Bus lane

Bus Only Road Sign in Taiwan (This sign was also for bus lanes, now with a separate sign)

Bus Lane Sign in Taiwan

A bus (only) lane is a lane on a road restricted to buses, and possibly high occupancy vehicles, bicycles, emergency vehicles or taxicabs.

The aim of a bus only lane is to give priority to buses and save journey time in places where roads are congested with other traffic. A bus lane is not necessarily very long, as it may only be used to 'detour' a single congestion point. However, some cities have built large stretches of bus lanes which in some places, e.g. Almere or Barcelona, amount to a separate local road system.

Due to the fact that a bus lane needs the same (or greater) width as a regular lane, it is only useful when the road in question is both likely to be congested as well as heavily traveled by bus. It has to be constructed to the same or even higher standards as usual lanes, as the traffic weight loads tend to be high. Sometimes, bus lanes receive different set of traffic signals as well.