more buses run to timetable.
I agree ‘ bus should have their own lanes everywhere ‘ to be quite honest ‘when stuck behind buses ‘I feel like I’m a bus driver without passengers but doing the same job ,
If you let cyclists use the same lane as buses you will get much the same delays cyclists travel at around 5 to 10 miles per hour usually riding two a breast or cycling in the middle of the road with no awareness of traffic around them . Making my it dangerous for bus drivers to drive along shared routes with cyclists.
Oh, don’t worry about that – according to commenters here and the other place nobody uses the cycle lanes anyway, so there won’t be any cyclists to hold up the buses!
Yeah lol thanks for the input …
Actually makes sense to do this here as the road layout currently is a bit of a shambles
8-10 mph? Make that 15-20 mph and that’s more the speed I cycle at on the flat. Downhill? Make that 30-40mph.
Well done you. Not everyone can manage that though.
I used to cycle everywhere, average speed of most cyclists is 15-23 mph so where your 5-10 comes from, I have no idea. I don’t ride no more due to a disability and use a car now. Bus lanes actually a good idea there. Normally loads of cars there anyway forcing it to a one lane road anyways. Trouble is bus drivers tend to actually aim for cyclists so a shared lane could have an accident waiting to happen.
Professionals are averaging 25mph. Global average according to a variety of sources is about 13.5 mph.
Unnecessary.
I park there for the gym after 8 :(((
Will 200 meters of bus lane be necessary or even applicable. Congestion is fine here, (unless this is a pre emptive strike for the chaos of Valley Gardens Phase 3). Seems like tinkering with little behefit and thev additional loss of good revenue from those 15 busy bays plus the loss of a blue badge bay.
Seems like it has finally dawned on the Council , what a colossal mess vg3 will be, just like everyone said. Bhcc knows that vg3 will cause enormous congestion, yet it has been pushed through by the dogma driven idiots in the Transport department and their poodle, cllr Muten.
What will happen at the point where it currently becomes wide enough for only one vehicle? I guess parking spaces will go
They literally say that in the image above, Callie.
Chair of the Transport committee says there is a”fantastic bus network”. I’d say adequate but I don’t have a performance to defend. When it comes to getting into or out of Brighton, I’d describe it as poor
Getting across the city is also poor as almost all routes go via the city centre.
There’s not an easy way to get from East to West other than Kingsway, is there?
Spending more money to make more traffic jams. Thought bhcc was broke anyway?
They dodged bankruptcy with some very pragmatic cuts over the last year.
I’m a fan of bus lanes that prioritise public transport. But this short lane is a bit pointless when you know that they plan to remove the Palace Pier roundabout, which will inevitably set up a complete log jam of traffic there.
The most stupid design aspect of VG3 is where all cyclists and pedestrians are directed unnecessarily straight at the busiest road junction in the city, with the roundabout being replaced by traffic lights, and with existing slip roads removed.
The new design means that just one pedestrian stops all the vehicles (including buses) at the new junction, and in all directions.
So the westbound bus services will often end up being redirected down Edward street.
I’m wondering if limited hours of operation would be better, so there’s also a benefit to normal traffic outside of peak times?
Aren’t buses normal traffic?
No, because in this context normal traffic can’t use bus lanes.
The Magic of VG3 – brought to you by the experts in the BHCC Transport Dept!
This isn’t VG3, Tom. Save your ire for the actual project.
I am not aware of any existing problems with congestion at this particular place. It is understood that very few buses use this stretch of road. Certainly far more cars use it. Is this really a good use of public road space to render a lane empty for the majority of the time?
It’s a pinch point, so I can see the logic here. There’s potentially an argument to be made for limited hours of operation outside of peak hours. There’s also some consideration of how the flow of traffic will look following the removal of the roundabout.
Only a few buses, try at least 20 an hour…
Fill up the potholes and maintain the existing infrastructure before wasting more money please.
Separate funds for potholes, which apparently is delayed mainly due to not having enough workers.
One of the biggest issues for the delays – are the un-coordinated pedestrian crossings with lights. Another one will just make it worse.
The priority given to pedestrian lights along Marina drive is crazy. It takes about 3-10 seconds from someone pushing a button to cross – until the lights change for the road users. So in peak times the lights change very often blocking a lot of traffic. So you usually only have 1 person crossing at the time – after 10-15 cars can pass – and then another pedestrian push the button. Now there are 6-7 separate crossings with lights from Blackrock to Sea Life. All lights have “excessive” pedestrian priority and none are coordinated.
It would be so easy to coordinate the lights and wait times dependent on traffic – and it would ease the flow of traffic.
I usually walk or run along the route – and I would not mind waiting 30-45 seconds to cross.
If you don’t trust the above – just check Google Maps with the “traffic layer” – and all the choke points are at the lights with queues behind them. The worst offender is the “new” lights from Madeira Drive to Marina Parade. That set of lights certainly needs “optimising”
So try to optimise before spending money on a problem – which could be solved at very little cost.
Apart from that the worst set of lights in Brighton are on West St. by Cranbourne St. The are not smart lights and have 2+ minute of “pedestrian” green man before changing – no matter the time of day or if any pedestrians are actually crossing. It is a “chokepoint” for both busses and cars. I do understand in peak traffic time it is very busy with pedestrians between Churchill Mall and shops on the other side. But turning it into a smart light would ease congestion at the Clock Tower intersection.
We didn’t have any lights at the junction of Marine Parade and Madeira Drive until the cretins at BHCC made it one way
It’s a really good point made about the traffic lights. They are badly synced – making the journey along Kingsway very stop/start.
The high volume of motor traffic inevitably leads to stop/start journeys
Hmm, interesting, so you stop on a red, move off on a green only to stop 100 yards on a red again, hmm.
Poorly designed and causes congestion, often without good reason. Various lights around the city hold traffic needlessly. Lewes Road junction with Elm Grove. You sit on a RED while traffic is filtered right, there is no reason why, traffic can not continue ahead, deliberate congestion.
It is not the amount of traffic that is the main issue now.
Worst issue is the new lights down to the arches – from there all the way to the lights before the ugly Marina Gate – is blocked every morning – only due to the bad lights installed. Once you pass the lights you have reasonably easy drive unless there are lot of pedestrians crossing.
How to check : Well in the rainy days there are few people as pedestrians. So check rainy day vs dry and sunny days. On rainy days – ONLY choke point is new lights. On dry days with lots of pedestrians – it is ALL the lights (but still worst at the new lights)
But I do know it is hard for people to think pragmatic and cheap – and everything can be fixed with dedicated bus- and cycle lanes. But it solves very little for a high cost. More traffic obstacles results in more pollution – not less. More braking (break dust and tire dust) – more accelerations (more consumption and pollution from accelerations than steady speed) and last but not least – more road rage (resulting in more accidents – providing a steady stream of customers to NHS)
Pragmatic systems and solutions solves a lot – for a lot less. But I also do know a lot of people in power are more focused on spending and getting budgets than actually solving problems and understanding “systems” (aka cause and effect)
This is really just a money wasting scheme , like Brighton always does, throwing money away on something that isn’t really needed, they should spend the money on fixing the crumbling arches on maderia drive, makes Brighton look do bad for tourists, or make the road a 2 way road again. As making it one way has caused more congestion. Also they should get rid of the cycle lane on the road from west street to the drive, there is all ready a cycle lane on the pathway, it just holds up traffic, which in turn makes more pollution. Sort it out.
They couldn’t use the money used here to work on the arches, Benn. But I agree that the cycle lane along Kingsway is redundant considering the perfectly good cycle lane on the coastal boulevard.
The cycle lane on the pavement is barely sufficiently wide for one-way cycling which is why the lane on the road is needed to accommodate those cycling in the opposite direction.
Max
That is utter rubbish and you know it, that area is not well used by cyclist.
Cyclists seem to be able to ride in both directions around the pier so you need to rethink that nonsense you’ve just dreamed up.
More virtue signalling nonsense from the few greens left in council. There is not an issue there and few buses on that route. Fill in the potholes and empty the gullies! It’s not too much to ask is it ?
Whilst I would not say it’s a priority there; improving the flow of the road is a worthwhile improvement, in my opinion.
15 pay and display parking bays in the centre of town will lose the council £300,000 in parking revenue in an area where people desperately need to park. What is wrong with the people that come up with these stupid ideas.
Do you believe that these spots earn £842.70 a day?
It works out at £54.80 per spot per day.
There is no benefits from this change, other than Soho House benefiting from no parked vehicles outside. This members only club have always wanted privacy and security and have constantly bulked at restrictions. As companies so often say don’t worry about the small people. Are there back handers in place to secure the privacy under the title of benefiting road users etc.
There are definite benefits to this change, Zippy. Having a second lane of traffic here, even if it’s a dedicated lane for buses and cyclists, will improve the flow of traffic from the single-lane squeeze that happens here before the Pier roundabout.
Something to consider with the Eastbound road there is yes it’s very wide, but it also narrows quite quickly towards Lower Rock Gardens, and people treat that single-wide road as a two-lane road.
That is insane. There aren’t even enough buses along there to justify it. Plus is is not a dual lane road all the way along. Parts are single lane with no spare capacity to be turned into bus lane and parts are dual.
The so-called cycle path is already installed on Madeira Drive below and underused. Plus it would remove valuable parking bays along the top, including disabled.
The so-called eastbound lane for motor vehicles is already installed on Madeira Drive below and underused.
On a hot and sunny weekend, cars are bumper to bumper heading eastwards. Whoever did the design is clearly a simpleton. Once you’ve turned into Madeira Drive you have to continue all the way, even if there are no spaces. You can’t turn round.
So…horrendous congestion and pollution created by the officers in BHCC.
Not enough buses ?
At least 10x 12’s, 2×14, 2×27, 2×37, 1 x 47, 1×52, 2x Collage shuttle, I make that at least 20 buses an hour,
Barry tends to make uninformed opinions at the best of times, then goes half cocked on that incorrect assumption. It’s a fatal flaw in the majority of his arguments we’ve highlighted to him several times.
Please leave the road system in brighton alone! Every single time you tinker with it you make it worse, any further work is making it worse for everyone, try maintaining the roads better. Less pollution is not less cars! People will still use cars to travel, congestied traffic at a standstill cause more pollution the city is almost at gridlock any further will cause more pollution, try spending the money on potholes, grass cutting and maintenance on pavements would help the environment better