Bus Gate : Bristol

HEADRAT

HEADRAT

HEADRAT

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
21,541
Location
Cambridge, UK
Hi,

Anybody ever been caught by a 'Bus Gate', doesn't seem to be mentioned in the Highway Code, got nabbed by the one in Cumberland Road in Bristol, seems like I'm not the only one:

www.bbc.co.uk

Bristol bus gate fines top £500k since January

Bristol City Council says the Bedminster bus gate was introduced to improve air quality.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Signage was terrible, you have nowhere to go, you basically have to do a three point turn to avoid!

Cheers

HEADRAT
 
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Similar one recently introduced in Southampton city centre, they gave a few months 'grace' before they started fining people for going through.
 
Just read that link, I can understand frustration at getting caught out and fined once, but the people who are saying well I got fined, but didn't know so kept driving down there and getting fined more. Idiots!
 
There is one in Gloucester, it's fine from one direction, the kerb has been changed to form a slight kink and it has a single sign that is easy to see, and crucially the road just follows around to the right away from the 'gate' so it all works well.

However, the other end of the bus gate is just a normal road that just randomly has 'Bus Gate' painted on the floor with a sign either side, it's a busy part of town with a bus stop, so the signs might be easily missed and the road just goes that way.. had they changed the kerbing to make it look more like the end of a road etc, as they did the other side, far less people would have been fined on that.

I was warned about it since I used to pick my daughter up from work, and when I first went down couldn't believe how it almost looked setup to entice you in!
 
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There's a new-ish one (March 2023) and people keep driving thourgh and complaining about the fines.

They claim the signage is insufficient.

There are 5 big red signs, 3 yellow ones indicating how to avoid the gate by using the turning point installed at the same time as the gate, plus No Entry signs, green tarmac and BUS GATE written on the floor.
 
Surely there should be signs at the end of the road as there is nowhere to turn around?

It does seem like a scam to generate money.
 
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It makes sense as an alternative to those rising bollards that physically stop cars from entering a bus lane in town.

Why pay for installation and maintenance of rising bollards when a monitored no entry sign can generate money?
 
It’s a great money making scheme, but as a tourist to the area taking my daughter to see the SS Great Britain, it was a bit of a downer.
 
like with recent thread about op who turned left at a non-permitted time of day ... just need google maps to know about these 'complex' rules
 
Bus lanes are fine, I understand bus lanes, they are in the Highway code and there is another lane with all the car in ;) Bus Gates aren't in the Highway Code and are basically a restricted road, the only option for the motorist is a U turn!
 
I nearly went through something like this near Wembley. My mind was totally in another place and I was behind a bus ironically so just thought nothing of it. Luckily I saw it at the last second and went down the bit marked for cars. I think it is there purely to stop lorries going through as it made no sense.
 
HEADRAT said:
The one is Bristol doesn't have anything for cars, you have to U turn!
Click to expand...

From my, admittedly poor, Google Maps skills, is this the new bus gate that is immediately preceded by Mardyke Ferry Road if you are heading East along Cumberland Road?
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4467823,-2.6117413,171m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

Streetview, dated May 2023, shows signs for the previous 1/2 a mile before it. The Streetview then goes to 2021 at Mardyke Ferry Road so its hard to see exactly where it starts however the last sign a bit further back states the Bus Gate in 250yds so it looks like you can "escape" down Mardyke Ferry Road rather than U-Turn.
 
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Richie said:
From my, admittedly poor, Google Maps skills, is this the new bus gate that is immediately preceded by Mardyke Ferry Road if you are heading East along Cumberland Road?
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4467823,-2.6117413,171m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

Streetview, dated May 2023, shows signs for the previous 1/2 a mile before it. The Streetview then goes to 2021 at Mardyke Ferry Road so its hard to see exactly where it starts however the last sign a bit further back states the Bus Gate in 250yds so it looks like you can "escape" down Mardyke Ferry Road rather than U-Turn.
Click to expand...

There's a blue sign at the 1/4 mile mark stating bus gate ahead, few yards down the road there's yellow sign stating 'new bus gate ahead. (sadly moving towards it the image date changes to 2019 so can't read it clearly) and then another 100yrds is a red "new road layout ahead" sign.

So in ~200 yards there are 4 signs relating to the bus gate up to the 250yrd marker. Added to the additional sign at 1/2mile there's sufficient warning.
 
Resident said:
There's a blue sign at the 1/4 mile mark stating bus gate ahead, few yards down the road there's yellow sign stating 'new bus gate ahead. (sadly moving towards it the image date changes to 2019 so can't read it clearly) and then another 100yrds is a red "new road layout ahead" sign.

So in ~200 yards there are 4 signs relating to the bus gate up to the 250yrd marker. Added to the additional sign at 1/2mile there's sufficient warning.
Click to expand...

yeah there is loads of signs, I was just questioning the U-Turn only escape that the OP was mentioning... Hard to tell where the new gate starts though BUT, from looking at streetview vs the BBC news image, it looks like there is an escape route as I mentioned.
 
Richie said:
yeah there is loads of signs, I was just questioning the U-Turn only escape that the OP was mentioning... Hard to tell where the new gate starts though BUT, from looking at streetview vs the BBC news image, it looks like there is an escape route as I mentioned.
Click to expand...

It'd be extremely unusual if there wasn't an 'escape' route. Pretty sure it's a requirement.

A new one near me saw a turning circle built just before the gate (insufficient room for a roundabout) because there was no other option prior to the gate.
 
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