Car-pool lane confusion

Motorcyclists must wait to see whether or not we will be allowed to use the UK’s first motorway car-share lane when it opens next year.

But the good news is that bikes are still expected to be allowed in a similar lane on the M1 in 2008.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced the first ever UK motorway car-share lane on Monday, March 20.
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The £2.5m initiative will be fully operational on the M606 and M62 between Bradford and Leeds in 2007. If it goes to schedule it will beat the M1 scheme that was planned for Autumn 2005 but which is now slated for 2008.

A Highways Agency spokesman said, referring to the M606/M62 scheme: “At this point no decision has been made on whether or not motorcycles will be allowed to use the HOV* (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes”.

But a similar scheme on the M1 in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire – originally announced in December 2004 – will allow bikes to use the car-share lane.

In January 2005 Highways Agency Network Strategy Manager Malcolm Cook responded to a BMF inquiry saying: “The Secretary of State has asked me to reply on his behalf…I can confirm that we expect motorcyclists to be able to use the HOV lane on the first trial site on the M1 junctions 7-10.”

On Monday, March 20, a spokesman for the Department For Transport confirmed: “Nothing has changed from that statement.”

More on this story in the March 22 issue of MCN.