GT
•
Glasgow City Council Officer
•
2023-11-30
• 17 comments
sustainable
Proposal code:
GlasgowCommunityChoices-2023-11-17
Glasgow City Council will have ongoing and targeted communication and promotional campaigns to continue to encourage everyone to consider using sustainable transport modes for their everyday journeys.
Glasgow City Council will have ongoing and targeted communication and promotional campaigns to continue to encourage everyone to consider using sustainable transport modes for their everyday journeys.
This is all well and good but as we know from decades of 'just add one more lane' the best way to create demand is to induce it.
When resurfacing an old road, make adding a segregated cycle lane or shared bus/bike lane one of the first considerations. And if that require losing some parking (on main arteries -Dumbarton Rd, Great Western Rd etc - then so be it). Give the cycle routes priority at lights, rain detectors to ensure cyclists aren't left waiting at lights in the rain etc.
The Avenues will help with reducing car kms but if you can't pedal safely along a cycle lane/route at 20mph then it's not up to scratch. Pretty routes are nice but the moment the road is the faster option... well I'm reverting back to it. And given the disjointed nature of our cycle lanes, the road wins out too often.
From a safe systems perspective dedicated cycle lanes separate from motorised traffic can provide a safer environment for people cycling, which is a priority requirement for not only reducing casualties but also for encouraging more people to cycle and reducing car dependency. Glasgow’s Road Safety Plan includes actions around this, including a specific action to “develop and expand our cycling network with a focus on segregated cycle lanes and priority for cyclists”, which supports the more detailed actions in the Active Travel Strategy to create a safe, citywide cycling network. This should remain a top priority, to create a safer environment for all road users.
GCC should seriously consider bringing in parking meters all over the city, and using the money raised in various neighbourhoods for the direct benefit of those neighbourhoods. One obvious way to reduce car usage is to make car users foot the cost of parking, instead of externalising it to everyone. Car owners are allowed to store their (increasingly large and dangerous) private property all over public space in Glasgow. It's extraordinary that people have to pay to store their bikes on the road in hangars but not to store their much larger cars on the road. We are all paying the price for free parking and we should instead put the cost onto the users of that space. You can read more about this technique for reducing car usage here: https://parkade.com/post/donald-shoup-the-high-cost-of-free-parking-summarized
If we are to reduce car dependency and encourage greater use of active travel modes, such as cycling, then we need to provide people of all ages with the skills needed to cycle safely and encourage greater cycling uptake. Bikeability Scotland, the national cycle training programme for school children, helps to increase road safety awareness in young people, equipping them with the skills and confidence to make everyday trips by bike more safely. Learning to cycle is a life skill, and Cycling Scotland has dedicated funding and support to enable local authorities to increase access and ensure every pupil has the opportunity. Both Glasgow's Road Safety and Active Travel Plans contain commitments to Bikeability and given its importance in delivering critical road safety skills and promoting active travel at an early age, this must be a key priority for Glasgow with a renewed and strengthened commitment to ensure this training is delivered to every pupil.
The best way to encourage more people out of cars is to reduce parking while simultaneously improving transport alternatives, bus, train, walking and bicycle. Reducing parking availability must be a process, but we should give priority to reducing parking in the city centre and removing all parking from bus corridors. At the moment a relatively small number of parked cars obstruct existing and potential bus lanes. Remove these vehicles and bus journey times will significantly reduce. If that could be done, why drive if you know you are going to have trouble finding a parking space at your destination and the bus will be far quicker anyway?
Promoting and communicating about sustainable transport is not enough - that should be the status quo not an "enhancement". Resources need to go towards making the decision-making matrix of individuals favouring public transport and the real solutions would be looking at access and quality of public transport.
More bike lanes, quicker! The South City Way has been a monumental success and makes it so easy for cyclists to get from Queens Park into the city, often in half the time it would take you to drive. GCC appears to have big plans for the rollout of further cycling lanes, but it's not happening fast enough. The South City way was supposed to be extended to Cathcart by early 2024 - construction hasn't even commenced!
Additionally, Glasgow has no substantial metro or subway system like every major european city, which puts us to shame. GCC should look at the practicalities of extending the existing subway network to the east, south and north sides of the city, This would reduce car travel enormously.
Behaviour change initiatives are vital for engaging particular community groups and addressing barriers to active travel that are both broad but also specific to sub-groups of city residents. This is particularly true for challenges around seasonality and weather which are a stated barrier even in the presence of decent infrastructure. Actions at multiple levels (e.g. targeted behaviour change combined with infrastructure change, mass media campaigns and policy/legislation change) have the best chance of success.
Hilarious that the image here is of a pushcycle given how dreadful Glasgow's cycling infrastructure. It is often poorly signed, poorly marked out, disjointed with random stops/changes, inadequately segregated from the road, and usually has cars parked on it by selfish drivers.
As for public transport, it manages to be worse. There is not universal card/ticket that covers all modes of transport; this is the obvious thing for GCC to implement, and other parts of the UK have it.
Then we have the truly terrible bus provision with a lack of services, filthy buses, and "ghost" buses which fail to arrive at the stop. If Glasgow wants to think itself as a global city, it needs to have global public transport services, not the current embarrassment.
I fully support any policies and actions which reduce overall car-km travelled. Messaging alone, however, will not be sufficient. Glasgow has been planned around private car journeys for decades, at the expense of other modes and infrastructure investment. Although things are improving in recent years (glacially slow!), it will only truly be possible if much of the existing road infrastructure is removed, reclaimed or redesigned to prioritise other modes. Driving needs to disincentivised by becoming less convenient - less parking spaces, higher parking charges, full lawful enforcement of motoring and parking offences, etc.
City planners must stop approving car- centric and car dependent developments and ensure the appropriate developer contributions to public transport and active travel infrastructure are secured.
This is all well and good but as we know from decades of 'just add one more lane' the best way to create demand is to induce it.
When resurfacing an old road, make adding a segregated cycle lane or shared bus/bike lane one of the first considerations. And if that require losing some parking (on main arteries -Dumbarton Rd, Great Western Rd etc - then so be it). Give the cycle routes priority at lights, rain detectors to ensure cyclists aren't left waiting at lights in the rain etc.
The Avenues will help with reducing car kms but if you can't pedal safely along a cycle lane/route at 20mph then it's not up to scratch. Pretty routes are nice but the moment the road is the faster option... well I'm reverting back to it. And given the disjointed nature of our cycle lanes, the road wins out too often.
From a safe systems perspective dedicated cycle lanes separate from motorised traffic can provide a safer environment for people cycling, which is a priority requirement for not only reducing casualties but also for encouraging more people to cycle and reducing car dependency. Glasgow’s Road Safety Plan includes actions around this, including a specific action to “develop and expand our cycling network with a focus on segregated cycle lanes and priority for cyclists”, which supports the more detailed actions in the Active Travel Strategy to create a safe, citywide cycling network. This should remain a top priority, to create a safer environment for all road users.
GCC should seriously consider bringing in parking meters all over the city, and using the money raised in various neighbourhoods for the direct benefit of those neighbourhoods. One obvious way to reduce car usage is to make car users foot the cost of parking, instead of externalising it to everyone. Car owners are allowed to store their (increasingly large and dangerous) private property all over public space in Glasgow. It's extraordinary that people have to pay to store their bikes on the road in hangars but not to store their much larger cars on the road. We are all paying the price for free parking and we should instead put the cost onto the users of that space. You can read more about this technique for reducing car usage here: https://parkade.com/post/donald-shoup-the-high-cost-of-free-parking-summarized
If we are to reduce car dependency and encourage greater use of active travel modes, such as cycling, then we need to provide people of all ages with the skills needed to cycle safely and encourage greater cycling uptake. Bikeability Scotland, the national cycle training programme for school children, helps to increase road safety awareness in young people, equipping them with the skills and confidence to make everyday trips by bike more safely. Learning to cycle is a life skill, and Cycling Scotland has dedicated funding and support to enable local authorities to increase access and ensure every pupil has the opportunity. Both Glasgow's Road Safety and Active Travel Plans contain commitments to Bikeability and given its importance in delivering critical road safety skills and promoting active travel at an early age, this must be a key priority for Glasgow with a renewed and strengthened commitment to ensure this training is delivered to every pupil.
The best way to encourage more people out of cars is to reduce parking while simultaneously improving transport alternatives, bus, train, walking and bicycle. Reducing parking availability must be a process, but we should give priority to reducing parking in the city centre and removing all parking from bus corridors. At the moment a relatively small number of parked cars obstruct existing and potential bus lanes. Remove these vehicles and bus journey times will significantly reduce. If that could be done, why drive if you know you are going to have trouble finding a parking space at your destination and the bus will be far quicker anyway?
Promoting and communicating about sustainable transport is not enough - that should be the status quo not an "enhancement". Resources need to go towards making the decision-making matrix of individuals favouring public transport and the real solutions would be looking at access and quality of public transport.
More bike lanes, quicker! The South City Way has been a monumental success and makes it so easy for cyclists to get from Queens Park into the city, often in half the time it would take you to drive. GCC appears to have big plans for the rollout of further cycling lanes, but it's not happening fast enough. The South City way was supposed to be extended to Cathcart by early 2024 - construction hasn't even commenced!
Additionally, Glasgow has no substantial metro or subway system like every major european city, which puts us to shame. GCC should look at the practicalities of extending the existing subway network to the east, south and north sides of the city, This would reduce car travel enormously.
Behaviour change initiatives are vital for engaging particular community groups and addressing barriers to active travel that are both broad but also specific to sub-groups of city residents. This is particularly true for challenges around seasonality and weather which are a stated barrier even in the presence of decent infrastructure. Actions at multiple levels (e.g. targeted behaviour change combined with infrastructure change, mass media campaigns and policy/legislation change) have the best chance of success.
Hilarious that the image here is of a pushcycle given how dreadful Glasgow's cycling infrastructure. It is often poorly signed, poorly marked out, disjointed with random stops/changes, inadequately segregated from the road, and usually has cars parked on it by selfish drivers.
As for public transport, it manages to be worse. There is not universal card/ticket that covers all modes of transport; this is the obvious thing for GCC to implement, and other parts of the UK have it.
Then we have the truly terrible bus provision with a lack of services, filthy buses, and "ghost" buses which fail to arrive at the stop. If Glasgow wants to think itself as a global city, it needs to have global public transport services, not the current embarrassment.
I fully support any policies and actions which reduce overall car-km travelled. Messaging alone, however, will not be sufficient. Glasgow has been planned around private car journeys for decades, at the expense of other modes and infrastructure investment. Although things are improving in recent years (glacially slow!), it will only truly be possible if much of the existing road infrastructure is removed, reclaimed or redesigned to prioritise other modes. Driving needs to disincentivised by becoming less convenient - less parking spaces, higher parking charges, full lawful enforcement of motoring and parking offences, etc.
City planners must stop approving car- centric and car dependent developments and ensure the appropriate developer contributions to public transport and active travel infrastructure are secured.