What are the 2+ lanes? 

A '2+' lane is a lane reserved for vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, buses/coaches and motorcycles. They are also known as 'High Occupancy Vehicle' (HOV) lanes and 'car share' lanes.

In South Gloucestershire

To encourage more sustainable forms of transport, South Gloucestershire Council introduced a 2+ lane on part of the A4174 Avon Ring Road. The 2+ lane runs from the Wick Wick roundabout to the Hambrook lights on the westbound carriageway. Part of Bromley Heath Road and Coldharbour Lane has a 2+ lane on their northbound carriageways as both roads feed in to the ring road. The 2+ lane operates during the morning peak, between 0700 and 0930 hours, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), with the exception of Coldharbour Lane which operates during the morning peak, between 0700 and 1000 hours and also operates in the evening peak, between 1500 and 1900 hours.

The council has been closely monitoring traffic conditions since well before the 2+ lane was first introduced. The effects of the 2+ lane are monitored by recording the number of vehicles and people using the road during the peak period and also by the time taken to travel along that stretch of road.

Since the introduction of the 2+ lane:

• Journey times for all vehicles have decreased a good deal (i.e. for car sharers and solo drivers)
• The proportion of driver only vehicles has decreased
• There is some evidence to show that car sharing has increased on this section of ring road

In North Somerset

A 2 km HOV lane was introduced on the eastbound carriageway (towards Bristol) of the A370 Long Ashton Bypass in March 2005, and operates during the morning peak, between 0700 and 0930 hours, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). The primary aim of the lane is to encourage more environmentally sustainable ways to travel along the A370 in preference to single occupant vehicles. Permitted users of the HOV lane are all vehicles with more than 1 occupant, buses/coaches and motorcycles.

Journey times for HOV lane users have been significantly improved, whilst the impact on single occupants has been largely neutral. The HOV lane and the bus priority measures introduced on the A370 have improved the punctuality and reliability of bus services on the X1 route - timetabled journey times have been reduced as a result.

Introduction of the HOV lane has not had an adverse effect on the vehicular capacity on the Long Ashton Bypass, whilst the number people carried shows its highest recorded value in April 2006, more than a year after the introduction of the HOV lane.