Bus Lanes Update

Over the past few weeks the Roads Division have received an increased number of complaints regarding the proposals to give motorcyclists access to selected bus lanes in Northern Ireland. We understand that there are considerable singular objections to the plans, which originally meant bikers in the Province would have been allowed in bus lanes from 22nd March.


The Roads Division have a duty to investigate the validity of such complaints and had originally hoped that by April 26th some decision as to whether or not to advance with the 18 month trial period would have been made. However this has not been physically possible and they assure MAG NI at this stage the department are doing their best to address the issue. We believe initial complaints stemmed from harsh, and somewhat unjustifiable comments from Tom McClelland (Northern Ireland Cycling Initiative) in the local press.

Manus Bradley (Roads Division) has gathered the relevant information and hopes that a decision can be reached by themselves or by their Director on the matter by mid May. This will hopefully be good news, and in time for the Province’s busiest calendar month of motorcycling events.

Please do not contact the Roads Division to lodge complaints on this issue. We have a good working relationship and are confident at this stage that they are being sympathetic to our concerns.

MAG is confident that this issue will be resolved promptly in our favour; however, there is always the possibility that the proposals be thwarted altogether depending on the nature of the objections.

If this is the case then we will sit down again with the relevant authorities and with the backing of Ian Paisley Jr. prove why the Motorcycle Action Group in Northern Ireland is the country’s leading riders rights organisation.

Issued 28 April 04