What have the SNP got against our buses?

Lothian Buses is being hit by attacks from the SNP government. Those attacks are in sharp contrast to additional support for services in rural areas, run largely by Stagecoach, owned by SNP donor Brian Souter. And they are the reason why city bus fares just went up to £1.40.

The Scottish Government has hit on two fronts. It changed the rules of what’s called the Bus Service Operators Grant so that city buses get a lot less. That grant is now at the lowest level for nine years. It’s also cut the cash it gives Lothian Buses for carrying pensioners for free.

No one in the SNP or the government has explained why Lothian Buses are getting hit like this. Labour persuaded the Council to send an all-party deputation to the minister to see if he’ll back off.

Pedal on Parliament!

I've just signed the Pedal on Parliament petition to be taken to Holyrood by hundreds of cyclists and supporters on 28th April. Here's how they describe their aims:

"Safer cycling and cities fit for people is an important issue for Scotland. Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists (and anyone who wants to join them) from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood to tell our politicians that cycling matters. In February, up to 2000 cyclists gathered in London to cycle on the Westminster Parliament in support of safer cycling and cities fit for people. On April 28th, to coincide with a follow-up ride in London, Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood to tell our politicians that cycling matters. We’re asking everyone who cycles in Scotland – or who would like to cycle, or would like their families to cycle, but who doesn’t feel safe – to join us for a big ride of our own – and a big picnic. Young and old, keen commuter or weekend pedaller, fit or not – you don’t even need to be on a bike. You just need to show up and add your voice to help make Scotland safe for cycling."

You can sign the petition yourself by clicking here. And please consider joining the event on 28th April to promote their excellent 8 point manifesto. Thanks!

Where's Edinburgh's tram inquiry?

Edinburgh needs a modern transport system, but everyone knows the past five years of blunder and delay on the tram project have harmed our city. Two hundred million over budget for half the tram line we expected.

 It’s a managerial and financial disaster and the people of Edinburgh have a right to know what’s gone so badly wrong and why. It can’t be swept under the carpet.

Isn’t it right that we should all learn the lessons so these blunders can’t happen again? So why won’t Alex Salmond commission an inquiry as everyone wants? Has he got something to hide?

The ever-expanding transport policy

A lot of people ask me - what is the Council’s policy on transport then? Well, the basic answer is: huge! We have an awful lot of transport policies and plans. And perhaps that’s part of the problem.

1. Local Transport Strategy 2007 – 2012 (171 pages) It needs urgent replacement – and probably shortening!

2 Transport 2030 Vision. This states that by 2030, Edinburgh’s Transport System will be the greenest, healthiest and most accessible in northern Europe. In the plan, “Greenest” means reducing the impacts of transport thus playing its full part in reducing greenhouse gas emission. “Healthiest” means promoting Active Travel with streets appropriately designed for their functions and an emphasis on encouraging walking, cycling and public transport, supported by a high quality public realm; it also means improving local air quality. “Most accessible” means supporting the economy by providing access to employment, amenities and services; it means being smart and efficient with reliable journey times for people, goods and services; it means being part of a well planned, physically accessible, sustainable city that reduces dependency on car travel; it means having a public transport system and walking and cycling conditions that are safe, secure and comfortable, inclusive, integrated, customer focused, innovative and effectively maintained.

3 Active Travel Plan. This says that walking and cycling meet so many objectives that they deserve to be strongly promoted. They have minimal environmental impact, they are good for health, and they are affordable and sociable. The Active Travel Action Plan (ATAP) sets out to deliver these benefits by enabling more people in Edinburgh to cycle and walk, more safely and more often.

4 The Road Safety Plan for Edinburgh This was launched in May 2010 as a focus for all road safety activity in the city.  The Council is working in partnership with Lothian & Borders Police, NHS Lothian and Lothian & Borders Fire & Rescue Service to encourage safer travel in our city for everyone. At the core of the Road Safety Plan is the vision that the Council and its partners will work towards what’s called “Vision Zero” - the provision of a modern road network where all users are safe from the risk of being killed or seriously injured.

It is therefore not that we do not have enough plans and strategies. But the questions have to be: how well (or badly) does the Council involve the public in having ownership of the plans and strategies? And how well (or badly) does it deliver them?

Take a walk

Here’s something I didn’t know until recently. Over 70,000 Edinburgh citizens live within a 20 minute walk of Princes Street.

So then, when people do want to walk, why can’t we make it a whole lot easier and more pleasant for them? Long waits at pedestrian crossings while traffic speeds past. Dangerous railings around junctions and crossings so you can’t see round the corner to see what’s coming. So many signs, poles, boxes, cluttering up the pavements. So many detours around those railings. And of course, the state of the pavements themselves. It’s time we really made that 20 minute walking area a pedestrian paradise! It would be good for our health and good for our economy as people enjoy being in the Centre more.

Impressed by the cyclists

I really admire the cycling lobby in our city. For years, mainly through Spokes, they’ve argued and lobbied and cajoled the Council and the government about improving things for cyclists. They are always polite and always in command of their facts.

And it’s paid off. Gradually the Council over many years has improved facilities for cyclists – and the number of people cycling has gone up and up. Journeys by bike are now a significant percentage of all journeys.

It shows the power of consistent, courteous and well-argued views.

Car and taxi ban proposal for Waverley

Network Rail have proposed to ban all drop-off and pick up cars and taxis from Waverley Station. They did this without consultation with station users and though they spoke with Council officials, they didn’t tell councillors.

To me this seems like a slap in the face for old people, mums and dads with kids, and disabled people. Where are they going to be set down to get on a train? There’s no room on Princes Street and not much on Waverley Bridge. From Market Street there are either stairs or a long walk. It will really discourage some people from using the train at all.

So I put a motion to the Transport Committee, asking our staff to go and talk with Network Rail to try and find a solution to this. In response, Network Rail have agreed to postpone this plan until the end of 2012, so that talks can take place.

My motion reads like this:

Committee notes with concern the proposed closure of Waverley Station to all vehicles.

Committee notes with regret the absence of any report to this committee regarding this proposal.

Committee further notes:

• the potential consequences of such a move on passengers who are disabled, frail, travelling with young children, travelling with heavy or cumbersome luggage.
• that lorries supplying the retail outlets in the station will continue have access to the station concourse.
• that proposed exits are inadequate and place too much of a burden on surrounding streets to accommodate passenger pick-ups and drop-offs. This will be particularly arduous for families with small children or anyone with mobility difficulties, obliging them to struggle over considerable distances to meet their onward travel connection.
• Waverley will be the only mainline station where elderly people and those with mobility difficulties cannot interchange with their other modes of transport at the same level as the station. The long ramps up to Waverley Bridge are not wheelchair friendly.
• that every year access to the station is restricted for a few hours before the Hogmanay Street Party. This causes great inconvenience to the elderly and disabled. Making this inconvenience the norm is wrong.

Committee believes that the closure of Waverley Station to all vehicles is out of proportion to any perceived security risk and therefore instructs the Director of Transport to enter into urgent negotiations to seek an early and satisfactory resolution to this problem.

My wee car

I used our car the other day to go and see my mum in Dundee. Getting her shopping, lunch and a general catch up. It’s great for those kinds of trips – and of course I use it when I have to go out late at night for meetings. I don’t know how I’d manage otherwise.

But I was saying to my husband recently that so often it just sits there outside our house. I use the bus to get into my work at the City Chambers or to other meetings in the city centre. But paying all those costs for the car when it’s just sitting there is not so smart. There must be a lot of people like us. The City Car Club would suit me fine so I could just use a car when I needed it, but without all those costs when I’m not. But the Car Club doesn’t operate where I live. Pity.

(You’ll gather from this that I’m not one of those people for whom a car is something large and shiny that tells the world how rich and powerful you are! Just a way of getting about….)

Our buses under attack

We learnt yesterday that Lothian Buses will be putting their fares up next month, and they say the main reason for this hike is the fact that the SNP government have slashed their Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) for the coming year.

Here are the figures for the overall Scottish Government BSOG. It turns out that the coming year's grant will be the lowest since 2004!

2004-05: £56m
2005-06: £57m
2006-07: £59m
2007-08: £60m
2008-09: £63m
2009-10: £64m
2010-11: £62.5m
2011-12: £60.3m
2012-13: £50m

On top of this, the Scottish Government have capped the budget for reimbursement to bus operators for the Scotland-wide free bus travel, which will result in a drop of income from that source. And the method of calculating BSOG reimbursement has changed to the detriment of urban bus operators like Lothian Buses.

In view of this three pronged attack on Edinburgh’s bus services, and in particular Lothian Buses, I asked in yesterday's Transport Committee for an urgent cross-party meeting with the Minister for Housing and Transport to convey our deep concerns regarding the impact on future bus services in Edinburgh.

Yet more ideas

The emails and messages still come in as a result of deciding to talk to people. Here’s one.

"Dear Lesley: I am writing further to the meeting you chaired at Stockbridge House to give some ideas on the topics you suggested for discussion.

1. Cycling and Walking: Make more roads one way to allow cycle lanes to be wider. Only allow parking on one side of one way streets with cycle lanes on the other side. Make it an offence to park on cycle lanes.

2. Trams: Public Inquiry - is there a point? No-one will be fined or punished for wasting public money (e.g. the guided busways debacle) so is there any point in naming and shaming those responsible?

Prof Lewis Lesley has offered to finish the line to Newhaven at no extra cost. His tramlines have been tested in Sheffield and Rotherham (and in the test Laboratory); he should be given the job.

Development of the North and South Suburban railways for public transport using tramcars.

3. Buses: Certainly keep Lothian Buses in public ownership. We need a Lothian-wide publicly-owned and planned transport system. The bus service needs to be regulated. More electronic real-time information at bus-stops.

4. Income: Inner circle congestion charges. Normal parking charges for all day parking.

5. Parking: for shoppers free from 10.00 - 3.30 pm to encourage people to shop in the city centre instead of going to peripheral shopping centres.

6. Second Forth Bridge - better to repair the old one - we don't need any grandstanding gestures by Alex Salmond.

I hope these suggestions may be of some use Lesley. I admire what you are doing in involving as many people as possible with Transport plans. Best wishes."

The ideas keep coming in

Ideas continue to come in from members of the Edinburgh public who came to the consultation I set up in January. Here are some short extracts from a lengthy list of ideas in an email from one person

"Dear Lesley,

I was impressed with your transport consultation and support your view that policy should be driven by consensus"

Cycling and Walking

Provide more cycle routes, including formal use of quiet streets. More signage to help less experienced and leisure cyclists, to increase cycle use. More information needs to be provided because many people are not aware of routes, distances, times and parking facilities.

Sharing of footways between cyclists and walkers is acceptable in the right locations – starting with footways that have low pedestrian flows.

Two very interesting ideas

One of the members at Greener Leith sent me two personal and really interesting ideas about city transport. He said:

“I'd like to see politicians drive real change in culture in the council travel department. Local residents need the kind of support from the council to deliver the kinds of changes that have been delivered in New York in just a few years. e.g: http://vimeo.com/22886687. Too often, when planning interchanges like Picardy Place for example, the primary concern of traffic planners seems to be the old school 'capacity and throughput of cars' rather than a place-making approach that would not see cyclists' concerns treated like an afterthought.

At Greener Leith we've considered applying for funding to establish a local 'low carbon transport co-op' that would act like the city car club but give people access to more than just standard cars - for example electric vehicles, electric bikes, bike trailers, child seats etc. I wonder if Labour and the council could think really big and transform Lothian Buses into a "low carbon community benefit transport co-op" with the primary objective of cutting carbon emissions of our local transport system?”

Two good ideas and I hope they can be taken forward after the elections in May. Any views?

Greener Leith live poll

Greener Leith is one of the more active community groups in the city. It is conducting a poll of Leithers on the question “What would help you Walk, Cycle or use public transport more on Leith Walk?”

It’s at: http://weloveleith.uservoice.com/forums/25863-future-travel-plan-for-leith/filters/top

The poll is still live, but Greener Leith tell me that one of the key learning outcomes of this poll so far is that the maintenance of public space is equally important as capital funds for infrastructure projects. They want the Council to agree to these ideas:

1. A commitment to treat key active travel routes over the winter with the same importance as category A 'gritting routes.' 
2. A commitment to providing high profile policing of key active travel routes - esp important during winter nights and peak commuting times.
3. A continued investment in street cleansing, graffiti treatment services and environmental wardens is required in order to tackle people's perceptions that some public spaces are 'dangerous.' 

That seems really sensible and I’ll be taking these ideas up with colleagues in the Council.

Please talk to the driver!

One of the people I’ve been talking to recently is Rab. He’s a bus driver. He tells me no-one talks to bus drivers about how to improve things. There’s one story he told which really struck me. He and his colleagues all know that on one spot, in one particular busy stretch of road, at a regular time in rush hour, there’s a white van parked illegally. That causes a tail-back and a delay for his passengers. He says all it needs is an instruction to a parking warden to be there at that time to ticket the van - and if needed to lift it up and tow it away. That should continue until the driver gets the message about his illegal and anti-social behaviour and goes somewhere else to park.

Just talk to the bus-drivers because they are experts too - that was his message. And lots of those niggling delays and difficulties could be solved.

Trams, Transport and Trust in the Council

This article was published in the Evening News today.

Trams, Transport and Trust in the Council.

At least two of these are vital to the city but, sadly, at the moment they’re all the dock.
The most important of those is a collapse in trust, because it harms everything else the Council wants to do.

After the fiasco surrounding the development of a tram route through the city the people of Edinburgh simply don’t trust the council any more to deliver any major transport project.

What’s more, they don’t trust them to even get the small things right as far as transport and traffic are concerned.

That is something I’ve been hearing from more and more people in recent weeks, and is a problem we urgently need to do something about.

Sixty ideas

The transport consultation meeting I organised earlier this month was a lively and talkative affair.  As anyone would expect, there were many views of what transport improvements could be made in the city.  Here’s a full list of the sixty ideas from discussion that we recorded. Some I agree with, some I don’t.  Some are immediately practical, some are not. Some repeat others, some contradict others.  But here they are.

What do you think? What ideas would you add?

1. Improved signage to make safer for pedestrians, cyclist and motorists
2. De-clutter pavements
3. Cancel Trams, learn from other cities: trolley buses
4. Abolish maximum 4 hour parking
5. Take bus drivers off from fare taking: two doors - one off, one on