Queue Jump - Design Considerations

Design Considerations

Queue jumps are only effective in certain situations. First, there has to be an existing source of delay or roadway congestion; if there is no congestion and the normal traffic signal is usually green, then the bus driver has no reason to move into the queue jump. The length of the queue jump lane needs to be long enough to provide a meaningful time savings. Queue jumps can also be used in situations such as bus stop pullouts or at the end of a bus-only lane, in order to help expedite the bus merge into traffic. Queue jumps may not work well where there are high volumes of right turning vehicles (left turning in UK) that might get in the way of the bus through movement, although in some cases these turning vehicles can be provided a separate lane and/or a protected signal phase at the same time as the advanced transit phase. Available right-of-way is needed to provide the bypass lane.

Bus stop location is another important consideration. Where there are far-side bus stops, an advance signal does not provide any benefit to the bus because it will not be able to merge into traffic during the advance signal phase. Where near-side stops are present, an advance signal can be highly effective in giving the bus a head start, however the bus stop location needs to consider the detection strategy used for the advance signal phase so that the bus is detected only after it is done serving the bus stop. It is preferable to provide a receiving lane on the far side of the intersection to provide an acceleration/merging area, however this is not always a requirement when an advance signal is used.