Glasgow Councillor Tour 5, Victoria Park, Ward 12, 06 October 2017

On Friday 06 October Councillor Maggie McTernan, Labour Councillor for Ward 12, Victoria Park, toured part of her ward with GoBike committee members John Donnelly and Alasdair Macdonald and GoBike member Neil Lovelock.  Councillor McTernan doesn’t cycle so John took her, and Neil, round in the rickshaw he currently owns.  After the ride she posted her photos and a commentary on her Councillor Facebook page; she has very kindly sent us the photos and allowed us to use her words to describe the ride.  They are reproduced in bold below:

“The question you need to ask is, would you let your child cycle ahead of you?”

Thanks to Neil, Alasdair and John from Gobike for taking me on a cycle tour of my ward, Victoria Park, today – with an honourable mention for John, who powered the cycle rickshaw for non-cycling me!

If we want to cut emissions and improve health, we need to take seriously the cycle routes across the city – as John said, they should be safe enough for a child to use.

Most of us don’t just use one form of transport – we walk, cycle, drive or take public transport depending on the situation. So our infrastructure should reflect this, supporting us to share our public spaces safely.

Cycle paths don’t always have dropped kerbs – here, the entrance to the cycle path had bollards that were too close to allow the rickshaw through!

Double parking to block a cycle path, opposite a bus stop…

Some of the signage is faded, making it hard to follow cycle routes

There’s good news too – this pavement at St Paul’s Primary was widened in 2014, to improve safety for children cycling to school

The route that the group followed was devised by GoBike ride leader, Andy Preece and is given here: Councillor Ward Tour – Victoria Park map and his comments on features along the route are here: Councillor Ward Tour – Victoria Park

Walk, Cycle, Vote thanks the Transport Minister; active travel budget doubled

On Sunday 08 October Walk Cycle Vote supporters gathered outside the SNP conference venue in Glasgow.  The photo above shows a young cycle enthusiast offering the Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, a piece of Rocky Road Cake in grateful recognition of the doubling of the active travel budget.  His mum is looking on, as were several GoBike members, plus Pedal on Parliament supporters and other active travel activists.  Anna Richardson, Glasgow City Council’s Convenor for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction was there as was John Lauder, Director of Sustrans Scotland and Richard Dixon of Friends of the Earth Scotland.  The minister took the time to talk to just about everyone who was there and we look forward to seeing the effects of the budget increase sometime soon.

Glasgow – Woodside Mini-Holland project wins Community Links PLUS funding!

We have just been sent this good news from Glasgow City Councll, which makes a refreshing change from our earlier post about Dowanhill!

“Woodside Mini-Holland Update

Glasgow City Council is delighted to announce that the ‘Woodside Mini-Holland project’ has been successful in winning the Community Links PLUS competition facilitated by Transport Scotland and Sustrans.

The Woodside Mini Holland bid proposes to improve walking and cycling including the creation of a Dutch style cycle-friendly area using a combination of hard infrastructure and softer measures to increase the attractiveness of everyday active travel and creating better streets and places for people. The project will see some £8m spent on transforming the Woodside Area.

The project is considered as having four main elements:

  • Place. Enhancing the road environment is vital to making this area a lucrative place to visit and attractive to pass through.
  •   Segregated cycle tracks. Safe, dedicated cycle tracks, more attractive pedestrian space and excellent public transport connections.
  • Permeability and Connectivity for the Woodside area
  •   Outreach work. At least 5% of the project budget will be allocated for outreach activities aimed at encouraging active and sustainable travel, working closely with partners and community organisations.

We will be in touch in due course to keep you informed and advise how you can contribute to the design.

Please share with family and friends or have them email the project team if they would like to be added to the Woodside Mini-Holland mailing list.  The email address, if you wish to get updates direct is:  SustainableTransport@glasgow.gov.uk

Kind Regards

WMH Team

Glasgow – UK Council of the Year 2015″

Glasgow Councillor Tour 4, part of Partick East / Kelvindale with the Labour and SNP councillors

Clarence Drive

On the evening of Thursday 05 October, GoBike members Tricia Fort, Johnston Orr and Andy Winter met Labour Councillor Martin Rhodes and SNP Councillor Kenny McLean who represent Ward 23 Partick East / Kelvindale on the City Council to look at cycling conditions in part of their ward.  Neither Martin nor Kenny cycles, but neither do they drive; they both walk or use public transport.  We are grateful to them both for the time they took to walk round Hyndland and Dowanhill with us and here is a summary of the issues we discussed:

  • Pedestrian/cycle crossing from Leicester Avenue across Great Western Road towards Gartnavel:  We didn’t visit this but after the report on our website from the cycle tour of 23 September with Councillor Tony Curtis, one of our members who lives in Kelvindale commented “it takes FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES to cross over GWR to the restaurant if you use the toucan.”  Andy confirmed this from the visits he has made to the sports ground there with his children.  This is not conducive to active travel.
  • Great Western Road: there is no cycle infrastructure on this road, apart from Advance Stop Lines (into which motor vehicles encroach, as we saw) and the part-time bus lanes that give some protection.  This is a busy main road into town with fast traffic and deserves segregated cycle lanes to protect the people who already cycle on it and to encourage others to cycle.
  • Great Western Road alternative: from Byres Road to Gartnavel there is the potential to create a quiet way along the terraces.  This could then link into Shelley Road, and while this would not be suitable for people going right into town, it would encourage many to cycle in the local area.
  • Cross roads, Great Western Road/Hyndland Road/Cleveden Road: at 6:30 in the evening this was a busy junction, with a lot of potentially dangerous driving practices.  We saw motorists going through the lights when they had changed back to red, many vehicles on Hyndland Road using the left-turning lane to go straight on to avoid the queue of vehicles waiting to turn right into Great Western Road, vehicles were stopped in the Cycle Advance Stop Line and many appeared to be exceeding the speed limit.  Despite all this, we saw a significant number of people on bikes, but, as Andy said, it is not a route suitable for children to cycle from Dowanhill and Hyndland through to Cleveden School.  A simple solution at the traffic lights might be to ban the right turn from Hyndland Road onto Great Western Road, but this might push the problem elsewhere.  Creating a cycle-friendly junction here would encourage more adults and children to cycle here, and should reduce motor traffic.
  • Hyndland Road: cars parked on both sides, on a road that deserves a segregated cycle route to give access to the local sports facilities, schools and Glasgow University.
  • Hughenden Lane: this provides a good route through to Gartnavel, but is currently over-parked.  Parking controls are needed to allow access for residents and bikes.  A left turn allows access through the new flats to Lauderdale Gardens and then to Clarence Drive and we saw several people using this route.  Just a bit of work is needed to widen the ramped exit from the carpark at the back of the flats and parking needs to be controlled to free up the dropped kerb into Lauderdale Gardens to improve permeability for active travel.
  • Clarence Drive: cars parked on the cycle lanes and on the footway, see the photo above.  Parking restrictions are needed as is segregation of the cycle route.
  • Hyndland Road, outside the shops: no cycle lane at all, but there are cycle stands and the wide footway improves the ambience of the area.
  • Hyndland Road, at the end of the row of shops: the footway has been built out, apparently to provide two parking places outside the shops, but this is where the cycle lane starts again – on the bend, with the danger of cars etc cutting in.
  • Highburgh Road: the parking bays are narrow, with many vehicles part, or fully on, the too narrow (only 0.5m) door opening zone and the cycle lane is minimum width too, meaning that the safe place to cycle is out in the vehicle lane.  This narrowness is exacerbated by the two disabled parking bays that have been painted in; there is no door opening zone here at all!  See the photos below.  Parking, at most, should be on one side only, to allow the construction of a cycle lane suitable for all the people, young and old, in the area to use.
  • Highburgh Road/Dowanhill Street junction: Dowanhill Street is stopped off at the south side of Highburgh Road but the crossing over Highburgh Road allows access for bikes travelling along the street, giving access to the school and a quieter route to Dumbarton Road than Hyndland Road.  However, north of Highburgh Road, Dowanhill Street has recently been made one-way, southbound, thus preventing someone from cycling northbound, unless on the footway!  This is despite there still being a cycle route sign at the location and, more pertinently, despite the statement in Glasgow City Council’s design document “Cycling by Design” in 5.1.5: “Contra-flow Cycle Lanes.  The default position should be to permit two-way cycling on one-way streets.”  We discussed this at length, and compared this area with the proposals for the Woodside mini-Holland, where permeability, ie through access, for bikes is being encouraged, whereas in Dowanhill it is being prevented.  It is little surprise that one scheme has been produced by the parking section in Land and Environment Services and one by the cycle section.  The alternative route for Andy, or his children, is to cycle up Dowanhill Street, turn left onto Highburgh Road and then do a right turn, on a bend, into Crown Road South – not an attractive prospect.
  • Byres Road: heavily parked on both sides, even though studies show that most people arrive here by foot, bike, subway or bus, this busy road with many shops, pubs and restaurants has a high accident rate.  We need active travel input to the current consultations.  Here’s the link to a GoBike supported group event on 22 October: https://space4peoplebyresroad.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/ride-for-a-better-byres-road/
  • Dowanside Road: under the Dowanhill parking controls this has been made one way and yet, even with cars parked both sides, there is plenty of room for contraflow cycling, see the photograph below.  We have contraflow cycling in other parts of the city, the nearest to here being Dalnair Street from Old Dumbarton Road to Yorkhill Hospital.  We need more.
  • Beith Street: we didn’t walk this far but, with all the student accommodation here, it needs cycle lanes.

The main points from this tour are that, while we need good quality segregated cycle lanes on our main roads, we need the access and the permeability in our local areas for people to get out and about in their neighbourhood and to reach the main roads that will take them to school, to work, the shops or the art gallery etc.

 

 

 

 

Glasgow City Council Transport Summit, 27 September 2017 – GoBike report

 

GoBike was invited to attend the recent Transport Summit held by Glasgow City Council, and was represented there by 3 committee members, John Donnelly, Peter Hayman and Alasdair Macdonald.  Here is Alasdair’s report of the proceedings:

This summit was organised by Glasgow City Council and was chaired by Councillor Anna Richardson, Convenor for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, assisted by the Director for Roads.

There were presentations by Council officers, Transport Scotland, representatives of the bus and rail industries, an academic, charities/campaigning groups Sustrans and Transform Scotland and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.

In the audience there were campaigning groups like GoBike! and Get Glasgow Moving, representatives from a number of Community Councils and representatives
from the haulage industry as well as Councillors representing Greens, Labour and
SNP.

The keynote speaker was Iain Docherty BSc PhD CMILT who is Professor of Public Policy and Governance and Head of Management at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School. His presentation set the tone for the remainder of the proceedings. Although he was careful to ensure that his speech was academically rigorous and carefully qualified, he was pretty explicit that dealing with issues relating to private cars and parking is the major factor in improving transport in Glasgow. This was echoed by most of the subsequent speakers, with no-one making a counterargument.

There was widespread agreement in the room that something needs to be done about cars in Glasgow.  It was only the 2 Glasgow City Council Officials who said “This was not about penalising car drivers”.  Almost every other speaker highlighted that the only way to improve transport in Glasgow involved making changes that would reduce the number of cars in Glasgow.

I had not heard people in positions of influence being so unequivocal and so explicit. A memorable, line, slightly tongue-in-cheek was that with white paint to repartition road space and amendments to traffic light crossing times, Glasgow could make a significant improvement relatively quickly!

However, while that might be a way forward, it is an intensely POLITICAL thing and therefore those of us who wish to bring about change must be supportive of politicians in creating the ethos in which such changes can take place. The motoring organisations will not take this lying down. While it is important that campaigners push for good infrastructure constructed to good standards, we also need to work constructively and co-operatively with elected members and officers to bring about the change.

Compared to ‘peer cities’ in Europe, such as Malmo and Bremen, levels of cycling in Glasgow are very low, but rising, and the number of car journeys is INCREASING. So, we have to get people out of cars and on to their feet, on to bicycles and on to trains and buses. The importance of buses cannot be overstated. They account for more than twice the journeys compared to all other modes. While there are improvements to rail services underway and advocacy for an extended Subway, in the short and intermediate term, it is buses that will carry most of the people who are ‘persuaded’ to leave their cars.

A related point was the fact that organisations like the bus industry and the Chambers of Commerce, feel we need no more NEW road building, but that we would be better improving (and repartitioning?) the road network that we currently have.

The issues relating to buses are about emissions, about the lack of services across the city rather than through the city, single-ticketing using modern technology. SPT indicated that the transfer-ticketing issue is likely to be solved soon. Retrofitting of buses to the highest EU standard for emissions is feasible with current technology, but the question is, ‘Who pays?” Recent amendments to Union/Jamaica St appear to have speeded transition of buses through that route. Nevertheless, there is still work to be done.

Improvements to Queen Street Station and electrification of Glasgow/Edinburgh should improve things, but, at present, there are no plans for Crossrail.

The Chamber of Commerce made a strong case for developing Glasgow Airport as an economic generator. Renfrewshire Council’s City Deal is focussed on the Airport, but from a cycling and walking perspective, there are substantial benefits associated with it.

It was a pretty well-informed meeting. We were provided with a lot of information. But, to the credit of the presenters, I think they were pretty succinct. There was also a fair degree of coherence amongst the presentations, despite them coming from quite a wide range of sources. There were a number of opportunities for discussion and almost all the contributions were from community councils and campaigning bodies. The standard of debate was high and courteous.

I give the Council high marks for organising this event. it was heavily led by the transport professionals, but I think they were respectful of their audience. I think we need a follow up meeting where the audience represents ALL the community councils, and the various community organisations and campaigners like GoBike!

Bill Fraser (a GoBike! member, community council chair and member of a local ‘hertage’ group) has some interesting ideas about community innovation using organisations which are NOT the community council but are closely related to them (for legal reasons). Bill could give a good presentation to the target audience I have indicated.

Action Klaxon! Join Walk Cycle Vote for a “cake event” at the SNP conference on Sunday, 3pm at SECC

 

SNP Party Conference – 3pm on Sunday 8 October SECC, Glasgow – Please come along!

The force behind Walk Cycle Vote (GoBike’s a supporting member) have been kicking around the idea of a ‘cake event’ at the SNP conference on Sunday, to celebrate/acknowledge the doubling of the active travel budget.

They have just had confirmation from David Miller (the First Minister’s Special Advisor) that he’ll be able to arrange for the Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf,to join us at 3pm on Sunday.

If you can get along please do – the more the better!

  • Meet outside the SECC at 2.45 to assemble with the cake

(venue: https://www.sec.co.uk/visitor-information/how-to-get-here/bike)

  • Please wear a campaign or organisational T-shirt, jacket, hoodie etc to show the diversity of the partnership – hope you all have a GoBike t-shirt!
  • If you have access to children and are willing to bring them then please do!

Cycling Scotland Conference, 30-31 October, Glasgow

The annual Cycling Scotland conference comes to Glasgow this year and will be held at the University of Strathclyde, full details are here

Unfortunately we were unable to get a special rate for GoBike members but the early bird rate – you’ll need to be quick – is available until Monday 02 October, and if you have a valid student card, there’s a student rate.

The Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, will be speaking, GoBike will have a stand, and there will be lots to see and do, if you can get time off work or spare the time, and the cash, to attend.

Almost October, time for the GoBike monthly ride – the Kilmacolm circular

 

Yes, the first Sunday of the month is the day for our intriguing and somewhat offbeat ride out around Glasgow.

Andy Preece will be leading this ride; further details of GoBike rides are on the Rides page of our website

Sunday 1 October – Kilmacolm Circular
We shall head out mostly on minor roads through Paisley, Linwood and Houston to Kilmacolm. After lunch, we’ll return to Paisley via the NCN75 path to visit a few more of the town’s attractions to be seen along the way, before continuing onwards to Glasgow.
Meet 10am Bell’s Bridge, Congress Road, Glasgow.
Ride on paths Ride on quiet roads 
Significant hill climbing
Rated: Go Bike star rating Go Bike star rating
 Go Bike star rating

Glasgow Councillor Tour 3, part of Partick East/Kelvindale with Conservative Councillor, Tony Curtis

GoBike member, Johnston Orr, trying to cycle along the Colleges Cycle route on Highburgh Road towards Byres Road.  Note the car encroaching on the very narrow door opening zone and the car parked right across the bike lane!

On Saturday 23 September, GoBike convenor, Tricia Fort, and Johnston Orr met one of Partick East/Kelvindale’s 4 councillors, Tony Curtis, Conservative, for a short tour of the ward – but lots of discussion.  Tony is very keen that all road users obey the Highway Code and relevant legislation, behave responsibly and respect each other, follow guidance when it comes to staying safe on a bike and he is keen to get Police Scotland to address parking and speeding infringements.

Our route was from outside the bar/restaurant 1051GWR on Great Western Road at Gartnavel, up to Highburgh Road and along into Hyndland and Dowanhill. The points discussed concerning cycle infrastructure were:

  1. The possibility of a cycle link from the western end of Devonshire Terrace through to the front of bar/restaurant1051GWR; this would allow people to cycle from Devonshire Terrace along the existing footway, if it were cleared of vegetation and widened, to access Hughenden Lane or Shelley Road.
  2. The reduced hours of operation of the bus lanes on Great Western Road and the lack of any cycle infrastructure on this major artery into the city centre.
  3. Hyndland Road from Great Western Road to the top of Clarence Drive; this is a main route, as Tony pointed out, and yet there is no cycle infrastructure.
  4. The poor condition of many roads, and many cycle lanes, in the city, and in this ward.
  5. The positioning of the cycle lanes on Hyndland/Highburgh Road from Clarence Drive: currently the cycle lanes are on the outside of parking bays.  The door opening zone is too narrow, only 0.5m rather than a realistic 1.0m, and many cars were poorly parked, encroaching on the narrow door opening zone.
  6. Irresponsible parking, such as right across the cycle lane.
  7. The confusion of the signs on Dowanhill Street; had there been cycle lanes here previously?  (And why was one car parked facing the wrong way on a one-way street?)
  8. The apparent contradiction between Glasgow City Council’s policy and action on one-way streets, particularly those streets that are changed from two-way to one-way ostensibly to allow parking on both sides, with respect to maintaining access for people to cycle.  The references here are: Glasgow City Council’s Strategic Plan for Cycling, page 28 referencing their use of Transport Scotland’s design guide, Cycling by Design which states in section 5.1.5 on page 52, under Contra-flow Cycle Lanes, that “The default position should be to permit two-way cycling on one-way streets.”  This is very pertinent for areas such as Dowanhill, where two-way streets have been made one-way under new parking regulations, and for Partick, where new parking regulations – and new one-way streets – are about to be introduced.  This means some significant detours for people who wish to cycle.
  9. GoBike’s view is that cycle infrastructure should be provided where people cycle and our analysis of Strava and other cycle-counting data is here on our website.  Great Western Road, as a main artery into the city centre, has significant numbers of people cycling along it, as does Byres Road, on the edge of this ward, but neither has any cycle infrastructure.

Partick East/Kelvindale is currently the home of the most cycle-interested councillors in the city.  All four councillors have responded to our invitation to walk or cycle round their ward!  There has been a nil response from many other wards.

Glasgow Councillor Ward tour 2, Garnethill in Ward 10 with Green Councillor, Christy Mearns

The photo, taken by GoBike committee member, Peter Hayman, shows Councillor Christy Mearns and GoBike member, Tim Pearson, having just crossed St George’s Road and about to tour Garnethill on Friday 22 September.  Tim’s brief report of what was a lot of discussion and a detailed tour of the area is here: Garnethill Ward Bike Tour 22 Sept 2017

Details of all our tours are here on our website: https://www.gobike.org/campaignsconsultations/projects/glasgow-councillors-summer-autumn-2017