A controversial car-share lane on a key Bradford road has been ditched after failing to deliver cuts in congestion.

The two-plus lane along the southbound A650 was installed with the hope it would speed up rush-hour bus journeys and prompt people to share their cars.

Costing £300,000 it opened in March 2011 and was aimed at easing the infamous Tong Street bottleneck.

Council transport officers claimed it could slash travel times by up to 12 minutes for vehicles using the car-share lane, and eight minutes for those not using the lane.

But a report to a joint meeting of the Bradford South and East Area Committees showed that average times for all vehicles are actually one minute 13 seconds longer than before.

It also revealed the number of people sharing cars has stayed the same and 30 per cent of vehicles using the high-occupancy lane are doing so illegally.

Transport development manager Richard Gelder said illegal use had been a problem as the Council could not install cameras and the police did not have the resources to enforce the two-plus rule.

The committee was asked to decide on whether to continue with the scheme or remove it.

Committee chairman, Councillor Michael Johnson, said the true traffic issue was further out of town.

He said: “The real problem is Tong Street and widening is the only real solution. We know it, the people of Bradford know it, and the impact of any other schemes like this will only be marginal.”

Coun Imran Kahn (Lab, Bowling and Barkerend) said the scheme had caused further problems with side-roads being used as rat-runs by commuters trying to dodge the new snarl-up .

“It’s a non-starter – it doesn’t work,” he said.

The committee voted to scrap the scheme – but not to spend an extra £40,000 on removing all the signage and road-markings.

Instead it was agreed to use the existing traffic lights as a means of managing traffic until Tong Street is widened and the roads and signage could be altered to direct lanes of traffic towards upcoming junctions.

It was agreed the experimental scheme would lapse on its scheduled end date of September 12, or as soon as possible following legal advice.

After the meeting, Coun Johnson said: “It was worth trying – however the officers did a presentation which showed improved traffic flow estimates greater than the reality. You learn from experience.”