Category: GoBike

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Consultation Digest Issue 70: 29 September 2020: Who are we designing streets for?

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.

Contents

Section 1: Current Consultations

  1. Streets for All Glasgow Commonplace Map, a joint GoBike, Glasgow Eco Trust and On Bikes map, please put in your proposals, comments and views
  2. **NEW** South Lanarkshire Council, Have your say on active travel, Carluke, Hamilton and Lanark, online surveys, close 04 October
  3. Glasgow City Council, Cleeves Road Traffic Calming Scheme, closes 08 October
  4. Glasgow City Council, Ashgill Road (Extension) Road Traffic Calming Scheme, closes 08 October
  5. Glasgow City Council, Ryehill Road Traffic Calming Scheme, closes 08 October
  6. Glasgow City Council, Ruchazie Road Traffic Calming Scheme, closes 08 October
  7. Glasgow City Council, Victoria Park Drive North Traffic Calming Scheme, closes 08 October
  8. UK Department of Transport, Review of the Highway Code to improve road safety for cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, closes 27 October
  9. **NEW** Glasgow City Council, Connecting Communities, Transport Strategy Public Conversation Your views, closes 30 October
  10. Transport Scotland, Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 – Draft public consultation, closes 21 December

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

  1. East Dunbartonshire Council, Proposed Local Development Plan 2, consultation starts 19 October

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

  1. Glasgow City Council speed cushion policy
  2. East Dunbartonshire Council, Local Development Plan Newsletter No 59
  3. Glasgow City Council speed cushion latest update!
Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 70: 29 September 2020: Who are we designing streets for?”
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Let’s get a better Highway Code!

Yes, consultation is underway on changes to the Highway Code. Their aim is to increase protection for ‘vulnerable’ road users, that’s pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders (see GoBike Consultation Digest).

Why is this important? Here’s why:

The Highway Code matters because it shapes the culture on our roads, from how road users treat each other, to how we police road users.

The Guardian, 28 July 2020

Continue reading “Let’s get a better Highway Code!”

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Consultation Digest Issue 69, 15 September 2020: What price public opinion?

It was hoped that today’s Digest would be shorter than previous ones, until 5, yes 5, new speed cushion “consultations” arrived last Thursday, but we have limited the space given to them. On the topic of speed cushions and road safety, what price public opinion? See Item 1.11 for more.
We also have a new Transport Scotland consultation and a Planning Application that need your action, so do please read on.
Importantly, if the Digests are to continue, we need a production team, not just one person, who is a volunteer, to produce them. Yes, we are all volunteers in GoBike, but if you think you can help with these Digests please do get in touch, either via Slack or email consultations@gobike.org

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Consultation Digest Issue 68, 01 September 2020: Humps all the way in Glasgow and in North Lanarkshire it’s Roads, Roads and more Roads

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.

Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 68, 01 September 2020: Humps all the way in Glasgow and in North Lanarkshire it’s Roads, Roads and more Roads”
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Consultation Digest Issue 67, 18 August 2020: Speed cushion special.

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.”
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Consultation Digest Issue 66, 04 August 2020: an abundance of new Consultations, some very topical and some old “favourites”. So do get involved in improving where you live.

Glasgow City Council seem to have exhausted themselves with providing pop-up cycle lanes etc for social distancing and now we are back to “normal” with 5 proposals for traffic calming in different parts of the city. Plus GoBike members have been proactive in informing us that we need to protect what we’ve got in terms of current cycle provision and to consider changes to the Highway Code. And there’s even more, so do please read on.

Continue reading “Consultation Digest Issue 66, 04 August 2020: an abundance of new Consultations, some very topical and some old “favourites”. So do get involved in improving where you live.”
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Consultation Digest Issue 65, 21 July 2020: What’s happened to Pavement Parking? Proposals approved but not enacted! Plus a request to contribute to the Streets for All Glasgow Commonplace Map, and more.

Cycling around the city reminds us that GoBike supported the proposed ban on pavement parking in Scotland and we supported the Deposit Return Scheme to, hopefully, get some of the glass off our streets. We’ve done a check and have updates for you, see Section 3, though the news could be better, plus updates from north, west and south of Glasgow and Motherwell. Do read on.

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East Renfrewshire is making positive steps for Active Travel

Like many local authorities, East Renfrewshire has been giving some thought to transport and travel in the post-Covid world, and has received an initial £100,000 of Spaces for People Funding for safer walking, cycling, and wheeling.

This is a huge opportunity. In the past, many parts of East Ren have often felt like a hostile and dangerous place for people on bikes – yet the sheer number and diversity of people seen out enjoying walking and cycling during lockdown have shown just how much of a difference safer, low-traffic spaces can make. Almost 100,000 people live in the East Ren council area and with reduced capacity on public transport likely for the foreseeable future, safe routes for active travel are critical to avoid further locking in car-dependency.

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Green not Grey for our Streets – What street in Glasgow wouldn’t look better with a Parklet?

We are seeing lockdown starting to ease and our local high streets reopen for business, and with that comes the conversation about what to do with our public spaces to help both businesses and people with physical distancing.

One option might be to add some Parklets on many of Glasgow’s local high streets, particularly outside cafes and restaurants.

Continue reading “Green not Grey for our Streets – What street in Glasgow wouldn’t look better with a Parklet?”