Corporation Street bus gate is now literally a gate

The barrier which is enforcing the Corporation Street bus gate Pic: Blog Preston

The new Corporation Street bus gate is being manually enforced by Lancashire County Council during Friday afternoon.

Blog Preston has visited the stretch of road between Heatley Street and Marsh Lane.

Plastic barriers, patrolled by council traffic marshals, along with ‘no through route’ signs are in place at each end of the bus gate.

The ‘no through route’ signs in the bus gate Pic: Blog Preston

The barriers are being moved when buses and Hackney carriage taxis approach who are allowed to use the bus gate – with other motorists spoken to by council staff if they try to turn into the stretch of Corporation Street covered by the restrictions.

A number of electronic signs went up this week warning motorists on Ring Way and other city routes about the new bus gate – although these now appear to be malfunctioning and only showing single words at a time such as ‘street’.

One of the electronic signs in Ring Way which went up this week and has started to malfunction Pic: Blog Preston

The bus gate – which was introduced on Tuesday 21 May – has cameras in place but at the moment there is a grace period in place with warning letters issued.

Motorists have been ignoring the new restriction with congestion during Thursday (30 May) afternoon so bad that Preston Bus said it was forced to divert all its services via Walker Street and North Road away from the new bus gate. The bus gate had been introduced to ‘improve bus service reliability’.

Director of highways and transport Phil Durnell said: “We are taking a number of measures to ensure drivers are aware and adhere to the new bus gate in Corporation Street.

“Enforcement has started and fines will be coming soon to deter drivers from using this section when they shouldn’t.

“A bedding in period is normal for this type of scheme and we expect things to settle down as people get used the changes.

“We are listening to feedback from the public and we will continue to monitor the situation.

“It’s really important that people take note of the new signs and familiarise themselves with the changes to avoid being fined in future.”

The Marsh Lane end of the new bus gate in Corporation Street Pic: Blog Preston

No date has been given for when the penalty charge notices will be enforced for the Corporation Street bus gate.

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