What's up with Auck City bus lanes?

[Lou Girardin]

Had a young guy come into work yesterday really pissed off at being ticketed for riding in a bus lane on Wellesley St. He was booked by a cop too, there were 3 or 4 of them working this area.
Now, unless there's been a law change, I thought ACC bus lanes were OK for bikes, Yay or nay?
If it is still legal to use them, it appears that 'on the job' training for our thin blue line is lacking somewhat.
The other issue was the vagueness of the offence on the infringement, failing to obey a traffic sign. I know they don't have to lay out chapter and verse of the offence, but this could mean anything.
Maybe the cop was new and being eased into the cauldron of todays viscious road criminals.

[SPman]

More over zealous officials who dont know the (by) law. ACC bus lanes are still kosher so fuk em!

[loosebruce]

Had a young guy come into work yesterday really pissed off at being ticketed for riding in a bus lane on Wellesley St. He was booked by a cop too, there were 3 or 4 of them working this area.
Now, unless there's been a law change, I thought ACC bus lanes were OK for bikes, Yay or nay?
If it is still legal to use them, it appears that 'on the job' training for our thin blue line is lacking somewhat.
The other issue was the vagueness of the offence on the infringement, failing to obey a traffic sign. I know they don't have to lay out chapter and verse of the offence, but this could mean anything.
Maybe the cop was new and being eased into the cauldron of todays viscious road criminals.

Wellesy st again, wtf are they upto, saslex got pinged there as well for using the bus light in the bus lane, go figure :spudwhat:

[tuscan]

Even if you were not allowed to ride in the bus lanes (which I'm sure you are!), there is nothing that pisses me off more than a cop who uses an ultra-strict "well, the law is the law and I'm just here to enforce it" approach without taking into account the purpose of the law and the circumstances at hand.

Quite obviously, the reason other vehicles are not allowed to use bus lanes is because the purpose of the lanes is to allow the buses unobstructed passage so they are not stuck in traffic. Car's in bus lanes definitely hold the buses up. Motorbikes do NOT! Stopping bikes from riding in the lanes or ticketing them for doing so does not help fulfill the purpose that the bylaw intends. So why do it?

Maybe bus-lane tickets count towards the day's quota.

[MikeL]

There's another thread somewhere about the Wellesley St buses-only light. Clearly the light + sign is different from a "bus lane" as we understand it.
By all means contest any tickets, but I'm not optimistic...

What really pisses me off is the fact that I can't see the necessity for the change, and the detour now involves several more sets of traffic lights and consequent delays. Was the Wellesley St/Queen St intersection such a problem?? I never noticed it...

[Redstar]

It was my understanding that ACC has approved bikes to use bus lanes but I'm not so sure about priority interchange lights I think you have a strong case to argue the ticket please write a letter and copy us.
this is not on!!

[Devil]

Yes this has been discussed before.
You are not allowed to go on the Bus light.
If theres only a bus light (because theres only a bus lane) then you have to assume that you're not allowed to use it.

[sAsLEX]

yeah but my ticket said something about a sign, not the light, and in other places around acc, there are bus only signs on green bus lanes that also have a picture of a bike on the green, still getting around to writing a letter but will post when done

[Devil]

yeah but my ticket said something about a sign, not the light, and in other places around acc, there are bus only signs on green bus lanes that also have a picture of a bike on the green, still getting around to writing a letter but will post when done

As far as the wording of the offence, sign = street sign, painted road markings, lights.

[Lou Girardin]

The offence was failing to obey a road sign, nothing has been said about traffic lights, lane markings, etc. The guy said he was just riding in the lane, let's not go off on tangents.

[Devil]

The offence was failing to obey a road sign, nothing has been said about traffic lights, lane markings, etc. The guy said he was just riding in the lane, let's not go off on tangents.

I was meaning ive seen them often refer to lights, markings etc as road signs.
So failing to obey a road sign, could have been a light, road markings, or a physical sign post.