Edinburgh council brings in over £2 million from fines on motorists for driving in bus lanes

20 per cent increase in revenue from issuing penalty charge notices over bus lane infringements

Edinburgh city council raked in more than £2 million from bus lane fines in 2022/23 – a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.

More than 70,000 penalty charge notices were handed out to motorists for driving in bus lanes, a significant rise on the record 58,000 issued in 2021/22.

And Tory transport spokeswoman Marie-Clair Munro blamed the many changes in road layouts across the city and poor signage for the increase.

A car drives in a bus lane in London Road - the council brought in over £2 million in 2022/23 from fines on motorists who drove in bus lanes. Picture: Rob McDougall.

She said: "I think the high volume of notices is a clear indication that the signage in place is very confusing for drivers. Traffic signage should be clear, unambiguous and timely to allow drivers enough time to realise that they could potentially be going into a bus lane where they will get a fine.

"There have been so many changes to road layouts across Edinburgh, many city drivers are not familiar with the city centre layout any more. People have been working from home and are now starting to creep back into offices and finding Edinburgh is not laid out the way it used to be."

The total income from penalty charge notices issued to drivers for driving in bus lanes in Edinburgh in 2022/23 was £2,081,751.56. The camera which brought in the most money was at the West Approach Road, which netted £261,898, followed by Liberton Road, which brought in £154,938; Telford Road, £153,119; Little France Drive, £150,047; and Stenhouse Drive, £139,228.

Councillor Munro said on the West Approach Road, coming into the city centre, tailbacks and merging traffic meant it was easy to find yourself in a bus lane by mistake.

She said at Little France Drive, people would be heading to the Royal Infirmary. "You're just thinking 'I need to get there' and while they should be observing the bus lanes, they will have other things on their minds, it could be an emergency."

And she said other motorists would be coming into Edinburgh from elsewhere and being confused by road layouts. "There is so much infrastructure in place with the council's walking wheeling and cycling programme that people are driving and thinking 'Hold on, this has been resurfaced of redesigned for cyclists, where do I go?' They're getting confused and doubling back on themselves, they're becoming frustrated and ending up in areas they're maybe not familiar with and incurring fines.

"I don't think motorists are intentionally breaking the law and going into the bus lanes, because nobody wants to incur a fine. In a cost of living crisis, when every penny counts, drivers are being punished for driving in bus lanes by mistake and incurring a fine which could have a huge impact on their family's budget."

Transport convener Scott Arthur said: “Ideally we would hope the bus lane cameras would not raise any income because we want drivers to obey the law and help ensure public transport can stay on time. Every penny of the money raised by bus lane enforcement is reinvested back into Edinburgh’s transport system to make it better for everyone. If anyone has any examples of bus lane signage which isn’t clear I would be happy to discuss that with council officers.”

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