Examination of the bus lane enforcement system in Thessaloniki

Abstract

One way to deal with the traffic and associated environmental problems in urban areas is the promotion of Public Transport. This can be achieved, among other things, through the implementation of bus priority measures. Bus lanes comprise the most widespread measure worldwide and their success mainly depends on the efficiency of the enforcement. The international experience shows that enforcement is mainly based nowadays on stationary and bus mounted cameras. Within the framework of this paper the existing situation, as far as the bus lanes violators in the city of Thessaloniki are concerned, is presented. Results are based on a survey that was carried out in December 2005 and these results were compared to the ones obtained from previous surveys in the same area. The vast majority of violators concern the drivers of two-wheel cycles followed by taxi drivers. In some cases drivers of the two-wheel cycles can legally enter the bus lanes (something which is foreseen in the Greek Highway Code under certain circumstances), then taxi drivers consist of more than half of the violators of the bus lane network.