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.