Key:busway

busway
Description
Describes the characteristics of a busway.
Group: highways
Used on these elements
Documented values: 3
Requires
highway=*
Implies
bus=designated psv=designated
See also
highway=busway footway=* cycleway=*
Status: deprecated
busway=* More details at taginfo
Tools for this tag
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busway was a tag to denote the existence of bus lanes. It has been deprecated in favour of lanes:bus=* and bus:lanes=* which are more flexible in use. However, the key itself hasn't been deprecated because it still can be used to specify the type of highway=busway akin to how footway=* is used to specify the type of highway=footway and cycleway=* for the type of highway=cycleway respectively.

Deprecated usage for bus lanes

This feature has been labeled as deprecated. The recommended replacement is: lanes:bus=* or bus:lanes=*.
The reason is documented in Deprecated features. You are still free to continue to use or interpret this tag as you see fit since OpenStreetMap does not have “banned features”.
Under no circumstances should you (semi-)automatically change “deprecated” tags to something else in the database on a large scale without conforming to the automated edits code of conduct. Any such change will be reverted.

busway=lane was a tag which denotes the existence of bus lanes on a road. Adding the suffix :left or :right makes it more clear where the bus lane is located on the road while adding a :both denotes an unambiguous existence of bus lanes on both sides of the road similar to how cycleway=lane is tagged. The current standard is to use lanes:bus=* (or lanes:psv=* depending on the local laws) or bus:lanes=* in combination with access:lanes=*.

busway=opposite was a rarely tag which too denotes exceptions to one-way traffic for buses when no contraflow bus lane exists. It's been already unofficially replaced by oneway:bus=no long ago. See Proposal:Deprecate cycleway=opposite family for more information.

busway=opposite_lane is a combination of the two above tags in that a contraflow bus lane exists. The alternative is similarly a combination of these tags i.e. oneway:bus=no and either lanes:bus:backward=* or bus:lanes:backward=* (access already implied by oneway=yes).

See also

• Buses
• Bus lanes - tagging for bus lanes in general
  • lanes:psv=* and lanes:bus=* - counts the total amount of lanes dedicated to buses, alternative to busway=lane
  • psv:lanes=* and bus:lanes=* - specifies bus access on a per-lane basis, alternative to busway=lane
• Proposal:Deprecate busway=* for bus lanes