Comment & Analysis / Long read: Dramatic videos shared on social media show two-wheelers zooming by on cycle paths behind bus stops, but when I visit these bus stops, the reality can more often feel as edgy as watching paint dry. How can the contrast be so large?What Im talking about here is where the layout includes a footpath, a cycle path, a bus stop platform area, and then the carriageway. These are sometimes named bus stop bypasses or island bus stop, traffic engineering terms that make the designs sound like a big deal. Some older versions (see first image below) included a level surface with paint or markings, while newer versions generally include kerbs and the cycle path at a different level to the footpath or bus stop platform:IMAGE: An old cycle lane painted at footpath level with red surface treatment.IMAGE: A new cycle path with a raised crossing and zebra on it between the footpath and bus platform.As part of my job looking at cycling infrastructure and how it works, Ive stood around and watched how bus stops and cycle paths work together in Dublin, the Netherlands, and London. Recently, controversy has focused on cycle paths at bus stops in London, with social media posts and articles about them. So when I was travelling through the city in September, I took some time out to look at bus stops, as well as cycle routes more generally.One bus stop that featured heavily in highly edited videos posted mainly by a small UK-based vision impairment advocacy group that spends a lot of time advocating banning cycle paths at bus stops is Blackfriars. In this YouTube clip, I give an overview of whats happening at the location:From watching the videos posted on social media, I thought the bus passengers crossing the cycle path were, in fact, not bus passengers, and visiting the area quickly proved that.Before going on, a lot of the issues shown in the advocacy groups videos, and a very high percentage of the few issues I witnessed, were also not cyclists on bicycles but riders on illegal mopeds/motorcycles (aka bicycle-shaped objects). The point is that not everything is as simple as it seems in videos presented with limited context or understanding of whats going on. But what do I mean by saying the people crossing werent bus passengers? In the times I observed the bus stop platform, most people were crossing it and then crossing the road away from any road crossing. This is perfectly legal in the UK even near a crossing; thats not the issue here.To be clear: While some people were getting off buses and then crossing the road directly from the bus stop platform, most were not near a bus at all. IMAGE: A man crossing from the bus stop platform to the other side of the road.IMAGE: Four people crossing the cycle path away from the zebra crossing after having crossed the road.IMAGE: A person crossing from the bus platform to the pedestrian crossing island. IMAGE: Two men crossing from the bus platform to the pedestrian crossing island. IMAGE: A bus passenger with a walking cane stepping off the bus stop platform behind the bus and crossing the road.The above photos are just examples; I spotted many more.In the image below, the blue arrow superimposed on this image shows the formal crossing point but a good chunk of the people pictured here are crossing largely unaided by the street layout, but helped by the traffic lights (they are on a green man crossing sequence of the main road):People were crossing the road using the bus stop platform at different points along it, including at the northern end away from the crossing:Disabled bus passengers whose destination is across the road but who cannot cross away from the formal crossing currently have to cross the cycle path twice (light blue line). Following international best practice on bus stops and cycle paths by integrating the road crossing and platform, they would not have to cross the cycle path (following the green line in the image below) as the bus platform and traffic island crossing point are joined together or linked. Note: The signalised crossing of the side road (marked with a red traffic light in the image above) is signalised for people exiting into the main carriageway, but there are no traffic lights for visually impaired pedestrians to let them know, for example, a truck is exiting:Pedestrians can also be seen following an unplanned desire line on sections of the Clontarf to City Centre route. The photo below of Amiens Street at the Five Lamps shows bus passengers walking down the cycle path and parking buffer rather than crossing the cycle path twice. Theres a hype focus on bus stops when wider design choices force the most vulnerable road users onto longer routes with more potential conflict points. Meanwhile, back at Blackfriars, theres quite a lot going on for people cycling too south of the bus stop zebra crossing (marked in the below image with a red circle with a pedestrian in it) is quickly followed by three signlised crossings, with the first stop line 20 metres from the zebra.If this layout were for motorists, there would be shouts of blue murder. Of course, the designers were trying to fit everything into an imperfect world with a lot of competing interests, but a zebra crossing this close to traffic lights seems problematic to me. Im not the only one whos been looking at bus stops in the City of London recently. Mark Philpotts, a sustainable mobility design specialist, has a LinkedIn post about cycle paths and bus stops titled Its more complicated than that its worth reading that in full over on LinkedIn.He makes a number of points in the video, including that in the UK pedestrians are expected to put a foot out onto a cycle path or carriageway before getting priority at a zebra (after a law change in recent years, thats not the case in Ireland, where waiting at a zebra gives you priority). Taking this alone into account casts the dramatic videos in a new light.Philpotts also points out that there are layers of social and political issues at play, including:Despite floating bus stops actually being present in the UK for decades, the newer slew of cycling infrastructure projects that started to be delivered over a decade ago (many in London) brought them closer to peoples attention and I would say in part, that was driven by some of the media and certainly some politicians railing against the shift in street space towards what was often seen as an out-group The Cyclists and its an easy bandwagon to joinThe above is the same in Ireland, where not only were main cycle paths built in some areas to go around the back of bus stops, often cycle routes went through bus stops in what effectively were shared areas (see example below), but there was very little about cycle paths and bus stops mentioned in Ireland until it became a cultural issue in the UK and was imported here (although at a lower level). IMAGES: Examples of older Dublin designs where the cycle route went through the bus stop via a shared area or just painted cycle tracks at footpath level.Philpotts also questions the use and placement of zebra crossings at bus stops: The zebra crossing regulates the interactions between the users as I explain above, but the position in the photo and in currently guidance is that the crossing is aligned where the loading doors of the bus will be (rear doors in London) so wheelchair users and others can use the ramp deployed from the bus, rather than any objective thought about the best place (although at some stops there is more than one crossing point identified).Elsewhere online last week, Edward Tissiman, an active travel campaigner, posted a photo of a bus stop in Edinburgh, a design I wouldnt be comfortable advocating. But in a Bluesky post he said:Between 2021 and 2025, around 2 million cyclists passed the floating bus stops on Leith Street, Edinburgh, and around 5 million bus passengers boarded or alighted here. No injuries have been recorded. Over the same period, drivers injured around 600 Edinburgh pedestrians, killing 16.An understandable response might be that some people are not getting injured here as they are avoiding the bus stop because of its cycle path or design.But while I think the issue of avoidance should be looked at, I also have to ask: is it possible that active travel infrastructure has the opposite effect that more vulnerable users start to get around by foot/bike/wheeling/bus rather than driving or being driven?Do active travel projects help enable the most vulnerable road users to move around more safely? A large number of pedestrian crossings have been added where ones were desperately needed because of active travel projects or crossing funding from the active travel budget. Tissiman also pointed to another Bluesky thread he posted earlier this year. He admitted, Too many cyclists show discourtesy to pedestrians at Leith Walk bus stops, but added, Lets not pretend they pose an extraordinary danger drivers injured 240 Edinburgh pedestrians and cyclists in 2024 alone. He said: There is a lot of chat about the danger posed by the introduction of cycle lanes and floating bus stops on Leith Walk from 2021 onward and posted this list of pedestrian casualties on Leith Walk, by year:2015: 152016: 132017: 92018: 102019: 12 (including two fatalities)2020: 32021: 02022: 22023: 02024: 2Since 2015, Ive visited the Netherlands for study tours at least twice a year (more some year and 2020 skipped due to Covid).One of the most surprising things I keep observing (and its not just me) is that there are more white cane users in the Netherlands walking around independently. I mean, Id see 3-4+ in a day in Utrecht, while I might at most only see one in Dublin in the same time. Now, that might be an error in observation, or a case of needing white canes more, or that its just more culturally ingrained to use them; for example, its in traffic law that white canes with red strips are effectively stop signs for all other road users regardless of who normally has priority.And thats one of the weird aspects of the complaints about the combination of cycle paths and bus stops most of the complaints seem to be from people who are non-locals or not regular users of the bus stops. I believe in the right of advocacy groups to fight for their members, but Id just expect more complaints at this point from people who are users of these bus stops.On the other hand, if you Google the name of the guy who posted the Bluesky message, youll find where he was run over while walking to work at a spot where motorists kept making an illegal left turn after the turn was banned. So, hes not coming at this with data just from an abstract position.There are issues with looking at the data he provided or anecdotes like mine or his in isolation, but probably just as bad or worse are highly edited videos from a group that has a weird focus on bus stops and cycle paths.I also think a core issue even if we say, yes, there are both user and design issues is that we need to be careful about looking at some of the busiest locations for cycling in London and then saying we will have the same problems in Dublin or even in suburban Limerick or Castlebar or wherever.But to try to appease some disability advocacy group, the design approach being taken at a national level in Ireland seem to be to treat all contexts the same, to overcomplicate the design and to include elements of pedestrian-hostile infrastructure to try to break pedestrian desire lines.Theres some welcome change in therecently updated Cycle Design Manual, including the guidance on tactile strips from the boundary line to the crossing and from the crossing to the boarding point. But overall the approach seems like it will be counterproductive. As mentioned many times on this website, the narrowing (which is, according to UK experts, associated with more conflicts) and exaggerated bends approaching and following the bus stops will likely create more problems than they solve, especially for the most vulnerable users of cycle paths. The lads speeding along on fat bikes wont mind.The example designs of which there are a few (see the manual) do not show common layouts including bus stop platforms in line with parking and loading.There seem to be all sorts of weird consequences to trying to suit just some disabilities with little or no concern for cycle path users, who can include disabled cyclists, disabled users of cycle paths on a range of mobility devices, elderly cyclists, children on their own or being carried by their parents, etc.Some of the examples of weird designs include road designers trying to fit bends where they dont make any sense (see photo below) Sadly, disabled cycle path users likely need to get together and have their say about designs that will likely end up hurting cycle path users with little or no gain for bus users. They are not currently having their voice heard