To ask the Minister for Regional Development for her assessment of the impact on older people and people with disabilities who use non-black taxis, who depend on restricted areas to enter or alight vehicles of the enforced ban on vehicle use of bus lanes.

The recent introduction of camera enforcement of moving traffic offices in bus lanes was not accompanied by any change in access arrangements, so should not have had any direct impact on people with disabilities who use non-black taxis.

Bus lanes are mainly provided for more sustainable forms of transport such as buses and bicycles. Motorcycles are permitted access for safety reasons and because they use less road space, thereby reducing congestion. Certain taxis are permitted access as they operate in a similar fashion to public transport, that is, picking up fares on-street, and because they can also accommodate wheelchairs. The signs adjacent to the individual length of bus lane will indicate what vehicles are permitted to use the facility during its time of operation.

Whilst ‘non-black’ taxis, like the majority of other vehicles, are not permitted to enter, proceed or wait in an operational bus lane, there are opportunities for them to set down passengers on most of the routes in question, particularly given the fragmented nature of our network of bus lanes. Taxis can stop on yellow lines while passengers board or alight as long no other restriction is in force, such as an urban clearway. Non-permitted vehicles can also cross a bus lane to gain access to premises or to a lay-bay or parking area which is only accessible from that bus lane. Furthermore, the nature of our road network means that side streets and other viable alternatives are never that far away.

Whilst I can appreciate the inconvenience caused in terms of picking up and setting down passengers, I understand that it is not an issue that my Department has been strongly lobbied on in the past number of years.

In terms of the overall impact of bus lanes, a full Equality Impact Assessment was carried out for the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan and this concluded that the public transport proposals contained in the Plan, including the provision of bus lanes, would provide benefits across all equality categories identified in Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.