Proposals to change the use of a bus lane on the main route east out of Reading are now out for consultation.

Reading Borough Council is asking for views on a potential change to the vehicles permitted to use the eastbound bus lane out of Reading on Kings Road towards Cemetery Junction.

The potential change would see bus, motorcycle and bicycle use remain unaffected, but would allow for only Reading Borough Council licenced hackney carriage and private hire vehicles to use it. Currently, all licenced hackney carriage vehicles and no private hire vehicles are allowed to use the lane.

The informal consultation, which is open until Thursday 30 November, was given the green light at September’s Council Traffic Management Sub-Committee following a petition from the Reading Private Hire Association last year.

John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Transport, said: “Kings Road is one of our busiest vehicle routes in and out of Reading, so we want as many people as possible to give their views on this to help us establish the appetite for this change.

The restriction has been in place to ensure optimum reliability of the buses using that route by restricting the number of vehicles also using the bus lane. The change would bring usage restrictions in line with the Kings Road inbound (westbound) bus lane, but it would also increase the volume of traffic in the bus lanes travelling at higher speeds than those in the general traffic lanes”.

This is an informal consultation, so no permanent alteration to the restrictions can be made as a result of the feedback received, as this would require statutory consultation of the proposed new Traffic Regulation Order.