The implementation of bus lanes will act to change the demand conditions for road use through regulation and legislation.

The use of bus lanes will restrict car access through giving priority to buses, so making using public transport a more attractive alternative to the car. The time saved by using buses will encourage individuals to shift from private to public transport. This will reduce the number of vehicles on the road and the level of congestion.

(Disclaimer Statement: Note the following is a very broad statement that has been used for educational purposes to illustrate theory. The actual relationship may not always hold due to the complexities of the issues. Therefore, it may not always be taken literally in practice.)

The policy may not be a great success because:

• The bus service (quantity and quality) must offer a good alternative to the car. If this does not exist then individuals will not change their demand patterns.
• The policy is not a short term solution. It may take a considerable amount of time for individuals to decide to switch demand patterns.
• The policy of bus lanes needs to be enforced through policing and fines. A successful policy will require scarce resources to be dedicated towards this aim. These resources will need financing through either higher taxes or switching money from other expenditure areas, such as schools.

The default level of bus moving time disadvantage is set at no change in the model. However, it can range between cut by 50% to increase by 50%.

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