Strathclyde Cycle Campaign
Another selection of items for you, but please do respond to the OnBikes survey and, if you are a tenement resident, let’s get some bike storage, see Item 1.5. Also, don’t forget the language survey in 1.4. Lots to keep you busy but do read on for even more.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 72, 27 October 2020: bike storage – do get your views in to the Scottish Government!”Our feature photo this issue shows the star of the film “Gone With The Wind”, Olivia de Havilland, at the age of 104, see this article from the Metro in July this year, riding her bike! Well done her, but would she have been able to negotiate our streets and cycle routes? How would a tricycle negotiate all the speed cushions appearing on our streets or the bollards on many of our cycle routes? Please do respond to consultations, particularly Item 1.9, Glasgow City Council looking for views on the future Transport Strategy, to ensure that cycling, and walking, are attractive options to us all and put your views and comments on the Streets for All Glasgow Commonplace Map, see Item 1.1.
Glasgow City Council have found 3 more areas that don’t yet have speed cushions – why can’t they wait for the Liveable Neighbourhoods Plan to be adopted? GoBike agrees that speeding motor traffic is a menace but our view is that the solution is bigger than speed cushions, as we explain in Section 1.
North Lanarkshire have found millions of pounds to spend on roads to Ravenscraig but not a cycle lane to be seen, see Item 3.3.
Better news: there’s still time to support Living Streets for their excellent campaign to get parked cars off our pavements and do please respond to the online survey on the Town Centre Action Plan.
Our feature photo in this Digest shows a road in the east end of Glasgow which is proposed for speed cushion treatment in an attempt to reduce the speed of motor vehicles (see Item 1.4). As private motor cars have increased in width, so has the width of speed cushions and in Section 1 we include 8 speed cushion proposals with speed cushions of 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0m widths, leaving people cycling with the choice of either cycling up and over the speed cushion at a sensible distance from the kerb of 1.0m or in the gap at the kerb, as narrow as 0.5m in many cases, or out in the middle of the road.
Since 18 August last year GoBike has received 20 proposals for traffic calming, primarily on residential streets, in Glasgow using speed cushions, but not one for modal filters to prevent through motor traffic. It is motor traffic that causes deaths and injuries on our roads, with 160 deaths in Scotland recorded in 2018 and many more people injured, yet active travel, particularly in the more deprived areas of the city, fails to get the infrastructure it needs. Speed cushions are tinkering at the edges and a Scotland-wide political solution is required to make our neighbourhoods safe and pleasant for us all.
This isn’t all about speed cushions, though, so do please read on.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 67, 18 August 2020: Speed cushion special.”
We have no new public consultations for you but we do bring news of an important event for Community Councillors and community groups this Thursday, 30 April, see Item 2.1. We also continue our look forward to better days with more and more people cycling – even with the restrictions of social distancing. We report on the Pedal on Parliament #SpaceForDistancing campaign for short-term increases in space for cycling (and walking) but we also need to look past the short term to get more cycling space, thus inducing more cycle traffic.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 59, 28 April 2020: Social Distancing; we all want to keep to the guidelines, but it’s tricky.”Yes, positive moves from Glasgow with private motor vehicles to be banned for 12 hours per day from George Square, and what we hope is the start of a trend: the appearance of contraflow cycling in Hutchesontown. We also report active travel workshops and surveys in South Lanarkshire, but we aren’t sure if North Lanarkshire have caught up with the Climate Emergency yet as a new road is proposed – oh dear.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 56, 17 March 2020: Glasgow moves to reduce motor traffic in George Square”Glasgow is now consulting on phase 2 of its Low Emission Zone, plus we have news on parking restrictions, a wee step forward on cycling permeability, and cycle lanes being built. Read on for much, much more.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 55, 03 March 2020: GoBike asks for your views – and your money – plus much, much more.”This is, primarily, the feedback issue, with 16 updates on items that have been covered before. These include 10 consultation submissions: 4 for Traffic Calming (speed cushions proposed for all), 3 for Byres Road, 1 for proposed one-way with no contraflow (but see our final item for what we hope is a change for the better) 1 for Car Club Electric Vehicle Charging Points (the location of which cause some concern, but we include a different approach from North Lanarkshire) and 1 high-level District Regeneration Framework – thanks to all the people who contributed to the letters submitted, but do please read on for the detail and stushies at 2 big football clubs.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 54, 18 February 2020: An event today for Battlefield, one tomorrow for Yorkhill & Kelvingrove, and yet more on “traffic calming”.”Glasgow City Council maintain their policy of “Streets for Cars” by installing speed cushions to deter high motor speeds rather than installing cycle lanes or doing other public realm works, and we also look at completed works in the east of Glasgow that we previously commented on.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 53, 04 February 2020: Cars, Parking, 20mph, Avenues and Housing – it’s all here.”Quite a bumper bundle for you today, but 2 of our significant concerns have raised their heads again. Firstly, side roads on cycle lanes – we need cycle lanes to continue across side roads, just as in the feature photo with this Digest. If a child in the Netherlands is able to cycle safely across a side road, a child in Glasgow should be able to too. Secondly, contraflow cycling – when cars are going too fast or more on-road parking is needed the first line of response is to make a street one-way, even for bikes. What have we done wrong? Why should we have to make big detours? Do read on for the details of all the current issues.
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 52, 21 January 2020: Byres Road back in the news plus Glasgow takes an alphabetical approach to traffic calming!”