The Conservative candidate for London Mayor, Zac Goldsmith, has been lambasted for saying there will soon be "no point in having bus lanes".
Goldsmith told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the rise of electric cars means that bus lanes will eventually become an unnecessary part of London's transport system.
Currently only buses, cyclists and black cabs are allowed to use the lanes.
The announcement prompted strong reactions on Twitter, with some users calling the Tory millionaire "out of touch" whilst others questioned how many times he has actually taken the bus:
Goldsmith spoke out about the plans during the debate, which was focused around the rise of electric cars. He said: “I think that if I’m right, and I am absolutely convinced I am, that we are going to see a massive shift in the type of cars that people own, then in two or three years there will be no point having bus lanes because everyone will be driving these things around.”
Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Kahn - whose father is a bus driver - hit back at Goldsmith's plans.
He told Politics.co.uk: “I want to see more people switching to electric cars and I’ll expand London’s network of charging points. But the idea that we'll be able to scrap bus lanes in the near future isn’t grounded in reality."
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Goldsmith also used his interview with LBC to attack London's cycle campaign groups: "[The cycle] campaign groups are quite hard to deal with.
"Boris is the most cycle friendly politician Britain has even known and he is still savaged every day by the cycling lobby. He is called a murderer and told he has blood on his hands… There is an unreasonableness," he said.