Sign our petition for access to bus lanes

MCN needs you to sign a petition asking London Mayor Boris Johnson to keep his promise to let us as bikers use bus lanes.

So far over 3100 bikers have signed the petition, but we still need more!

A cycling group has already handed the Mayor a petition with over 3,500 names asking him to reverse his decision to let us share the lanes. And now MCN has learned that Johnson has indicated to a cycling magazine that his decision is not final.

• Click here to sign the petition or email us at mcn.online@motorcyclenews.com with Bus Lanes in the subject line

In an interview due to appear in the August/September issue of London Cyclist, Johnson says “further consultation must happen before motorcycles can legally use Transport for London’s bus lanes” and that he “will listen very carefully to the different views expressed on this proposal”.

The comments are in contrast with Johnson’s pre-election transport manifesto, in which he said: “I will allow motorcycles in bus lanes. I believe that motorcycles will help combat congestion, and we should encourage greater use of them.”

The new comments were seized upon by the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) as a sign of support for its campaign to keep us out of the bus lanes.

A spokesman for the group said: “We’re pleased that he’s following the form and having a consultation.”

MCN called upon the Mayor to renew his commitment but his office has failed to respond.

His apparent wavering comes after two London boroughs voted separately to oppose his plans. Lewisham Council passed a motion to “make representations to the Mayor of London and to work with other boroughs to ensure such plans are abandoned”.

Hackney Borough Council agreed to “work with the cycling community to seek to persuade the Mayor of London that this will be damaging to his ambition of increasing cycling in the capital”.

Both boroughs cited safety concerns, despite a leaked report which stated accidents fell 42% on routes where motorcycles in bus lanes has been trialled. 

Riders’ rights groups fought hard for a pre-election commitment from Johnson to allow motorcycles into London’s bus lanes as they believe the move will form a blueprint for the rest of the UK.

Now MCN is launching a petition for motorcyclists to answer LCC and others who oppose letting us share the lanes. We aim to heap pressure on Johnson by demanding he name the date that we can expect to use the capital’s bus lanes.
We’ll hand our completed petition to Johnson’s office. We’ll also give a copy to LCC, just for fun.

Sign the petition using the ‘add your comment’ facility at the bottom of this story – but please include your full name. Alternatively, email us including your full name and we’ll add it to the petition. 

To sign the petition by email, click here

We the undersigned petition the Mayor of London to honour his promise to open bus lanes to motorcycles. Allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes has been shown to have no detrimental effect for safety in London trials and other major cities. Motorcyclists voted for the Mayor following his commitment in his transport manifesto to open the capital’s bus lanes to them. We now demand he renew that commitment by immediately stating the date by which we should expect access to all bus lanes under his control.