Tag: cycling

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Swinton Avenue, Baillieston: proposed speed cushions will leave cyclists in the gutter

Glasgow City Council propose, in a recent e-mail headed “Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming Scheme”: “to consider the introduction of the above named Traffic Calming Scheme and I wish to establish the views of your organisation.

Background to the proposed Scheme

The scheme is aimed at improving road safety by reducing vehicle speeds and discouraging rat-running.

Roads affected by the proposed Scheme

The list of roads affected by these proposals are:-

Swinton Avenue

Details of the proposed Scheme

The proposed Scheme (as depicted on the attached plan) will comprise of:-

  • 4 sets of 1.9m x 1.9m 75mm high speed cushions.”

Their drawing: Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming Propsal shows only 0.5m at the outer side of each set of speed cushion, ie one would have to cycle right in the gutter, over the cushion or in the 0.7m gap between the 2 cushions.

There appears to have been no consideration of active travel and we have proposed options of one-way chicanes with cycle bypasses or for the road to be stopped up allowing only cycle through traffic, and we have copied our letter, GoBike Consultations Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming 13 Dec 2017 to the 3 Councillors for the Ward, ie Ward 20, Baillieston.  We have also mentioned the potential impact of Mark Ruskell’s 20mph bill – if you haven’t written to your constituency and list MSPs to ask them to support this, please do so!

Comments on the Swinton Avenue proposal are required by this Friday, 15 December – sorry for the short notice – but if you wish to put your comments in please do so to: LandServices.Mailroom@glasgow.gov.uk

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20mph needs you!

We put a call out a few weeks ago for members to add support to a 20mph bill being put forward in Holyrood. If it goes through, it will see a reduction in the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph for built up areas in Scotland (while allowing local authorities to keep appropriate arterial routes at current speeds). As well as reducing accidents, lowering air pollution and making our streets more people friendly, this will also negate the need for the costly and pollutive traffic calming measures that our members have been discussing over on Slack (drop us an email if you’d like to sign up!). It would also save our councils on the currently lengthy and costly process they need to undergo to designate a particular 20mph zone, in fact this was a cause we as GoBike fought on locally for Glasgow just a few years ago. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13213540.Victory_for_cycle_campaigners_as_petition_to_turn_Glasgow_into_20mph_city_referred_to_council_policymakers/

The great news is that Mark Ruskell MSP who has been working on the bill has now reached the threshold of support to take 20mph to vote, but he has let us know that if he can get a wider range of cross party support on it, it will make the bill proposal stronger when moving forward. So we still need your help! If you can ask your MSPs to sign up to the bill (particularly those from the Lib Dem and Scottish Conservatives Party of whom none have signed up so far) it could be a really significant help.

You can do this simply by sending an email voicing your support, perhaps outlining some reasons why, some of which you might find here https://greens.scot/saferstreets or here https://www.cyclinguk.org/campaign/20-mph-lower-speeds-better-streets

Find how to contact your local MSP here: https://www.writetothem.com/

The deadline is 19th December.

Thank you GoBike members!

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East Renfrewshire: Clarkston – Stamperland – Busby Active Travel Network Delivery Plan

 

The message below has been sent on to us; it’s just for information at the moment, the start of the process in East Renfrewshire and there will be more to come:

From: “Shelton, John” <John.Shelton@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk>
Date: 7 Dec 2017 15:15
Subject: Clarkston – Stamperland – Busby Active Travel Network Delivery Plan
To:
Cc:
Dear Stakeholder,

You may recall a public consultation held in August to assist with development of a walking and cycling plan for Clarkston, Stamperland and Busby. I have the pleasure to share the final draft of the delivery plan (along with supporting appendices). This can be accessed via the East Renfrewshire Council Clarkston Town Centre page and will be publicised this weekend to the Clarkston Your Town Facebook page.

The Active Travel Network Delivery Plan was developed by East Renfrewshire Council and AECOM in response to a series of workshops held last year with residents and businesses as part of the Council’s Clarkston: Your Town initiative. The plan highlights local priorities to improve walking and cycling provision, as well as major projects to improve accessibility in key areas.

As well as outlining short and long term actions that may be considered so that walking and cycling is the natural choices for everyday journeys, the plan contributes to an ongoing conversation about the type of place Clarkston aspires to be.

Over the next few months East Renfrewshire Council will work with partners to develop detailed designs for some of the proposals identified within the plan, specifically improving local routes and enhancements to the Netherlee pavilion public realm. Furthermore, East Renfrewshire Council will look to establish a framework through which local people can help shape future plans supported by an ongoing programme of data gathering.

A pilot scheme in Clarkston to create more public space, with the introduction of ‘parklets’ and traffic reduced to a single lane along Busby Rd, is planned for Spring 2018 as part of ongoing Clarkston town centre improvement works. This will provide important insight into possible future options for Clarkston town centre.

If you have any questions regarding the plan please do not hesitate to get in touch. Also, please feel free to circulate this to anyone else you think may be interested in proposals.

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards

John Shelton

Green Network Project Officer

0141 577 3142 – Tel

07393 752 500 – Mob

East Renfrewshire: Your Council, Your Future

www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

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Yoker to Knightswood, route to BMX park, part 2, Shared Footway section proposals.

You may remember that last month we responded quite positively to the proposals for the southern part of this scheme?  That was the segregated cycleway sections; we had reservations but the council staff responded promptly and we are reasonably happy with that stage.

It is not the same at all with the second phase, which is all shared footway.  There appear to be contradictions between the drawings that are on the website (and reproduced here) and the paper drawings we were sent by post.  Just about everything is proposed to be at the Absolute Minimum dimension given in Cycling by Design – this document includes a Desirable Minimum, an Absolute Minimum and even gives reductions on the latter, which helps explain why some of the cycling facilities in Glasgow are as bad as they are.  Consultation on this part of the scheme closes this Friday, 08 December, so, if you can, please do get your views in over the next 2 days.

Given the disappointment in the scheme I have copied the 4 Councillors for the Ward, it’s Ward 13, into the letter, so that they get our concern first hand.  Two of these Councillors toured the ward on Friday with us.

The Council documents are here: YokerToKnightswood-Redetermination-220x85mm-RTO redetermination Statement of Reasons redetermination information Report  32518_TRO_01-Lincoln Ave 32518_TRO_01-Dyke Road 32518_TRO_01-Archerhill road

The GoBike response, objecting to the proposals is here: GoBike Yoker to Knightwood Redetermination 061217

Please do e-mail the Council if you have views on this scheme.

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Councillor tour 11, the SNP two cycle round Ward 13, Scotstounhill / Garscadden, Friday 01 December

The 2 SNP councillors for Scotstounhill /Garscadden, Michael Cullen and Chris Cunningham (MSP Roseanna Cunningham’s brother) toured Ward 13 with GoBike committee member, Alasdair Macdonald and member, Neil Lovelock, on Friday 01 December.  They are all pictured above, in discussion with a local resident on the canalside.

Cllr Cullen posted to his Facebook page straight after the event, and has issued these tweets:
GoBike ride leader, Andy Preece, provided these points along his planned route, which the councillors noted on their tour: Councillor Ward Tour – Scotstoun, details
Neil has responded to the councillors on these issues:
Route cycled
Andy Preece provided this route: Councillor Ward Tour – Scotstoun map but the actual route cycled is here: http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/2600587315
Space for Cycling guide
See this PDF: space_for_cycling_guide_for_decision_makers  of the document that Neil handed across a copy on Friday.
Cycle path access points upgrade
See below for a few before and after photos of some of the improvements made to the access points back in Feb 2015.
Dock St planning approval
This is via West Dunbartonshire Council. Original application was submitted in 2012 and a revised version approved in 2016. Latest ref no is DC15/251 http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/planning-building-standards/planning-applications/view-and-comment-on-planning-applications/
nextbike membership discount
Details of how to get the 50% discount are here:
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Queen Margaret Drive and Battlefield: 2 very quick on-line initial consultations from Glasgow City Council – Please respond

Further to the drop-in sessions held recently for Queen Margaret Drive and Battlefield junction improvements, Glasgow City Council have put out an initial on-line consultation for each:

Queen Margaret Drive

Battlefield Junction 

This is early days for each consultation and the questions don’t ask you to choose a design option but do please answer the basic questions to voice your support for change.

Note that for Battlefiedl there is no question about cycling!  So please add your views in the walking box.  The closing dates are 15 December for QMD and 22 December for Battlefield – but best to do them both now before you forget!

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After the GoBike AGM (29 November) two rides to look at infrastructure, and more in Glasgow

After our AGM and Public Meeting tomorrow, 7:30pm at the Admiral Bar, with what is very likely to be a lively discussion about cycle infrastructure in Glasgow, why not join one or both of our forthcoming rides to look in more detail at the city?  Both rides devised and led by Andy Preece, with further details on our Rides page. Continue reading “After the GoBike AGM (29 November) two rides to look at infrastructure, and more in Glasgow”

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Just one week to go: GoBike AGM and Public Meeting, 29 November 2017

Yes, just 7 sleeps to go until our 2017 AGM and Public Meeting with Anna Richardson, Glasgow City Council’s Convenor for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, on Wednesday 29 November.

The venue is the downstairs room of the Admiral Bar on the Waterloo Street section of the West City Way with cycle parking nearby and a NextBike station too. Continue reading “Just one week to go: GoBike AGM and Public Meeting, 29 November 2017”

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Contraflow Cycling, and a new Transform20 campaign

GoBike was invited to give a short presentation on a campaigning theme at the Transform Scotland AGM 2017 held in Glasgow City Chambers on 26 October.  We chose the topic of Contraflow Cycling and a summary of our talk is on the Contraflow Cycling campaign page on our website.  Contraflow is essential in our towns and cities to make them permeable for bikes.  One way streets were introduced to “improve” flow for cars, but this, as we know, has had the effect of increased vehicle speeds, increased vehicle use, increased congestion and increased pollution; we want our streets back.

At the AGM Transform Scotland launched their Transform 20 campaign: ‘As part of Transform Scotland’s 20th anniversary year we’ve launched a new campaign called #Transform20. This campaign focuses on offering an easy way for the public to communicate their ideas to transform transport in Scotland to become more eco-friendly, safer and easier to access.

Ideas can be simple and don’t require a detailed explanation. To submit your idea, please go to our website http://transform20.transform.scot, where you can submit a brief description of up to 200 words on how you think Scottish transport can be transformed. Your idea must be accompanied by a title (under 10 words) and there’s an option to upload a high quality picture to support your idea. You can also upload supporting documents or provide a link to further information if you wish.’

GoBike has submitted our Contraflow campaign to this page, others have submitted their ideas too.  Why not have a look and submit your bee-in-your-bonnet campaigning idea?

If you like our Contraflow campaign please send in your contraflow picture, telling us where it is, to campaigning@gobike.org and we’ll add it to the web page.