London Assembly votes 17–3 to call for pause on new floating bus stops

The London Assembly has passed a motion calling for a pause on building new floating bus stops in London. The motion was carried by 17 votes to three on November 5. Proposed by Assembly Member Keith Prince, it calls on the Mayor to instruct Transport for London (TfL) to pause the installation of new floating bus stops of any design on the TfL road network, and to pause funding for new floating bus stops through borough programmes until a safe design has been established.

A cycle lane between the pavement and the stop

A floating bus stop is a design in which a cycle lane runs between the pavement and the bus stop, so passengers must cross the cycle lane to board or alight. The motion notes that such stops have spread across London in recent years, with multiple examples of real-world harm and near misses. In August 2025, a disabled man was knocked down by an e-bike rider at one of Camden's new floating bus stops as he got off the No 1 bus on Haverstock Hill. Prince said “the growing number of collisions and near misses cannot be ignored.”

TfL: one design already paused, work continues at three sites

Transport for London said it has paused bus stop designs that require passengers to step directly into a cycle lane. However, work is continuing on three floating bus stops where cyclists pass behind the bus stop. The motion asks the Mayor to instruct TfL to pause the installation of floating bus stops of any kind. The motion is not binding, and it is not yet known whether the Mayor or TfL will act on it; existing stops remain in use.

Background: central government already paused one design last year

The controversy over floating bus stops has run for years. In November last year, the Department for Transport paused one type of design, known as a Shared Use Bus Border (SUBB), in which the cycle lane runs across the front of the bus stop and passengers board or alight directly from or into a cycle track, and it is carrying out further research on design. London Assembly figures show there were 164 floating bus stops in the capital in 2024.