Birmingham's largest bus operator has slammed the council after it decided to keep a bus lane on a key route into the city open to cars for the next six months.
Numbers of passengers using the No.67 Showcase route along the A38 Tyburn Road in Erdington have plunged and delays have lengthened since it was first opened up to cars a year ago.
Now Birmingham City Council's transport department has taken the decision - without informing bus operators or anyone else - to extend the scheme for another six months.
Phil Bateman, of Travel West Midlands, said: "We are deeply disappointed that we have not been able to persuade the city council about the benefits of bus passenger priorities in Tyburn Road.
"We continue to argue that the advent of bus passenger priorities helps the overall reliability and punctuality of the local bus service ? something that politicians of all political persuasions want, as well as local electors."
Phil Tonks, of Bus Users UK Birmingham, said: "A petition signed by 2,000 bus users on the route, calling for the bus lanes to be reinstated, was handed into the council.
"Passengers are being caught in the normal traffic like everyone else, and are delayed.
"Birmingham City Council is effectively giving people a reason for getting off public transport and back into their cars. We want our bus lanes back"
A spokesman for Centro, public transport promoter in the West Midlands, said: "There is a need for more bus priority measures across the region to make public transport more attractive.
"If it is going to be cancelled as a bus lane, we can't move forward on a Bus Quality Partnership agreement with Travel West Midlands."
Bus Quality Partnerships allow extra money to be spent on new buses, shelters, real time information and bring in strict standards for cleanliness and punctuality.
The bus lanes were reopened to all traffic last summer during massive roadworks on the M6 and A38 Aston Expressway, and the city council initially decided to extend the scheme for six months.
A spokesman for the city council said: "The experimental order carries on until early next year, but the cabinet member is still constantly reviewing the options."
