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in principle it's a good thing to reduce approach lanes for motor traffic, as it reduces a junction's motor traffic capacity (and motor traffic volumes will adapt over time
I understand what you are saying here but does this principle still apply in Central London? The reason I ask is that it seems to me from personal observation that most of the ‘discretionary’ rush hour traffic (ie private cars) has long since shifted to tube, bus, bike etc, so the people who are still driving in must need their car or van for some reason (disability, carrying tools and equipment, estate agents that drive clients to viewing etc).
NickCJ-
At my firm only the bosses get car parking spaces (30 or so of them). They don't need to drive any more than the other employees but the majority of them do because they always have and they don't really get public transport. There are still plenty of people out there who drive for no reason other than they can.
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Yes, what aggi said and also, the main thing motor traffic causes, quite generally and wherever you go, is unnecessary travel. This even applies to tradesmen. The old formula, which applied for decades, was that the transport cost of having premises on the outskirts was cheaper than the extra rent they'd have to pay in Central London--also, because prices they could charge were obviously depressed for the same reason. I have no doubt that this will change. People aren't stupid, and if something they have been doing no longer works, they'll change it, e.g. I'm sure we would see firms servicing buildings locating their bases closer to, or in Central London given the current building boom (which has been seeing more and more trade vehicles being driven into Central London for years, but there will come a point where firms will aim to benefit more directly from the volume of work available in Central London). With less motor traffic capacity, they'd also be able to charge more.
All those extra motorised miles mean that businesses become less local to where people live, but it is a desirable aim to get them to locate closer to the customer again. I'm obviously aware of the competition from the Internet, and I very much hope this can be defeated, especially from companies like Amazon. One way of doing that is simply by causing transport costs to be increased so people have to handle these things with actual efficiency.
aggi
Oliver Schick
I'd guess (not knowing that spot very well) that your answer may be implicit in this--the bus queues on the approach to the next junction probably get too long (quite a few bus routes use that stretch), quite possibly because they only get a green phase every two phases compared to the York Road/Lambeth Palace Road alignment (if that's the case).
You could certainly try to push this with TfL via the bus driver route, but in my experience that only works for a short while before it gets forgotten again.
The problem for bus drivers is that the bus lane ends close to the junction because there are only two approach lanes left (down from three), seemingly following recent footway widening works to accommodate a stretch of segregated cycle track on the footway. The three approach lanes were rather crammed in before (the nearside lane was most definitely sub-standard in width) and in principle it's a good thing to reduce approach lanes for motor traffic, as it reduces a junction's motor traffic capacity (and motor traffic volumes will adapt over time, which probably hasn't happened here yet), but typically such schemes have knock-on effects further down the line, which may be the case here. It's entirely possible that another scheme is in the works at that pedestrian crossing but just hasn't gone on-site yet, but it also happens that such effects are not predicted (although that would surprise me). Since the bus lane doesn't continue all the way to the next junction, a bus pre-signal scheme might work (although the space may be a little too tight to permit it).
In any case, I'm sure a note to TfL can only help in putting it on the radar, especially if other people have noticed. I wouldn't use the first page skidlidsid linked to, but the second one, or you could use this:
https://tfl.gov.uk/help-and-contact/contact-us-about-buses
There are also groups like Lambeth LCC or Living Streets that may be able to take it forward. I expect Lambeth LCC would know what's going on in that particular stretch.