Never had a problem in Bristol with cyclists and motorcyclists in bus lanes...unless they're slow. Buses in bus lanes are a ffar bigger problem...

I agree with papasmurf, buses are the problem!!. As a keen cyclist and motorcyclist, i think it to be far more important for all two wheelers to stand together instead of the narrow-mindness which is spewing from the mouths of some of the cycling nazi's, accidents and injury rates fell on the trials of the bus lanes allowed to run motorcycles, that's cyclists, motorbikes and pedestrians that all benefited. Cyclists are far from being blue eyed angels in and around cities, jumping red lights and cutting through traffic at speed, nobody's perfect...lets just work together, after all, its all the idiots in their cars, on their mobiles who are the ones knocking us off, all the arseholes in the big 4x4's who think they own the road,...need i go on??

We did a survey of cyclists attitudes to motorbikes here in Sheffield, where they have been allowed for some time, and the results were interesting. Most cyclists from the local campaign group, who as experienced cyclists had no personal problems with motorbikes in bus lanes, didn't think they should be allowed in. The main reasons for this were that they felt it would deter new cyclists, and that it would be bad for the environment (motorbikes are not subject to the same emissions controls as cars and are not "green" transport.). It was pointed out that whilst most vehicles had to move out of the bus lane to pass cyclists, motorcyclists could squeeze past, and this was a potential source of conflcts and collisions. The other group of users surveyed, from a University BUG, were generally more relaxed about the issue.

My personal view is that a lot of journeys that are undertaken by motorbike could easily be made by pedal cycle, and there is no need to encourage them.

I think, with respect to the above comment that all journeys made by motorbike can be made by a cycle is a little far fetched to be fair, alot of motorcyclists who will be traveling into london ( and all other cities) will be doing so from far beyond the city boundries, simply to cut travel time, i dont think cycling a minimum of 30-50 miles each way is realistic every day, for people in normal everyday jobs, most cyclists will no doubt be local cyclists with the exception of the few very keen super fit types. Cyclists feel vunerable, but if you rode a motorbike, you'd see that you face exactly the same problems, i ride both, so i can have a accurate opinion, rather than a mislead one.Many other areas of the media have called for cyclists to have accident insurance and road tax, and horses for that matter!! if we want a free voice to scream and shout about all this kind of stuff, then maybe we'll have to cough up?? either way, i dont like some areas of society and the past times that they have, but its a free country and we all need to accept, that one mans poison, is another mans pleasure....

Bikes will be subject to stricter emissions controls from 2003 after the European Commission ratified proposals for lower limits on carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.

For 4-stroke engines, the 2003 stage represents a reduction of some 60% in the emission limits for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons over the present emission limits. For 2-stroke engines, the 2003 stage represents a reduction of some 30% in the emission limit for carbon monoxide (CO) and 70% in the emission limit for hydrocarbons (HC), over the present emission limits.

Fortunately firms are all well ahead with meeting those limits, which is why fuel injection has been so widely introduced in recent years to cut down on the amount of fuel a bike wastes. If fuel remains unburnt a bike will spew out more pollution.

A further round of emissions cuts will also strike in 2006, when bikes will have to be tested from cold as that is when the majority of emissions occur, and an approximate halving of the 2003 emission limits.

The bike industry has been aware of proposed new limits since 1999 and has been working towards meeting them.

The new limits are certain to mean catalytic converters on virtually every big bike and changes to their fuel injection management systems.

So there you go, and this is quite an old article, bikes are on par with cars now when it comes to being "green", they are not prehistoric things, and with thousands of flights in and out of UK airports, buses that only do 7 mpg, this makes the whole "green" discussion relative..there are far less bikes on the roads than others...thus they don't contribute a massive amount of carbons, if people were encouraged to get on any type of two wheeler, there would be a lot less traffic, a good start would be to open up the vast railway network that used to make this country great, get all the haulage back on the railways, the amount of HGV's clogging up our motorways is getting beyond a joke..but who am i to suggest something like that..

I have never had any real problems with motorcyclists, generally I find them very good and tolerant on the roads. Some drivers on the otherhand...

I think we need to welcome them into buslanes across the UK. The green argument is a bit daft in this case if you ask me as most motorbikes dont produce anywhere as near as much CO2 as the cars I see here locally.

Yes, thats why i felt the need to defend motorcyclists, as one myself, and post the above information in response to the earlier post...