TAXIS should be allowed to use bus lanes to ease traffic congestion in Belfast.
The call has been made by Licensed Taxi Operators Association (LTOA).
The disruption to Belfast traffic in recent months has been laid at the door of the opening of the new Grand Central Station in the city as well as roadworks in and around the city.
Two months ago the Minister for Infrastructure John O’Dowd announced that certain taxis would be permitted to use bus lanes to help alleviate traffic congestion, however, according to LTOA “despite numerous members' questions and requests to officials from the taxi industry as to details on the initiative, no specific information has been offered by the Minister or officials from his department”.
LTOA say that congestion is reducing the number of journeys that taxi drivers can complete.
“One Belfast based operator commented that if taxi journey efficiency was returned to pre current congestion levels, it would allow them to offer an additional 2,000 bookings per week, and that’s just one operator," LTOA said in a statement.
“Even 2,000 bookings, with an average of 2.5 passengers per booking would mean that 5,000 extra passengers could be assisted – whether that’s getting to work, the pub, the hospital appointment, or to the supermarket. All of these additional journeys will help improve the fortunes of the hospitality and retail sectors and surely will help reduce specific time related delays around missed hospital and doctors’ appointments.
“We ask that the Minister clarifies his position, and allows Class A taxis the use of all city centre bus lanes for a period of twelve months, starting as soon as possible
“We suggest that Class C taxis should not be included in this initiative. Class C taxis do not have any external signage and allowing them into the bus lanes will complicate the enforcement of same as they are harder to identify and distinguish from a private car. Furthermore, as many look like standard private vehicles, their inclusion will only cause confusion with private drivers assuming “if its alright for them, it must be alright for me” and subsequently being penalised for this.
“Only allow taxis into the bus lanes when they are working. This should be when they have passengers on board or are on their way to collect passengers. This can be enforced by the taxi driver providing evidence of a booking if questioned while in an empty vehicle.”
