Confusion has been raised about what ‘bus gates’ are, as they are responsible for thousands of fines each year in Reading.
The borough council creates bus lanes to speed up journeys for Reading Buses users and get passengers closer to their intended destinations.
Anyone caught driving in a bus lane, typically using automatic number plate recognition cameras, is liable to pay a fine, called a penalty charge notice (PCN).
Councillor Anne Thompson (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) expressed alarm about the ‘bus gate’ for Green Park Station being responsible for more than 6,000 PCNs.
This led many people to express confusion about what bus gates are on Facebook.
While a bus lane is a dedicated lane running alongside general traffic lanes on a road, a bus gate is a short section of a full road or street that is entirely closed off to standard cars, allowing only buses, cyclists, and authorised vehicles to pass through.
The council publishes the number of PCNs it issues for infractions into bus lanes and gates in its Annual Parking Services Report, with the latest being for the 2024/25 year.
The authors do not distinguish between bus lanes and bus gates in the report, but the bus gates can be identified through road signage and using street view imagery.
Examples of bus gates include Minster Street, Beresford Road, Lindisfarne Way and Hemdean Road in Caversham.
The bus gate that cllr Thompson mentioned for Green Park Station is identified in Flagstaff Road.
Answering a question about how many PCNs had been issued there at a policy committee meeting in June, John Ennis (Labour, Southcote), lead councillor for transport, said 6,113 PCNs have been issued since July 4, 2024, with the majority of these being paid.
The parking services report states 985 PCNs and 3,188 warning notices in 2024/25.
It is understood a large amount of the fines could have been incurred in 2025/26.
The most well-known bus gate is Minster Street, where regular traffic is banned to allow buses and wheelchair accessible hackney carriages to get between King Street and St Mary’s Butts.
The bus gate was responsible for 7,170 PCNs in 2024/25.
In total, 61,835 bus lane PCNs were issued in 2024/25.
When cllr Thompson raised the issue about the Green Park Station bus gate, she argued that there is no drop-off point for disabled passengers.
Replying to that, cllr Ennis stated the station was designed with accessibility embedded from the outset.
He said: “There are 12 blue badge parking bays located around 50 metres from the station entrance in the short-stay car park, which also accommodates drop-off and pick-up activity.
“We recognise that wayfinding to these could be clearer and I have asked officers to work with the adjacent landowner to improve signage.
“The transport loop directly outside the station is reserved for buses, rail replacement services and taxis.
“Allowing general drop-off in this area could lead to congestion and impact bus movements, so there are currently no plans to change the existing arrangements.”
