Guildford’s New Bus-Lane Fines Could Drive Wedge With County Council

Published on: 17 Dec, 2019
Updated on: 19 Dec, 2019

The bus lane in Onslow Street. This image was captured on Sunday, December 15 when restrictions are not in force.

By Martin Giles
 
Talks are likely to start soon between Surrey County Council and Guildford over who will control the revenue expected from new fines for illegal use of the town’s bus-lanes.

A year-long pilot project on Woking High Street ended in October and Guildford and SCC have now agreed to impose £70 fines in the town’s Woking Road and Onslow Street, starting in April.

The main aim, SCC said, was to reduce traffic congestion, not to amass revenue.

But last year, through the rest of the UK, the rapid increase of bus-lane fines by many cash-strapped councils surged to a total of £30 million, causing many public objections.

In the Woking pilot, the borough council met the costs of setting up Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and administrating collection of fines. The latter alone was estimated at some £24,000.

Also agreed was that any surplus would be split by 20% to WBC, 60% to the Joint Committee, and 20% to SCC. So far, no such deal has been agreed with Guildford but its Joint Committee is expecting to have a right of approval over any proposal.

The blue sign shows which vehicles are permitted in the bus lane and the times restrictions apply.

Speculation that annual revenue from the fines could total six figures has been largely dismissed after a council officer report forecast that 98% of drivers would avoid illegal use. That would amount to revenue of a little more than £6,000.

At the SCC and GBC Joint Committee meeting on Tuesday (December 11), when the bus-lane fines were agreed, Cllr Mark Brett-Warburton (Con, Guildford South East), expressed concerns about such revenue collected in Guildford being used elsewhere.

See also: Illegal Use of Guildford Bus-Lanes Could Cost You £70, But Who Gets The Cash? 

Surrey County Councillor Mark Brett-Warburton.

Yesterday, Cllr Brett-Warburton added: “No traffic scheme should be implemented as a revenue-raising exercise. The objective must be to enforce driver behaviour to improve the conditions for all road users.

“The purpose of camera enforcement is to address a proven local highway problem.

“I much prefer positive offers to encourage change in behaviour rather than fines and fees. I always feel it delivers a more long-lasting effect when a person wants to do something rather than acts through fear of punishment.

“As confirmed by the cabinet member for Highways, Cllr Matt Furniss, Surrey council is not looking to use this type of scheme to raise funds.

“This means any surplus raised through fines could, for instance, be provided to the Guildford Joint Committee to fund local projects that mitigate traffic congestion and encourage sustainable transport locally rather than fund priorities elsewhere in the county.”

Cllr Fiona White

In a comment, Fiona White (Lib Dem, SCC Cllr for Guildford West, GBC Cllr for Westborough) said: “I have to ask why Cllr Furniss waited until immediately before the Guildford Joint Committee meeting to tell us about his plan to grab money from bus-lane enforcement in Guildford to spend across Surrey instead of keeping it in Guildford to help solve our transport problems.

“I hope it was not in the belief that springing it on us at the last minute would mean we didn’t have time to react.

“I am pleased the committee supported my amendment to say that, although we support the principle of bus-lane enforcement, no action should be taken until the Guildford Joint Committee has approved the financial arrangements.

“I hope the Surrey Cabinet will recognise it is fair that substantial sums of money which could come from the enforcement must stay and help us solve our traffic problems.

“Cllr Furniss was right, in that our aim should not be to raise money from fines. It must be to help people to get out of their cars and onto public transport.

“Queuing traffic in Guildford not only slows journeys but also adds to air-quality issues.

“If we can make bus journeys more convenient by opening up bus lanes, people will be more willing make the change from cars to buses which would be a big step towards cleaner air and slowing climate change.”

Cllr Matt Furniss

Mr Furniss replied: “The aim of introducing bus-lane enforcement is to tackle congestion, a problem that impacts Guildford and other parts of Surrey.

“Enforcement helps ensure the network is used correctly and to manage congestion, supporting bus reliability and capacity.

“After the successful trial in Woking, we welcome introduction of bus-lane enforcement, as explained and recommended in this report for Onslow Street and Woking Road.

“The county council agrees that other sites should also be considered within Guildford, where a sound case can be made.

“In terms of timings, a briefing note was prepared at the request of the committee chairman the week prior to the meeting, to be circulated with the supplementary agenda.

In addition, key members of the committee have been having discussions since October about bus-lane enforcement.

“It is disappointing that the committee chose to focus only on the finances of the proposal rather than the benefits of more bus reliability, capacity and promoting sustainable transport and air-quality and I would like to refer them to the original cabinet paper which some may not have read.

“Any income will be used to tackle congestion on the highway, including Guildford, because it is our aim to promote buses, cycling and walking while improving our roads.”

On a Dragon NEWS visit to Guildford bus station on Sunday, an Arriva driver with 17 years’ experience here said illegal use of the Onslow Street bus-lane was “not a big problem”.

He added: “Most car-drivers respect it and it doesn’t hold us up too much. The bus-lane at Stoke crossroads is a much bigger problem.”

See also: Cyclists ‘Risking Their Lives’ at New Stoke Crossroads, Councils Are Warned

Andrew Halliday

Andrew Halliday, managing director of bus firm Safeguard, said: “Amid the growing traffic congestion and air-quality crises in Guildford, buses must be given priority at key points so they are not stuck in the same queues as the growing amount of less sustainable traffic.

“Effectively designed and enforced bus-lanes and other bus priority measures (at traffic signals, bus-only roads etc) are essential.

“Much more priority needs to be given to buses if they are to become the transport choice for a much greater number of journeys, hence reducing the use of less sustainable transport.

“As a first step, existing bus-priority measures must be effectively enforced, otherwise abuse by other road-users renders them ineffective.

“We hope any money raised from enforcement will be reinvested to increase bus priority in Guildford, producing a double-win for this highly sustainable local transport mode.”

Surrey has a total of 13 bus-lanes and county discussions on fines to deter illegal use started more than two years ago.

Emergency vehicles such as police, ambulances and fire engines are also allowed to use bus-lanes but only for “operational reasons”.

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