r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	eenbiertje
Comment	I think your points are valid re. quality of the lanes that have been delivered on London Road. It's important to remember these were emergency, pop up lanes, added during the pandemic. In my experience, the lanes on London Road themselves are fine, the problem is that there is no protection at junctions. And these are major junctions we're talking about, especially around Celtic Park / Parkhead area. If ever I use these lanes, I accept that I need to be very wary at the junctions, and deal with it. However risky and unsafe it feels. That's just me, and probably people who already cycle semi-regularly. I can imagine people doing a spot of urban cycling for the first time will have stumbled onto the London Road lanes, experienced the junctions, and thought "never again". That said, the stats from the recent Spaces for People evaluation do show that vastly more cyclists are using these roads (with lanes) than were pre-pandemic. So they're working, but they're not working anywhere near as well as they should. Again, that comes down to their form. They were funded through central government funds (not from the council budget), to plug an immediate gap in the cycle network during the pandemic. They're not perfect, and I wouldn't expect them to be. This newly announced plan from the city is a different kettle of fish. It's about building a real network over ten years, bit by bit. A network of actual properly segregated lanes, with planned out junctions and a whole lot of added work to pavements and adjacent public spaces. When it comes to funding, this will largely not come from council funds. It's not taking money away from bin services. It's being funded through the Scottish Government's newly announced commitment to a national active travel budget of £320 million a year. A massive increase on the £10-30 million that has been normal until recently. This means the council will be able to plan a serious, properly integrated connected network. It'll make such a difference to the lives of people who already cycle, and importantly also to those who would like to cycle but fear using the roads currently. Long reply, but it's wrong to see this as a zero-sum, "this money should be spent on something else" situation. That £320 million active travel budget is still dwarfed by the budget for roads, and will continue to be into perpetuity.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/q21nex/citywide_active_travel_network_plan_unveiled/hfmaz5x/
Created	Wed 6th Oct 2021 5:14pm
Status	normal ()

I think your points are valid re. quality of the lanes that have been delivered on London Road.

It's important to remember these were emergency, pop up lanes, added during the pandemic. In my experience, the lanes on London Road themselves are fine, the problem is that there is no protection at junctions. And these are major junctions we're talking about, especially around Celtic Park / Parkhead area.

If ever I use these lanes, I accept that I need to be very wary at the junctions, and deal with it. However risky and unsafe it feels. That's just me, and probably people who already cycle semi-regularly.

I can imagine people doing a spot of urban cycling for the first time will have stumbled onto the London Road lanes, experienced the junctions, and thought "never again".

That said, the stats from the recent Spaces for People evaluation do show that vastly more cyclists are using these roads (with lanes) than were pre-pandemic. So they're working, but they're not working anywhere near as well as they should.

Again, that comes down to their form. They were funded through central government funds (not from the council budget), to plug an immediate gap in the cycle network during the pandemic. They're not perfect, and I wouldn't expect them to be.

This newly announced plan from the city is a different kettle of fish. It's about building a real network over ten years, bit by bit. A network of actual properly segregated lanes, with planned out junctions and a whole lot of added work to pavements and adjacent public spaces.

When it comes to funding, this will largely not come from council funds. It's not taking money away from bin services. It's being funded through the Scottish Government's newly announced commitment to a national active travel budget of £320 million a year. A massive increase on the £10-30 million that has been normal until recently.

This means the council will be able to plan a serious, properly integrated connected network. It'll make such a difference to the lives of people who already cycle, and importantly also to those who would like to cycle but fear using the roads currently.

Long reply, but it's wrong to see this as a zero-sum, "this money should be spent on something else" situation. That £320 million active travel budget is still dwarfed by the budget for roads, and will continue to be into perpetuity.