George Square Consultation

Oct 2019
There is a consultation underway ( george-square.com ) about the future of George Square.
The usual suspects have all jumped in with their narrow prejudices; Car free/Bus free/ cycle ways/ table and chairs everywhere ( like the cluttered mess Buchanan St turns in to on a sunny day i suppose )

I tweeted about removing buses and how it effects a larger area than just George Square.

(Oct 6 updated image to fix a bus stop and added missing routes )

(Oct 6 added to show the "After" bus routes more clearly )

These changes dis-proportionally make things worse for those in the north and east of the city. Along with the Sighthill TRA and North East Active Travel plans ( eg more cycling ) they are having trendy plans imposed on them rather than being useful.

The bus to Duke Street would miss all of the passenger pickups along George street.
This would make getting from Queen Street by bus to North or East Glasgow involve a hike to bus stops, not a very integrated or friendly system.

eg. These are the paths a passenger arriving, probably with luggage, at Queen St would have to go to get to the closest stops for a North/East bound 57/57A/38A/B/C/D

It would remove bus travel to students to and from Strathclyde University from both east and west.
It would be good if people proposing these changes used public transport and/or walked about town.

Glasgow would need to undo a lot of the one way streets over a large area of the city centre if it attempts any of the George Square changes and still make the surrounding area accessible for people.

UPDATE March 2020 the provisional TRO is out and the trial is block East and West Ends of Square. Make South side bus priority. Between 7am and 7pm as trial

NB TRO's are great as they have to state correctly that cycles are vehicles.

Places .. or People (1975 )

Places...or People ( 1975 ) NLS

Sighthill TRA

The Sighthill area of Glasgow is the subject of a TRA ( Transformational Regeneration Area ) initiative. The old high flats removed and a planned community put in place.
It is all very buzz word friendly but manages to make access to public transport worse for the north east of Glasgow and for those in the new builds wanting to go South.

Original tweet thread ; LINK

"Sighthill in Glasgow is changing. Lots of new builds and car and cycle provision. There does seem to be a missed opportunity in lack of public transport options and from that encouraging the most ignored, but most used, active travel option; walking. @GlasgowCC"

OLD ---------------------------------> NEW


"The bus stop at Fountainwell/Springburn is (already) packed servicing 87/88/89A/57/57A/90's , being used as an interchange for people from south of bus station to get to 88/87/89A's by cramming on 57/57A's filling them by West George St frustrating people on Cathedral St who can't get on"

"From what i can figure out from the masterplan they have not added any extra bus stops despite the number of houses added and managed to make the paths to the bus stops longer. People who do their shopping at the big Lidl have a longer haul of their bags."

".. the people in the new houses have a longer walk to get to the new bus stop . Since we have permanent sunshine here that will not be a problem and people will happily leave their cars behind to walk to the bus stop. I can't spot any new bus stops on the new Pinkston road"

"If you have done your shopping and then are going to points North; Springburn, Bargrayhill,Balornock,Barmulloch you are penalised for having to use the bus.

I have made a big zoomable map you can change the overlays at top right to see the changes.
sighthill.bzncl.tv"

The designers were so pleased with themselves with moving the stone circle and putting in cycle tracks that they couldnt be bothered making proper provision for public transport. The changes affect more than just the immediate surrounding area and impact those reliant on buses.
Much like the Avenues scheme this was primarily planned by the previous council and with that it shares the same issues of being a badly thought out and designed plan.
Glasgow is a city of public transport and pedestrians and all of these builds actively work against that.

p.s. just noticed that the planners have decided as well as making people walk further from the shops with their messages/prams etc they pavement is now a cycle lane so add bikes into the mix.
This city hates people who have to use public transport

Oct 2019

This layout may also lead to more people trying to cross the carriageway and jump over the central barriers rather than going all of the way round the crossings. A bad design by non public transport users as we have come to expect in Glasgow.

Sauchiehall Street Avenue Pilot "opened"

September 25th 2019 8 days after offical opening.
There is so much wrong with this street. This is one frame from a video.

A dangerous anti-pedestrian styling exercise.

They have made it easier for cars to corner faster into crossing pedestrians. They removed safety barriers from that corner and replaced with pathetic little poles. ( i mentioned the problem at this corner in a Nov 2017 post )
In a world that will soon be using silent electric cars and too accepting of the promises of self driving vehicles this type of design will be deadly.
The drain cover on the tactiles rendering it useless isnt in the plans
You cant safely sit at the seats as they are too close to the cycleway.
Street clutter reducing the usable pavement. on and on
So much wrong with this. The council was warned about these crossings before building started but the groups were ignored.

(click images for larger versions )

Three Scottish Painters : Joan Eardley (1963)

Three Scottish Painters ( 1963 ) @ NLS
Joan Eardley

204 St James St, Glasgow

Sauchiehall St: Marketing vs Reality

Never trust the renders used to sell a scheme.

Sauchiehall St August 7th 2019.
( Update to his July 17th post )

Every time there is a compromise it has made things worse for pavement users.

Elmbank Street;
Before: Top Left
Render : Top Right
As Built: Bottom Right

Every change affected pavement users. No seats, more poles and street clutter. More cycle security poles though.
Promotional trees not there.
Removal of good safety barriers in hope that cars etc slow down and let people on the pavement cross safely. A city of pavement and public transport users is being redesigned by drivers and cyclists.At least they didnt put in that crazy non compliant super width zebra thing that is in the renders and included a controlled crossing that was shockingly missing initially .
However they replaced the safety barriers on the other end of the road when they did some realignment during this work so no consistency.
Remember there were not supposed to be shared surfaces in this work.

Dental Hospital:
It is tragic to still see the groups using this render to promote the scheme. They couldn't be bothered to include the bus stop at the Dental Hospital. Securing four bikes was a bigger priority than helping maintain access.

I have complained that the seats are very close to the cycle way. Making them unsafe for some people to use. People with prams, shopping bags, small kids, disabled people etc will find them unsafe.

Looking at them plus the pictures in the Dental Hospital images i do suspect that they may be installed the wrong way round. You can see three different orientations in the pictures , but if they were installed like the render they would have more space. Equally the plans could have been used but they seem to have been for ignored. Going by the appearance that they seem to have used the wrong plans for the end at Renfrew St i doubt they reviewed them.

This ends crossings have just been abandoned;
Getting to the crossing control is difficult for those that need it.

CCA:
It really is an unattractive brown smear of a mini road imposed on the street. Look at the promotional images compared to the built.It reeks of last minute panic to do something to differentiate the areas. In the plans the "Coloured Asphalt Surfacing" is only marked for use at a very small number of areas. Trying to remove snow/ice from that surface is going to be a mess.
You can see another variation of the seats

[Aug9 2019 Changed orientation of these images. Click on image for large version]

I will be excited when this sign finally gets moved .

...and as always assume all the corduroys tactiles are either oriented incorrectly or missing.