Tory mayor hopeful vows to ban floating bus stop ‘menace’

London candidate to scrap Ulez expansion and crack down on 20mph limit in end to war on motorists

SUSAN HALL has vowed to scrap “dangerous” floating bus stops if she is elected Conservative mayor of London.

As part of a five-point plan to end the “war on motorists”, the Tory candidate also vowed to crack down on 20mph zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), rule out “pay-per-mile” charging and immediately cancel the “unfair” ultra low emissions zone (Ulez) expansion.

Ms Hall pledged to get rid of the Amsterdam-style bus stops – where passengers are forced to board and exit on to cycle lanes – as they are a “menace” to pedestrians and drivers.

She insisted they are “a virtue-signalling waste of money by this disaster of a mayor”, and vowed to prevent any more being built, as well as phasing out all existing sites.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has faced intense criticism for overseeing a proliferation of the floating stops, where busy cycle lanes are wedged between the pavement and a bus stop island, with a zebra crossing bridging the two.

His own cycling tsar has admitted the schemes “feel dangerous”, while campaigners for the disabled and elderly people have condemned the “bus stop bypasses” as “death traps” because pedestrians are forced to “run the gauntlet” at the “terrifying” crossings.

However a spokesman for the Mayor said: “TfL’s approach is in line with government guidance and both bus stop bypasses and bus stop borders are a nationally recognised approach for avoiding the dangers of cyclists going around buses into oncoming traffic.

“The Mayor is committed to making London a more inclusive city and supporting more people to walk, cycle and take public transport. This is why he asked TfL to review the data on collisions around bus stops in order to evaluate if any design improvements are needed. The Mayor and TfL will continue working hard to ensure all of London’s infrastructure is as safe as possible for all road users.”

Launching her five-point plan in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Hall said Londoners have “had enough of Sadiq Khan’s heavy-handed anti-motorist mayoralty”, and promised to back drivers from “day one” if she wins the election in May, denying her rival a third term.

The pledge to axe floating bus stops is part of a wider drive to support black cabs, which she claimed “cannot pull up to drop people off ” with the crossings in the way.

The policy would apply only to roads managed by Transport for London (TfL), where the mayor has jurisdiction.