A typical bus lane is indicated by signs and markings. It is operated for the period as shown and can be used exclusively for all buses, including franchised and non-franchised.

Minimumroad widthfor 2 way trafficAustralia

The Austroads Guide to Road Design is intended to provide designers with a framework that promotes efficiency in design and construction, economy, and both consistency and safety for road users.

Standardroad widthin meters

The guide moves away from rigid design limits as the basis for achieving these goals, and promotes the concept of ‘context-sensitive design’.

There are two types of bus lanes. For bus lanes that are exclusively used by franchised buses, the signs are marked with a bus symbol. For bus lanes that are open to all buses, including non-franchised buses, the signs are marked with the word ʻBusʼ.

The content of Part 2: Design Considerations and Part 8: Process and Documentation were incorporated into Part 1: Objectives of Road Design in March 2021.

The intention is to allow designers the flexibility to exercise their critical, engineering judgement, for example, by choosing design values outside of normally accepted limits when prevailing constraints require, provided that they recognise their responsibility to be able to produce strong, defensible evidence in support of that judgement.