Go Bike has arranged this meeting to provide feedback to Glasgow City Council (GCC) on their plans for cycle paths in the city centre.
Agenda
Welcome and Introduction: Patricia Fort, Go BIke
The role of Core Paths, particularly in the city centre; Sue Hilder, GCC
GCC’s city centre transport strategy, including possible measures for traffic calming, 20mph speed limits and consultation arrangements; Andrew Brown, GCC
Feedback on routes, an opportunity for all participants to mark their regular routes, desired routes, known obstructions and locations of concern on large-scale city maps.
Open discussion
Please come and help to improve cycling in Glasgow!
Rides through Glasgow parks like this one would need prior consent under the proposed rules.
Glasgow City Council is proposing new rules for the management of parks, see: http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/parkmanagementrules – and note that “park” has a wide meaning and includes George Square in the city centre. 2 of the rules, in particular, are of interest to cyclists.
Clause 1.4 of the proposed rules refers to an “Unauthorised Gathering” which means any gathering, meeting or assembly in a park of 20 or more people, which has not had the prior written consent of the Executive Director of Land and Environmental Services, however it was organised.
This has implications for any group, not only of cyclists, who assemble in an area deemed to be a park, prior to setting off on a cycle ride, or something such as a trip to an art gallery. For example, cyclists from Glasgow arranged to meet in George Square last year prior to cycling to Edinburgh for the Pedal on Parliament event. Go Bike, since it achieved the right for cyclists to cycle through the city parks some 25 years ago, has led several rides through parks, the latest being on Sunday 05 January, when 30 of us did an excellent cycle tour of the parks on the southside of the city. We stopped several times to regroup and, finally, we admired the view once we had all made it to the high point, the flag pole, in Queen’s Park. 30 of us “gathering” together in this way – without the prior consent of the Executive Director of Land and Environmental Services – could thus be considered to be “unauthorised“.
Clause 7.2, second sentence of the proposals states that “Cycle speed should not exceed 5 miles per hour.” Anyone who has tried cycling alongside a pedestrian will know that it is very unstable to cycle at such low speeds; even children, or adults, learning to cycle will be going at speeds above 5mph – if only to try and keep their balance. The average “moving speed” of the Go Bike ride through the parks last month was 7.6 miles per hour, with a maximum of 16.3 mph. A limit of 5mph, if and when enforced, would thus remove our hard-won right to cycle in parks and other parts of the city covered by these new rules.
Go Bike proposes that, if the City Council wishes to ban some types of “Unauthorised Gathering” then they should be specific about the type of behaviour they wish to ban. A blanket ban covers not only cyclists but a group of families meeting together.
Most cyclists cycle at speeds appropriate to their surroundings so the second sentence of Clause 7.2 quoted above should be removed leaving the clause as: “Cyclists must maintain proper control of the cycle and ensure they do not endanger other road users.” Those who don’t would be in contravention of Clause 2.1 “No one shall in any park: (c) commit any act of anti-social behaviour in any park,”
Thus, there is a plethora of rules drawn up to cover almost any eventuality. The Council would do far better to employ park wardens to look after and maintain these “dear, green places” in our city.
Andy Preece e-mailed the Go Bike yahoo group on 16 December to inform people of the link http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4216
to 2 Traffic Regulation Orders relating to the Fastlink Bus scheme which is proposed to run from the city centre out to the Southern General Hospital. The 2 Orders relate to the section from the Finnieston Bridge (otherwise known as the Clyde Arc Bridge or Squinty Bridge) to Whitefield Road and Whitefield Road to Elder Street. Some of you may have looked at these and/or you may have been in the Clyde Arc, Pacific Drive or Govan areas and seen that work is already proceeding on this segregated bus link.
Objections to the Orders must be received by Friday 24 January and should be sent to:
Projects Manager,
Project Management and Design,
Land and Environmental Services,
231 George Street,
Glasgow, G1 1RX
(FAO Brian Hubbert)
by post or by email to brian.hubbert@glasgow.gov.uk.
The proposals detail the segregated bus link going over the Clyde Arc Bridge and along Pacific Drive; the bus lanes will be for the bus only, ie no taxis or cycles will be allowed in these lanes. This means that all vehicles, apart from the buses, will be restricted to one lane in each direction over the Clyde Arc Bridge and along Pacific Drive. The Orders give no details of cycle routes and no information about the National Cycle Network Routes 7 and 75. However, information on proposed cycle routes was given at the GCC Glasgow’s Strategic Plan for Cycling: Transport Sub Group meeting on Tuesday 14 January, which was attended by members of the Go Bike Committee. It is proposed that the cycle route will be along Congress Road, over Bells Bridge and then back on a shared footway to cross Pacific Drive via a Toucan crossing to reach Govan Road and then on to Brand Street. For cyclists heading towards Govan the proposed route is along a shared footway on one side only of Pacific Drive.
Thus, although cyclists will not be banned from the Clyde Arc Bridge, Pacific Drive, Govan Road and Golspie Street, there will be a strong deterrent not to cycle there. The segregated bus lanes are in the centre of the road over the Clyde Arc Bridge and along Pacific Drive and Govan Road as far as Burndyke Court (ie the start of the straight part of Govan Road near the river) where they become kerbside for most of the remainder of the route through Govan. Where they are kerbside, cyclists will have to cycle in the outside lane with all other road users.
This means a big reduction in safety for cyclists going from the Broomielaw towards Govan by way of the Clyde Arc Bridge and for cyclists who live adjacent to the route. The additional cycle route information given on Tuesday does not give reassurance that the needs of cyclists in the area are being catered for; it is already well-known that the shared footway past the hotel near the Clyde Arc Bridge is inadequate and the route via Bells Bridge adds quite a distance to the cycle journey either to Govan or to Cessnock.
Go Bike is amending its original draft letter of objection further to receipt of the cycle route information on Tuesday and this will be posted on the Go Bike website when it has been submitted but we encourage all our members and supporters to write or e-mail in by Friday 24 January if you share our concerns about this lack of recognition of the needs of cyclists.
