Shared use bus boarders

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter April 2026

By Vincent Stops

FTL Newsletter no. 51 (May 24) led on the controversy around SUBBs – Shared User Bus Boarders, the type of floating bus stops where passengers must cross a cycle lane to get between a bus stop and a bus.  In November 2025 a pause in the installation of SUBBs was announced by the DfT. Now SUBBs have come under further criticism, following the publication of updated DfT guidance on the installation of floating bus stops which advises that a bus boarding island would work at some SUBB sites.  The DfT would make funding available for local authorities to make such changes. Vincent Stop adds further thoughts on this subject.

There are broadly two designs of bus stops that now have cycle lanes routed through them. The first, and most popular with cycling advocates, is the ‘floating bus stop’. Here, cycles are routed onto the pavement and around the back of a typical shelter. To board and alight from the bus, passengers must cross a live cycle track onto an island.

The second, and the subject of this note, is the ‘shared use bus boarder’. With this design, cycles utilise the area where passengers would ordinarily board and alight from the bus. Below is an example used by the Department for Transport to describe the stop design: the Musical Museum stop U in Brent. In this photo, one can see the bus stop flag set back from the kerb, which is itself the first problem for users who wish to seek assistance from the driver.

To describe this as an effective or popular design would be too generous. It has not been popular with cycling advocates and has also been disliked by TfL designers. Whilst TfL has funded these stops, there are none on their network. The review TfL conducted into floating bus stops (now withdrawn) did not consider these stops, nor are they included in TfL’s guidance. The perceived benefit for designers is simplicity and cost: they can simply build on the pavement or adjacent to it, add a warning announcement on the bus, and consider the job done.

Many cyclists dislike the design because they must either stop and wait when the bus pulls in or navigate through passengers or swerve around them to maintain momentum. We see a mixture of behaviours from cyclists, much of which would breach the Highway Code at best, and amount to dangerous behaviour at worst, with some treating passengers like slalom poles.

Passengers also dislike these stops and report that they feel dangerous, as they must step directly into a live cycle lane. Blind people, those with cognitive impairments, and those with dementia-related conditions will be unable to use them unaccompanied. Those with mobility impairments may find them particularly difficult. Boarding and alighting with a wheelchair or buggy into a live cycle lane is especially challenging and may feel unsafe for many users.

There is sometimes a misconception that guide dogs will manage these risks on behalf of their handler. However, this is not how guide dogs operate in such environments. If a dog were to be struck while leading a person off a bus, it could be unable to work again.

The National Federation of the Blind UK has highlighted these issues, and the government has acknowledged the concerns by pausing the implementation of new shared use bus boarders. Some may argue that this also reflects wider concerns about similar designs, including floating bus stops, which present different but related challenges for bus passengers. I would add, cynically, that government used this pause as cover for continuing with floating bus stops that are equally inaccessible to groups of users, particularly blind passengers.