Sadiq Khan should make bus lanes operate 24 hours a day to save up to £200m a year and reduce Transport for London’s burden on taxpayers, campaigners have claimed.
Many bus lanes are only in effect for part of the day across the capital, but changing that would reduce journey times and require fewer buses to operate, they argue.
Buses will be able to average 1 mph faster as a result of reduced congestion saving between £100m and £200m each year, according to London TravelWatch.
In addition, the passenger group estimates that TfL would generate up to £85m of extra fare revenue by running buses faster.
TfL has a £1.7bn budgetary deficit to keep services running until March 2023.
Emma Gibson of London TravelWatch said: “The figures we’re releasing show that if we clear the way for buses on London’s roads, by doing things like introducing more 24-hour bus lanes and increasing parking enforcement on bus routes, TfL would be able to run fewer vehicles and save money as journey times will get shorter, and more people will use them.”
The campaign group calculated that by reducing congestion, 110 of London’s 8,600 buses could be removed from service, which would also reduce pollution levels in the short-term from the mostly diesel fleet.
