Why London's new bus lanes are red all over

If London drivers see red as they roll through downtown this weekend, it may no longer be just because of the construction delays. 

As the East London Link section of the bus rapid transit system (BRT) begins to take shape, drivers will notice some of the newly installed bus-only curb lanes on King Street between Wellington and Lyle Streets. The new lanes are hard to miss because they're an eye-catching shade of bright red.

Jennie Dann, the city's director of construction and infrastructure services, said the red pavement marking will serve as a "keep out" sign for drivers.

"It's a visual indication to drivers about where they can, and where they can't enter those dedicated bus lanes," she said.

Red means cars stay out

The solid red indicates a no-go area for drivers while the hashed red lanes are places where drivers can cross the bus lane to get to a driveway or make a right turn. The city is planning a more extensive education campaign for drivers in the weeks to come to walk them through how traffic is supposed to flow on the newly configured road. 

Dann said among traffic planning types, red is the conventional colour used to indicate lanes that are dedicated for transit vehicles, in the same way, that green paint is used to mark bike lanes.  

Dann said city staff are happy to see the red lanes, which up to now have only appeared in graphic renderings as the much-debated BRT plan worked its way through the arduous approval process at city hall.

"It's a really big moment for our team," she said. "It's a really big day for us we were all popping down and taking selfies in front of it."  

As it turned out, the previous city council only approved two of the four legs of the system that called for bus-only lanes extending out from downtown in four directions.

The Wellington Gateway south route and the East Link route along King and Dundas out to Fanshawe College were approved while lines running north up Richmond and west along Oxford Street were voted down. For now, buses are only using the dedicated lanes between Ridout and Waterloo Streets along King but later in the fall, they will move to using all the dedicated lanes between Wellington and Lyle Streets.

It's also worth noting that while King Street remains eastbound-only for vehicles, there will be a counterflow lane on the north side of King Street for buses only travelling westbound. 

And more red road covering (it isn't technically paint) is coming to the downtown core. The Downtown Loop portion of BRT — which runs along Wellington, Queens, Ridout and King — will also have red lanes to indicate buses only. 

The city has posted descriptions here about how the bus lanes will work, including a guide on the different road markings.