Stay out of bus gate or face a fine, says council

13 October 2025

Holly PhillipsEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

News image — The bus gate is in place from Guildhall Road to Dock Street in Hull

BBC A burgundy, yellow, gold and red painted bus travelling in a bus lane. There is a post on the path with a blue circular sign with a motorcycle, cycle and bus image on. It also reads: "taxi", in white. Below it is another sign, which is white and has black writing on reading: "and authorised vehicles". There is a fountain in the background. The sky is overcast. — The bus gate is in place from Guildhall Road to Dock Street in Hull

Motorists will be fined if they are caught in a new temporary bus gate, a council has said.

Hull City Council said the area, from Guildhall Road to Dock Street, near Queens Gardens, is designed to keep services running smoothly while Drypool Bridge remains closed.

Drivers will be issued with a warning notice the first time they are caught in the area. If caught again, a £35 fine will be issued. It will increase to £75 if it is not paid within two weeks.

Drypool Bridge was closed to all vehicles and pedestrians for repairs on 15 September and is expected to reopen in late November.

An automatic number plate recognition fixed camera is monitoring the bus gate, which will be operating at all times until Drypool Bridge reopens.

Drivers have been advised to divert around the area via Wilberforce Drive and George Street and vice versa.

Only buses, cycles, motorcycles, taxis and emergency vehicles are permitted to use the lane.

Hull City Council A map of the city centre showing the bus gate in red. — Only eastbound traffic is affected, Hull City Council said

The council is asking people to use the temporary Holderness Road Park and Ride and the Priory Park and Ride during the bridge's closure.

In March last year, the authority also introduced AI technology to improve traffic management throughout the city.

Kerry Ryan, head of transport and traffic management, said: "All these mitigations are in place to make sure that we are supporting the buses to get in and out of the city centre with as little impact as possible to the increased congestion on the roads."

Ms Ryan said she hoped the changes would encourage people to "shift out of their cars, onto the bus, which then overall reduces the level of congestion on the roads".

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