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READING COUNCILLORS REJECT PHV DRIVERS’ BID TO USE BUS LANES FOR SIX-MONTH TRIAL
A Reading taxi driver has expressed anger at being ‘fobbed off’ over his attempt to allow private hire drivers to use certain bus lanes. Currently, hackney carriages are allowed to use a number of the bus lanes in Reading, whereas private hire vehicles are only allowed to use the regular road network and the westbound King’s Road bus lane. Private hire drivers have been allowed to use that bus lane since 2013, but a petition has called for access to the eastbound bus lane along King’s Road as well in an effort to speed up journeys. The petition, organised by a group of private hire drivers, gained 187 signatures and was submitted to Reading Borough Council to call for PHVs to use the bus lane for a six-month trial period. However, councillors chose not to grant the drivers their request at this time.
The petition was presented by Kamran Saddiq, who argued customers are complaining about delays.
Mr Saddiq said: “We believe opening the bus lanes will make it easier to provide transport to both passengers and school children, and reduce pollution and improve the quality of air. “Finally, as more
housing
developments are going up in and around Reading, without provision of schools, surgeries and local services, we’re seeing an increase in the car use creating traffic gridlocks. “Private hire vehicles should be given access to bus lanes so we
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Cllr Page said: “The cities you’ve quoted have a minimal oper- ation of public transport by comparison. “Their bus lanes are not used anything like as extensively.” He went on to argue the
can reduce time travelled and encourage passengers to use public transport more.” He added that PHVs are allowed to use all bus lanes in Portsmouth, Southampton and South Oxfordshire, arguing the same should be granted in Reading. A fellow petitioner said that private hire drivers are willing to financially facilitate required changes to signage. The meeting then fell into procedural chaos, as the petitioners were led to believe they would each get five minutes to speak. However, petitioners are only allowed five minutes to speak in total, which was pointed out by deputy chairman councillor Matt Yeo (Labour, Caversham). Cllr Rob White, Green leader of the opposition (Park) pointed out allowing people to speak for longer is at the chair’s discretion. Tony Page, lead councillor for transport, argued it was unfair to compare Reading to Portsmouth and Southampton, given that Reading has one of the most extensive and heavily used bus lane networks outside of London.
purpose of bus lanes are to speed up public transport rather than private vehicles. Asif Rashid, the chairman of the Reading Taxi Association, also opposed the petition, called for a complete review of bus lane usage, and agreed that there is a difference between private hire and hackney carriages, which can be hailed. The council’s highways
dep-
artment recommended not allowing private hire vehicles to use the eastbound King’s Road bus lane yet, and instead wait for strategic review of bus lane usage in Reading to be undertaken. Labour and Conservative councillors voted for the recommendation, with Cllr White opposing it. The exchanges took place at the traffic management sub- committee meeting on Thursday, November 10. Following the decision, Mr Saddiq said private hire drivers had been “fobbed off” by the council. The petition was jointly proposed by Mr Saddiq and Salman Kayani, who was unable to attend the meeting.
DECEMBER 2022 PHTM
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