Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting)

Rebecca Smith Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 3rd July 2025 Public Bill Committees

I support the amendments that would introduce reviews, record keeping and mapping. Some of that may be onerous, but maybe some money can be shifted in the same department from a couple of dual carriageways or bypasses to make it possible. The correct hierarchy of users of public transport and the streets needs to be maintained. If we put an absolute moratorium on floating bus stops to allow for continuous cycle lanes, that would involve more danger for cyclists. It might involve taking space away from cyclists to maintain space for vehicles, and that would not maintain the correct hierarchy of danger.

[Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)]

Am I right that the hon. Lady is suggesting that a partially sighted person or a disabled person is somehow lower down the hierarchy than a cyclist, simply because they are on a bus rather than walking or cycling?

[Siân Berry]

Let me clarify. Absolutely not: the hierarchy starts with people who are on foot or wheeling, and it moves down, via cycling, with motor vehicles at the bottom.

I would like to read out the evidence from the London Cycling Campaign. Its design solutions would ensure that the roads are safe, and many of them involve having extra space. The evidence sets out that

“extra space could also mean wider pavements, better sightlines”,

for cyclists who need to give way and

“less fraught interactions at floating bus stops between different mode users.”

The London Cycling Campaign argues that we should

“ensure bus services, walking, wheeling and cycling all get appropriate priority and capacity in funding, design guidance and on the ground in terms of physical space. And that likely means being more willing to reduce space and priority for private motor vehicles in more locations.”

That hierarchy is what I referred to. Where things are really difficult, it may be the right solution in a lot of cases to keep the bus on the main carriageway and make the other vehicles wait. However, that is for the design guidance. None of us is a traffic engineer—unless a Member wants to interrupt and point out that they are. That guidance must be produced in consultation with disabled people, particularly those who are blind or partially sighted, and it must also have the hierarchy in mind. Those designing the guidance should be much more willing to take space away from vehicles and to keep buses on the carriageway, if that is necessary to provide sufficient space to ensure that the roads are safe and accessible.