GoBike

Yesterday evening, 22 September, the Cross Party Group on Cycling, chaired by Alison Johnstone, MSP (Green) met at Holyrood, and a presentation was given by Stuart Hay of Living Streets Scotland on the Responsible Parking Bill, being brought forward by Sandra White, Glasgow Kelvin constituency MSP (SNP).

Stuart explained that it currently not illegal to park on a dropped kerb, hence cars may park on the dropped kerbs at the end of cycleways, and while it is illegal to drive on a footway, the driver must be seen to drive onto the footway; no action will be taken if the vehicle is parked on the footway!  The bill also tackles double parking, which adds danger to the roads for cyclists but also, critically, impedes the passage of emergency vehicles.

Further detail is given on the Living Streets website

Please scroll down the page on their website and click on the blue box to e-mail David Mundell, the Secretary of State for Scotland to support this bill.

GoBike was represented at the Cross Party Group by the Convenor.  Other groups represented are: Spokes, Pedal on Parliament, CTC, Sustrans, Cycling Scotland and Road Share.

On Thursday evening, 17 September, we held a meeting with one of the local Councillors for Govan, Bailie Fariha Thomas.  The orange barrier shown in the photograph has now been removed from Govan Road but no guidance has been provided as yet for cyclists emerging from the southbound tunnel.

The summary e-mail sent to Bailie Thomas after the meeting is reproduced in full below and you will see that we suggest a less hostile environment should be created in the area to improve conditions for walking and cycling.  If you have any suggestions how the ambiance of the area may be improved please let GoBike know either by e-mail or via the Facebook page.

“Dear Bailie Thomas,

Sincere thanks for meeting Alasdair Macdonald from the GoBike committee, Dr Andy Winter, a GoBike member who spends his working week between the new hospital and other venues in the city, and me yesterday evening, 17 September.  We were pleased that you understand not only our concerns but those of your constituents in the locality as well as the pressures on the City Council.
I have copied both Andy and Alasdair into this message and have also included Andrew Brown and his assistant Steve Gray, from Land and Environmental Services at the City Council, both of whom met us at the same venue on Monday 10 August.  It is unfortunate that despite the efforts of Andrew and Steve, the Fastlink team have not actively engaged with cyclists and pedestrians in Govan.

There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of people cycling to and from the new hospital and in the Govan area, which is very welcome, but this appears to have been done as a result of the very small number of parking places at the hospital and the severe traffic congestion, not because of any increase or improvement in cycling infrastructure on the commuter routes we looked at yesterday.
It seems that, overall, no consideration has been given to the route to and from the now-heavily-used Clyde Cycle Tunnels across the Fastlink Route and, although some changes are now being made to access to the Fastlink lanes, there is a lack of clarity.

To summarise our discussion, we have listed the points we covered below and we would be very grateful if you could assist in finding out some answers for us and clarifying other points of concern.

1. At our meeting last month with Andrew Brown and Steve Gray we discussed the proposed resurfacing of the Clyde Cycle Tunnels, but as yet, we have not been told the timescale for these works.
2. Steve Gray informed us that he had prepared a signing schedule to guide people to the cycle tunnels; this is very much needed.  You will remember that we saw someone on Peninver Drive yesterday asking how to get to the northbound tunnel?  It would be good to know that signage will soon be put in place.
3. The crossing of Moss Road from the hospital gate to Peninver Drive is of concern.  It is heavily used but unsuitable for the number of people walking or cycling across.  We were told that improvements would be made promptly but over 5 weeks on we have heard nothing.
4. Peninver Drive and Burghead Place, leading to the northbound tunnel: could you please ascertain the extent and timescale of the resurfacing to be done in this area?

I now turn to the exit from the southbound tunnel and Govan Road, where, as we saw yesterday, there is no provision for cyclists.  Despite it being City Council policy to install Advance Stop Lines for cyclists, none have been installed at the new traffic light junction of Moss Road and Govan Road.  The whole area has been made to look as if it has a busy highway through it and natural pedestrian and cycle routes have been blocked off by all the metal fences that have been installed.

1. Cycle exit from the southbound tunnel and route to the new hospital: at our meeting with Andrew and Steve on 10 August they suggested that cyclists would be expected to exit from the tunnel, use a new toucan crossing over Cressy Street (ie taking them east and away from the hospital) use two more toucan crossings over Govan Road and then join the bus lane to continue their westbound journey.  There are many objections to this, not least being that it is impractical!  A suggested option of a shared footway on the south side of Govan Road now appears to have been removed with the erection of one of the many new fences.  We looked yesterday at the option of a shared system on a widened footway on the north side of Govan Road, with the possibility of crossing Govan Road at the high point (thus giving good visibility) directly over the road tunnel (the recently installed pedestrian crossing further west is not in a suitable place).
2. However, our conclusion is that a more holistic solution is required and expert advice should be sought as to how a robust and usable cycle network may be constructed alongside good walking routes to allow commuters to the hospital, patients, local residents and people employed in the area to walk and cycle, not only from the tunnel to the hospital but to the new housing that is being constructed on the north side of Govan Road, to the new and existing shopping areas and to the schools and other local amenities.  The new housing being constructed is presumably to attract people to live in the area and now is the time to look at improving the ambience of the area, as has very successfully been done in other parts of Govan.

You told us that there would be a review of the traffic management around the hospital one year on – from either the opening of the new hospital or the completion of Fastlink, which, you informed us, is now scheduled for 02 October.  I’ve no doubt the completion of the route will be very welcome to all the people who have suffered from the congestion, noise and lack of access!  Could you tell us whether this review will cover vehicle flows along Govan Road before the opening of the new hospital, after the opening, before and after the completion of Fastlink and, of course, the numbers of people cycling along Govan Road and through the tunnels?
As we discussed there have been changes to the access allowed to cycles along the Fastlink Route, with the Clyde Arc section being the first to allow cycles, and now Govan Road.  GoBike proposed at the time of the initial consultation on Fastlink that bikes should be allowed on the entire route, since the lanes for all other traffic are so narrow.  Can you confirm that cycles will be allowed to use the entire route?

We did, of course, discuss many points of concern and we realise that all our questions won’t be answered immediately, but action is required on some points sooner rather than later.  We look forward to hearing of improvements being made!

With very best wishes and with thanks for the time you spent with us yesterday,

Tricia

Tricia Fort
Convenor, GoBike! The Strathclyde Cycle Campaign, www.gobike.org“

There’s an exciting line-up for our AGM this year.  After a brief AGM, when we hope to get lots of people to volunteer to help with our campaigns, we are starting the run-up to the 2016 Holyrood Elections, which of course will be followed by the 2017 Local Government Elections, by looking at what sort of policies we want to see put in place.

John Lauder, Director of Sustrans Scotland, will outline how Sustrans has developed over the years and is now well to the forefront of good cycling infrastructure design, working with Transport Scotland and local government to deliver the modal shift required to make us a healthier nation.

Dave Brennan, GoBike member and Pedal on Parliament spokesperson, will outline how Pedal on Parliament has brought thousands of us on to the streets of Edinburgh each year to tell our politicians that we want more and better cycling infrastructure.

The AGM will be held on Wednesday 18 November 2015 at the Admiral Bar, 72a Waterloo Street, Glasgow.  Doors open 7pm, AGM 7:30, Guest Speakers 8pm.  Here’s a pdf of the flyer shown above: reduced GB! AGM ’15  Please circulate this to friends and acquaintances and get them to come along.

In this campaign GoBike is also working with Sustrans, Pedal on Parliament and many other active travel groups in Scotland under the umbrella of “We Walk, We Cycle, We Vote“.  There’s a new website coming soon, but in the meantime please look at the new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/walkcyclevote

Further to our recent request for more information on this scheme, which we agreed in principle, we have now been sent a detailed plan of the proposed segregated cycleway for Clyde Place, with improvements to both the George V and Glasgow Bridges.  This is, with some reservations, a good scheme, and we have responded to confirm this to the City Council.  The detailed plan and our letter may be seen on our Consultations page: https://www.gobike.org/campaignsconsultations/consultations

Glasgow City Council have informed us that the diversion route for the closed Polmadie Bridge, on the north side of the Clyde in Glasgow Green, is to be upgraded.  The rough, narrow track down the bank from the car park is to be surfaced to a width of 3m with tarmac.  There is also the potential of a planter being placed at the top of the bank to prevent car parking blocking the track.

The placing of this tarmac, which, we are told, will happen soon, does mean that there must be a diversion of this diversion for a short while!  The preferred route is option 1 and we hope this is the one that will go ahead.

We are grateful to one of the Sustrans embedded employees within the City Council for discussing this with us.

We had a query on on Facebook to ask what is happening at the southbound exit of the Clyde Tunnel.  As of yesterday, 01 September, when these photos were taken, the southbound car exit to Govan Road had been closed to allow Govan Road to be resurfaced and kerbed under a one-way traffic system.

There are, or were, two routes out of the cycle tunnel: the first is as shown above, using the pedestrian/footway gap in the concrete wall separating the road tunnel exit from the cycle and pedestrian and then going along the footway, bumping down into the road and over to the westbound carriageway at the gap in the new central reservation, where the photo shows a cluster of cones level with the front of the bus.  This approximates to the route most cyclists have taken when exiting the tunnel to go west.

The second option is to continue on the cycle path up to Cressy Street, as shown on this third photo, to get onto Govan Road going east or to use the gap in the central reservation opposite Cressy Street to get onto the westbound carriageway.

The final solution?  When we had the meeting with Andrew Brown and Steve Gray from Glasgow City Council on 10 August, their proposal, as reported in the post of 14 August, was for cyclists to cross Cressy Street, continue on a narrow, shared footway and then use 2 push-button toucan crossings to get to the opposite, ie westbound footway.  We told them at the meeting that this was impractical and since then they have gained agreement that cyclists will be able to use the Fastlink bus lanes in this area.  We await further details.