Free the Sheffield Buses & Trams
| Published: 25th May 2007 15:26 |
25 May 2007
FREE THE SHEFFIELD BUSES AND TRAMS
The Drive to free up Sheffield's bus lanes steps up a gear with camera enforcement set to come into force from June.
Sheffield City Council will use CCTV monitoring at key bottlenecks where motorists are illegally using bus lanes and bus and tram gates, causing hold-ups for public transport - starting with Hillsborough Corner and rolling-out to other sites across the City.
Before the new measures are introduced a mass publicity campaign, "Free the Sheffield buses and trams", will reinforce the message and a period of grace will be allowed where motorists will be issued with warnings only.
Councillor Bryan Lodge, Cabinet Member for Transport and Streetscene, said: "Whilst we will be taking a tough line to enforce bus lanes and bus/ tram gates, motorists will be given notice about flouting highway regulations in the first couple of weeks before fines are issued.
"The penalty charge is £60, reduced to £30 for early payment. This is the same charge that we make for parking offences. Offending drivers will not have their licences endorsed."
As the aim is to improve punctuality at busy times, the hours of operation of the bus /tram gate at Hillsborough Corner will be relaxed from 24 hours a day to 7am - 7pm on Langsett Road and Middlewood Road. The impact of this change on public transport will be monitored by the Council and public transport operators.
Coun Lodge said: "Sheffield is one of a group of local authorities, including Manchester and Nottingham, leading the way on this type of enforcement, which has previously only been allowed in London. It is vital that we start enforcing our bus lanes, as the levels of abuse are leading to significant delays to thousands of people who travel on the city's roads every day.
"In the case of Hillsborough, around 5000 vehicles per day are abusing current restrictions. This causes queuing, which badly affects journey times, the reliability of public transport and traffic on adjoining roads.
"For public transport it means that, on average, trams now lose two and a half minutes passing through Hillsborough Corner compared to the journey times when the bus/tram gates were first installed, with buses affected just as badly.
"Many people complain that delays are much longer at rush hour. When the bus / tram gates were first introduced, most drivers complied with the restrictions but, because there is little threat of enforcement, abuse has escalated."
Enforcement is to be carried out by CCTV cameras, with operators based in the city's existing security CCTV centre observing and recording offences. .
Councillor Lodge added: "We are not looking to raise money from motorists as any revenue will be directly re-invested in the enforcement process. We just want drivers to respect the restrictions, which are there for a good reason.
"The policy was agreed to reinforce Sheffield's Cleaner, Greener, Safer priorities. We want to offer people genuine transport choice in our efforts to tackle congestion. Bus / tram gate and lane enforcement will help us to deliver quicker and more reliable public transport, to make it a better option for more people."
For further information call the Transport Planning Team on 0114 273 4479 or email mailto:transport@sheffield.gov.uk or go to www.sheffield.gov.uk/buslaneenforcement
Copyright © Sheffield City Council 1997 - 2007
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