ANNOUNCEMENT Glasgow City Council have now placed GoBike on the Stage One List of Statutory Consultees. This means that we are provided with details of proposals that the City Council is considering for a future Traffic Regulation Order, but, if the reaction at this first stage is not supportive the Council might not proceed with it. This is very good news for GoBike but if does mean that we have to review our ways of working. We are not allowed to publicise the proposals until they proceed to the formal TRO stage and we are now working on a process for effective Stage One review.
So that is the good news from Glasgow City Council and the bad news is contained within Item 3.1, a Parking and One-Way Street issue, but do read on for our list of contents and the wide range of issues that we bring to you in this issue:
Permission has been granted to a film company for the closure of South Portland Street Suspension Bridge, on the morning of Tuesday 12th November, between 9am and 12 noon.
The original request was for the closure to begin at 8am, however the council required this to be moved to 9am, with the intention of minimising inconvenience to commuter cyclists.
Please plan an alternative route, Such as Glasgow Bridge or Victoria Bridge, if you were intending to be crossing the Clyde over the Suspension Bridge after 9am.
On a separate note, we in GoBike Towers believe that this is the longest bridge name in Glasgow. If however you can think of another, please send in your answers on the back of a postcard.
Our 2019 Public Meeting and AGM is only 1 week away, next Saturday, 16th November. This year we are extremely pleased that Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Convener Edinburgh City Council Transport and Environment Committee, will be our Guest Speaker. This will provide us with an opportunity to understand what is being planned for Edinburgh, the issues they are facing and what lesson could be learned for Glasgow.
Please make sure you spread the word that everybody is welcome to attend the whole event. To help us gauge numbers you can book tickets on here.
The agenda for the afternoon is:
14:00 Registration, Tea and Coffee
14:15 Open AGM – Co-convenors welcome, apologies, quorum – Approval of 2018 minutes – Nominations to the Committee
14:20 Treasurer’s report
14:30 Co-convenors review of the year
14:45 South City Way Campaign – Bob Downie
14:55 Members Motion – Pat Toms Motion Text: GoBike is concerned that GCC officers do not act consistently in accordance with council policy on Active Travel – with regards to new inappropriate facilities (South City Way, Sauchiehall Street and elsewhere) and inappropriate approval of a planning application (the recent University development for which there is inappropriate provision for increased traffic on University Avenue). The council is asked to investigate why there is recurring non-compliance, to identify changes that would ensure compliance and to take appropriate action. This meeting wishes this motion be presented to the Active Travel Forum, all councillors, be sent to the press with a press release and be sent to Glasgow’s Urbanist, who is being employed by GCC to consider officer skills in part.
15:05 AOB – Cycling for Scotland Event Cancelation – Jimmy Keenan
15:10 Close AGM
ShortComfort Break
15:20 Guest Speaker: Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Convener Edinburgh City Council Transport and Environment Committee
16:00 Q&A Panel Session
16:30 GoBike Public Meeting 2019 Closes
The AGM will be held at Bike for Good’s Community Space at their Victoria Road location.
Yes, we had been told to expect the public consultation to restart in November so we busy volunteers were a little surprised when these 3 emails dropped into our inbox on 28 October! Read on for the full details.
Sunday 3 November – The White Cart Wanderer We will head to Renfrew before loosely following the White Cart upstream to Linn Park. Attractions en route include the Inchinnan Bascule Bridge, Paisley Abbey, Anchor Mill, Pollok Park and the Snuff Mill Bridge. On the way to Renfrew we’ll have a look at some new cycle infrastructure in Govan.
There’s news from Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire as well as items from Glasgow, including a Glasgow University public meeting, covering University Avenue and a failure to acknowledge a dimension error, if you get to the very last item, in this wide-ranging mix of cycling interest. Do read on.
Here’s a reminder from GoBike member, Bob Downie, about the petition he has lodged with Glasgow City Council:
Hi Folks
Next year the TRNSMT Festival will be back in Glasgow Green from the 10-12th July. We wish it every success but there is no reason that the NCR75 cycleway should be shut at the same time. If you live in Glasgow and haven’t got around to signing, then the petition closes on the 28th October. Please sign and pass the link onto your friends and family.
Lets keep NCR75 open at all times. After all, it’s the busiest and best cycleway in Glasgow.
Commuter parking continues to be of concern, not just in leafy Hillhead but in Dalmarnock. We feature a petition to keep NCN 75 through Glasgow Green open during events – it needs your signature – plus a conversation about George Square, and, in feedback, we learn how speed cameras may not be installed by local authorities alone. Do please read on.
When is away from busy roads not away from busy roads? When it’s beside it, but protected from traffic.
The results are out from the latest travel survey undertaken at the University of Glasgow and are online here and here for everyone to peruse.
We have been looking through it at GoBike and have major concerns with the wording of one of the provided responses to questions about cycling – “More cycle routes away from busy roads”.
Table 3.12 – Encouraging Cycling (top responses for Gilmorehill Campus) What would encourage you to cycle more? 39% – Better / safer cycle routes and improved lighting 39% – More cycle routes away from busy roads 34% – Nothing would encourage me to cycle / cycle more 28% – More direct cycle routes
We would argue (and we know others had highlighted this during the survey process too) that “away from busy roads” could as easily be read as “protected from busy traffic” and therefore “segregated cycle lanes” as opposed to the assumption the report is making, that respondents are indicating a preference for quieter cycle routes through the campus, and away from direct routes such as University Avenue. We certainly would suggest that a fear of mixing with traffic is at the heart of why these respondents have chosen this answer for why they don’t cycle more, and not necessarily that they want to be able to cycle a longer more convoluted route to get to where they are going.
The finding of a preference for “away from busy roads” is repeatedly referred to within the final report (e.g. 5.3.2 The most popular response for both staff and students is a desire to see better / safer cycling routes and improve lighting around the University campuses and / or more cycle routes away from busy roads.)
We fear that the ambiguity of the wording may allow for this finding to be artificially skewed. UofG are likely to be looking for backing for their plans to provide cycle routes through their campus in lieu of ignoring the more important direct arterial route of University Avenue. We are highlighting it here in the hope that it might avoid this happening and the 700 people who signed our petition agree.
Protected bike lanes seem the most obvious solution to providing space for cycling “away from busy roads”, and they also tick the important requirement for routes to be direct. The cost of inconvenience is that people will often choose not to cycle. There has also been another suggestion from within our team though. How about solving the need to create space “away from busy roads” by “making the roads not busy”. Now wouldn’t that be a mind blowing idea!
Buried within the appendices of the UofG Travel Survey Report 2019 are a couple more pertinent comments which we sincerely hope will be taken on board:
