Ealing residents want bus lane signs to be more clearer and operational times more consistent. They also want to re-design some junctions which are dangerous at the beginning and ends of bus lanes.

These were the themes which emerged as people gave their views at Ealing Council’s Bus Lane Specialist Scrutiny Panel meeting, held on Tuesday 4 September.

The panel of Ealing councillors has been set up to carry out an in-depth study and produce a report with recommendations about bus lanes by next April.

Representatives from the following groups were also at the meeting:

• Association of British Drivers
• London Cycling Campaign
• Ealing Passenger Transport Users Group
• Transport for London
• Friends of the Earth
• London Travel Watch
• Hillingdon Motorists Forum

Station Commander of Southall Fire Station, Richard Claydon, also attended and gave the Fire Brigade’s views on this issue.

Councillor Dawn Larmouth, chairman of the Bus Lane Specialist Scrutiny Panel, said: “We had plenty of views at the meeting and we have already received lots of calls and emails from people.

“What has emerged so far is that there is a lot of confusion about bus lanes because there are so many which are operational at different times.

“We focused on bus lanes in Ealing Broadway this time, but the next one will be about ones in Greenford. I will be at Greenford Area Committee on 19 September to hear from local residents on this topic.”

The panel’s final report will be used by the Cabinet to carry out a review of bus lanes in 2008/2009.

The panel meetings are all public and residents are free to speak and give their views.

The next meeting is on 1 November. January’s on Acton and February’s will discuss the Council’s review of the Northolt bus lane and reach a conclusion on what they want to recommend to Cabinet.
 
A representative from the following groups have been co-opted on to the panel:

• Association of British Drivers
• London Cycling Campaign
• Ealing Passenger Transport Users Group
• Transport for London

The councillors on the panel are: Dawn Larmouth (Chairman), Bassam Mahfouz (Vice-Chairman), Peter Allott, Colm Costello, Jagdish Gupta, Rosa Popham,  Marie Randall, Ranjit Dheer and Zahida Noori.

Southall residents can give their views any one of them. Alternatively, contact Keith Fraser, (Head of Scrutiny) on 020 8825 7497 fraserk@ealing.gov.uk