Tallinn lets cyclists ride bus lanes

Photo: Jaanus Lensment

At places, Tallinn Transport Department plans to widen bus lanes and allow use thereof by bicyclists.

Letting cyclists use bus lanes will by no means limit the space used by other motor vehicles; to broaden BUS paths, spaces such as safety lanes are intended to be used – the ones rendered useless over time.

«Initially, we plan to make Endla St bus line towards city centre so much wider as to allow a bus and a bicycle to go side by side. For bicyclists, the right to use bus lines will be granted by corresponding traffic signs and road marking. The buses will maintain the standard 2.55 metres of lane width, cyclists will have almost a metre,» said Transport Department traffic management head Talvo Rüütelmaa.

According to him, bus lanes will never be widened on account of private vehicles. «On the Endla St section from Koidu to Tõnismäe, for instance, a traffic island has been painted between the two directions. By using that, we’ll get extra space, the more so that the traffic lanes there are relatively wide. In front of the former Tax and Customs Board building, there are also two physical traffic islands, one of which we will remove. There, traffic lights exist for pedestrians anyway, so the traffic island has lost its actual purpose. And so we’ll be able to widen the lane full length,» said Mr Rüütelmaa.

So, the initial public transport and bicycle lane will come to Endla Street. The same is intended for Paldiski Highway, from the viaduct to Toompuiestee Alley; and on Ahtri St towards the harbour.

«On Pärnu Highway, there are some unclear spots where bicycle lane crosses with [motor vehicle] lanes. There, we will just simplify the situation,» promised the traffic manager. One such spot, according to him, is on the Pärnu Highway direction towards the city, at Kalevi bus stop; there, bicyclists currently are caught between a bus and cars. The other spot to be altered is Pärnu Highway out-of-town direction before the turn to Tammsaare Road.

If in these spots bicyclists and bus drivers prove to get along, other such bus lanes may be added. «If people will embrace it and all goes well, then we’ll look and see if there are other places where this could be repeated,» promised Mr Rüütelmaa.

According to Mr Rüütelmaa, the plan has no legal obstacles – all it takes is to equip the lanes with signs.

«Otherwise, if we lay the bicycle line to the sidewalk side, draw a line and then comes the bus lane – the separating line will be 10 centimetres wide and we’ll lose the 10 cm of overall width. As now planned, we will not draw the line; rather, we will let bicycles and buses ride side by side,» said Mr Rüütelmaa.

He added that this will require considering one another – but this should be a given everyday thing in traffic. Enno Tamm, CEO of Tallinna Linnatranspordi AS which is the largest public transport company in town, is cautious about the plan.

«With such choices, one needs to be very careful, for the question arises where to draw the line. If we now let bicycles onto the bus lanes, soon the 50 cm³ mopeds will be asking for it, and so on,» thinks Mr Tamm.