Strathclyde Cycle Campaign
Cycling is about to return to St George’s Cross with the latest announcement of funding from the Scottish Government, see these articles from the Herald and the BBC. Let’s hope it all comes to fruition:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41309510
It’s strange but the headline in the paper edition of the Herald is less anti-cycling than on-line. Let’s hope the motoring lobby don’t spoil it for us.
Yes, the day has finally arrived for us to take to the streets of Glasgow and show the world exactly what our cycling infrastructure is like. Some of it will be good, some of it will be bad, and we need to see it all so we can show it to the Council and help to make ours a true Cycling City.
Keep your camera with you today and when you spot any cycling infrastructure that you want to highlight (good or bad) – or if you spot somewhere that’s crying out for infrastructure it doesn’t have yet – take a picture and Tweet it with the hashtag #GlasgowCycleInfraDay17. Don’t worry if you don’t have Twitter, you can still take part by emailing your pictures to us at CycleInfraDay@gmail.com.
You’ll be able to watch the gallery build throughout the day by keeping an eye on the hashtag on Twitter (you don’t need an account for this – just click this link), or by following the Twitter account (@CycleInfraDay).
Remember, this is supposed to be an easy way of documenting a day in the life of Glasgow’s cycling infrastructure. So please be sensible; don’t go dashing across busy roads to get an ‘action shot’, or exploring the collapsed section of the cycle lane along the Clyde to show the damage after the weir jammed last week.
Most importantly… have fun!
Just one more sleep until the return of #GlasgowCycleInfraDay17 to our city!
With the Scottish Government this week announcing their commitment to double the budget for Active Travel in 2018/19, making sure your voice is heard when that money gets spent has never been more important. Tomorrow you can shout it out loud.
It’s as easy as snapping a photograph of Glasgow’s cycling infrastructure and posting it on Twitter with the hashtag #GlasgowCycleInfraDay17.
Take pictures of the good stuff, what we want more of, as well as the not so good stuff.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a Twitter account; just email your pictures to us at CycleInfraDay@gmail.com and we’ll upload them for you.
So, get your cameras ready, charge your batteries and load up your memory cards… for tomorrow we shape the future of cycling in Glasgow!
Sunday 3 September – Lanarkshire Circular
To round off the longer summer season rides we will take a trip into the countryside to the south and east of Glasgow, taking in East Kilbride, Strathaven and Glassford. We will then ride around some woodland paths in Chatelherault Country Park. After lunch at Chatelherault’s café we will move on to Strathclyde Country Park and the new cycle infrastructure at the Raith Interchange. From Uddingston there will be an opportunity to return to Glasgow along NCN75 or to take an alternative route to see some of the new motorway-related cycle infrastructure around Baillieston, followed by a return into Glasgow along Edinburgh Road.
Meet 10am Bell’s Bridge, Congress Road, Glasgow.
Rated: 
As an added, delightful extra, Jimmy Keenan, is offering soup, sandwiches and blethers at his home in Uddingston. If you wish to join him towards the end of the ride please help him to know how much bread to buy in by e-mailing him at: jadeekee@hotmail.com
Raith Interchange cartoon by @cartoonsidrew
Changes are afoot in the St George’s Cross area – again – and Glasgow City Council is asking for views from us all to maximise the effectiveness of their proposals. Here is the e-mail we got today:
“Dear Sir or Madam
You may be aware of Glasgow City Council’s bid for funding to Transport Scotland’s Community Links Plus competition with the Woodside Mini Holland bid. http://www.sustrans.org.uk/scotland/communities/community-links-plus-design-competition. The competition is seeking exemplar projects that promote walking, cycling and public space.
We submitted the Woodside Mini-Holland bid last year and were up against 37 other national bids. Woodside Mini Holland was a finalist but unfortunately this project did not win in 2016 (GCC’s South City Way Project won). We have resubmitted our bid with a revised boundary. While most of the focus is still on Woodside a part of the Woodlands area will be included (please see attachment).
For those that are interested we will be running an online consultation from the 19th June for 3 weeks. A mailshot will be conducted on the 19th and 20th June to all 5648 properties within the map boundary with this information.
Online consultation will utilise:
Both online formats are available to use now.
We will also hold a drop-in engagement event giving you an opportunity to meet the project team on:
Please feel free to forward this information to your members. As mentioned this is a competition for funding and local support is crucial if the bid is to be successful.
Contact: Sustainabletransport@glasgow.gov.uk
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/cycling
Sincerely
Craig O’Holleran
Glasgow City Council
Land and Environmental Services
4th Floor, Exchange House, 231 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1RX, 0141 287 9020”
Woodisde Mini Holland Overview – A3-2017 woodside active travel consultation Poster woodside active travel Postcard 1
We have heard from Glasgow City Council that they propose to install 2 sets of speed cushions outside St Fillan’s Primary School in Cathcart, with the aim of ensuring that drivers reduce their speed to the 20mph zone limit. The text of the e-mail received from the Council is given on our Consultations page. We have objected on 3 grounds:
Our letter of objection is here: GoBike Crompton Avenue traffic calming Objection 070617 and while we point out that we do not wish to endanger any child, we consider that a better solution for all will be a city-wide 20mph default speed limit. We will also be voicing our concern to the Glasgow Councillors who attended our Hustings in April.
Further information on traffic calming is given in this excellent blog by one of our GoBike members, “Glasgow Cycleman”.
Please do object to this proposal and, if you live in Glasgow, do let your ward Councillors know about this expensive move. At the time of the 2015 petition it was estimated that it would take 40 years to achieve what the petition and now Mark Ruskell’s bill will give us.
If you haven’t responded to the survey on Mark Ruskell’s bill yet, please follow the link in point 2 above.
Recently GoBike has responded positively to proposals from Glasgow City Council for stopping waiting and loading/unloading on the roads in Riverview, see photo, to Mark Ruskell’s proposals for a 20mph urban default speed limit in Scotland, to public realm improvements at Govan Cross and to parking controls in Cranstonhill. Details may be seen on our Consultations page.
If you wish to comment on the most recent of these, ie the waiting restrictions in Riverview, the consultation is open until Tuesday 13 June and all the details may be found here on the Glasgow City Council website.
The Mark Ruskell 20mph consultation is open until 07 August and it is important that people respond – favourably – to this! Please support this measure!
This is the survey we have been waiting for – Mark Ruskell’s bill on reducing the default speed limit for restricted roads in Scotland to 20mph. Mark is the Green MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife and the Scottish Parliament’s survey is here: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/20mphSpeedLimits/
You can read more about Mark Ruskell here: Mark Ruskell MSP
Mark’s proposed bill is an important one in that it covers all of Scotland and will, if implemented, lead to a consistent approach across the country. When GoBike met the Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, in February this year, we were told that the Government would not put any obstacles in the way of the bill. So we are very hopeful that it will go through – but it needs as much support as it can get. PLEASE DO COMPLETE THE SURVEY! There are 11 questions but there is the option to save and return to it.
Glasgow City Council is planning further improvements to the public realm at Govan Cross, with initial details here: Public Space Improvements Flyer Reading View and we have submitted a positive response welcoming the changes, see our letter: GoBike Govan Cross support and comments 280317
We have, though, pointed out some concerns, such as the advisory cycle lanes on Langlands Road, which are used as linear car parks and the need for a link through to the west to the northern boundary of the hospital grounds. That said, the proposals look forward to the new Govan-Partick bridge and provide a link from the bridge south through Govan for bikes.
This initial consultation closes on Friday, 31 March, so if you have views please get them in now. Contact details are on the Public Space Improvements Flyer.
We have also sent in a late submission to the Scottish Government’s Active Travel Task Force. You may remember that we met the Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, on 21 February and we discussed with him our 4 “asks”: “20mph speed in urban areas, Use of evidence when specifying design and location of urban cycle facilities, space reallocation and the introduction of Presumed Liability, as summarised here: Minister meeting 21_02_17 V3 Summary
Although we missed the closing date for initial submissions (10 March) we hope that our submission and follow-up information sent to the Minister was forwarded to the Task Force and we look forward to further contact.