In message , J. Chisholm
writes
Aidan Stanger wrote:

Does TfL (or anyone else) try to estimate the value of bus lanes before
installing them? If so, what criteria do they use?

Am I right in thinking London's most expensive bus lane so far was the
one on the M4? Am I right in thinking the consensus now is that it's a
white elephant?

That's not what studies of this lanes say:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1120542.stm

"It has now been given the government's seal of approval after a case
study showed it had cut rush-hour journey times for both cars and
buses."

As a London taxi driver I think the M4 bus lane is marvellous :-) and so
do most of the overseas visitors and business people using Heathrow, an
important consideration for many companies in deciding to do business in
the Greater London area.

I have to agree the initial idea of starting the lane further along the
M4 was, to say the least, flawed. What happens now is that the old
bottleneck of the 3 in to 2 lanes now moves further back, which gives
some drivers the opportunity to use alternative routes before committing
themselves to the M4. Of course what effect this has on the surrounding
traffic has also to to taken in to consideration.

Mike

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England