Bus lane jumpers accused of preventing better public transport in Portsmouth

That’s the message from city council leader Donna Jones, who says the way in which lanes work needs to be re-examined.

Cllr Jones said: ‘I think the use of bus lanes around the city needs to be reconsidered and they need to be given an overhaul on how they work.

‘If members of the public are using dedicated bus lanes it will have a detrimental impact on public transport.’

She spoke after a video was published on YouTube showing drivers skipping traffic lights at the M275 sliproad to Kingston Crescent by driving through the bus lanes.

Four cars were caught lane jumping within a 20 second period.

Cllr Jones says the M275 sliproad needs to remain a bus-only lane to support the park and ride scheme which has to keep to a strict timetable.

She says: ‘Something we could give consideration to during peak times is to encourage people to get out of their cars and onto public transport.

‘Therefore we need to keep the lanes clear.’

Leader of Portsmouth Liberal Democrats, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, questioned whether the traffic lights should be at the junction.

He said: ‘The issue at this junction is do we need the traffic lights at all.’

‘Cars are sat there when there is no traffic.’

And on our Facebook page, readers watching the video appeared to be frustrated due to a number of reasons. Jenny Port commented: ‘This lane is a waste of road for a bus that comes along every 20 minutes while traffic is left building up and the traffic lights on the roundabout is the worst thing ever.‘Traffic used to flow freely but now gets stopped at every single light on the way round - pathetic.’Gav Wilson says: ‘In London there’s cameras on bus lanes so they should be the same at the end of M275.’