To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make it her policy to amend her Department’s guidance to local authorities to encourage them to permit motorcycles to use bus lanes. (192614)

In line with actions set out in the Government’s Motorcycling Strategy, the Department has already amended guidance to local authorities on the use of bus lanes by motorcycles.

In February 2007 the Department for Transport published Traffic Advisory Leaflet 2/07: The Use of Bus Lanes by Motorcycles. This makes clear to local highway authorities that it is for them to decide whether or not to allow motorcycles to use bus lanes and encourages them to make an objective assessment of the issue.

The new guidance revises previous advice in Local Transport Note 1/97: Keeping Buses Moving, which recommended that motorcycles should not normally be permitted to use bus lanes.