A request for taxi drivers to be given access to bus lanes along a major route in Reading has been rejected as the route could see trams introduced to it in the future.
The A33 bus lanes run between its junctions of Rose Kiln Lane and the M4 Junction 11, with the aim to speed up public transport journeys.
The route has been designed to facilitate the possible introduction of light trams in the future.
The request for taxis to access the bus lane was discussed after a petition signed by 231 people was presented to the council’s traffic management sub-committee.
The petition was submitted by Asif Rashid, chairman of the Reading Taxi Association (RTA).
While Labour councillors sympathised with the petition, there was concern that allowing cabs -also known as hackney carriages- to use the bus lanes would jeopardise the prospect of a tram being introduced.
John Ennis (Labour, Southcote), lead councillor for transport said: “The sole reason for me is that it hasn’t been completed, and it is potentially for another form of transport, hopefully in the future.
“It would be problematic if we allow everything else to go in there.”
The request was opposed by the council’s highways team, who raised concerns that taxi drivers would swerve into regular traffic lanes to avoid buses stopping to pick up and drop off customers.
Answering that point, Mr Rashid, chairman of the RTA said: “As professional drivers, we have shown through our continued use of other bus lanes that this is not the case.
“We are highly trained and held to rigorous safety standards by the council, we act responsibly in shared spaces i.e in all the other bus lanes, we have every other bus lane except for this one.
“Hackney carriages, by law, is a form of public transport. Our role is beyond simply moving passengers. Along the A33 corridor, there is a [Circle] Hospital there, there’s businesses, there’s leisure.
“We take people all the time there. The problem is that not everybody can use alternative modes of transport. We want to work safely along the A33 corridor.
“We’ve been trying to get this for years and every time we’ve been knocked back, which to us guys doesn’t make logic.
“By excluding hackney carriages the council is inadvertently undermining the very objective it aims to achieve by reducing congestion, promoting sustainable transport and ensuring equitable access to mobility.”
Mr Rashid also received support from Peter Seymour, a representative of the Thames Valley Motorcycle Action Group, who argued the tram is a long way from implementation and that any access to the bus lanes could be revoked at a later date.
Agreeing, cllr Rob White (Green, Park), the leader of the opposition, said: “I’d quite like a tram, but I don’t see any indication that we’ve got one coming in the near future.”
Ultimately, councillors rejected granting taxis access to the A33 bus lanes by a majority vote at the meeting on November 27.
