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No they aren't!
It’s been more than 30 years since the first trial schemes to allow motorcycles in bus lanes were started back in 1994 but despite all those decades of experience and knowledge it’s still a topic mired in confusion and inconsistency. Local authorities can choose whether to allow motorcycles to share bus lanes and central government has traditionally been neutral on the subject. That changed last year with a consultation on whether to make motorcycles in bus lanes the default position rather than an exception.
The consultation followed on from the then-Government’s ‘Plan for Drivers’, published in October 2023, which marked a move away from the DfT’s normally agnostic position to one that put more emphasis on the benefits of allowing bikes in bus lanes. In January 2024, Government guidance to local authorities was updated to remind them of their power to allow motorcycles in bus lanes, encouraging them to use it by saying “Wherever it is appropriate, local councils should allow motorcyclists to use bus lanes.”