Bus lanes were introduced at the taxpayer's expense to provide on-street priority for public transport. It was, therefore, decided that, besides buses and emergency vehicles, the only road users permitted access should be taxis (as public service vehicles available for on-street hire) and bicyclists (as vulnerable road users). Over the years, my Department has received numerous requests to open bus lanes to various other categories of road users, including motorcycles, multi-occupancy cars, limousines, hackneys and animal ambulances. All such requests have been refused.
On foot of a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and Gaeltacht, I have looked at the case for allowing vehicles servicing the Dublin City bike scheme to use bus lanes, and I think that prima facie they are in a rather different position from those categories of vehicle for which my Department has refused access to bus lanes. In examining the case for their inclusion, one consideration is the impact that allowing any additional category of vehicles to use bus lanes will inevitably have on the efficiency of these lanes for their original purpose. A second consideration is that allowing bike service vehicles to use these lanes would tie in with existing policy, given that bicyclists are among those already allowed to use bus lanes. For these reasons, I am giving this proposal serious consideration.