Glasgow calls for proper cycle infrastructure

David Brennan (author of the Magnatom blog) started a petition a few weeks back:

We call on Glasgow City Council to invest in properly designed, funded and connected cycle infrastructure and to properly plan it, consult on it, and implement it.

I was sceptical that this would work. Glasgow is so ruthlessly pro-motor that we have very few cyclists. Assuming that most wouldn’t hear about the petition and that, of those, roughly 10% might consider signing (the 89:10:1 internet culture rule), I’d assumed we’d get a few hundred signatures at most.

I’m delighted to say that I was completely wrong, with 1,527people adding their support over the past 20 days.

David has arranged to hand the petition to Alistair Watson (the politician heading Glasgow’s land and environmental services) and Frank MacAveety on Friday 25 July 2014, at 1130 outside the Glasgow City Chambers.

If you haven’t added your name but believe safer cycling in Glasgow is something our council should be working on, do so here! And if you happen to be around George Square before lunch on Friday, please join us.

The full text of the petition is:

In 2014 Glasgow will be hosting the Commonwealth Games and one of the aims of the games is to inspire the people of Glasgow and to leave a lasting legacy. With Glasgow often described as the sick man of Europe part of that legacy is to encourage Glaswegians to become more active.

Cycling is unique in that not only is it a sport in the Commonwealth Games, but it also a viable, sustainable and environmentally friendly form of transport. It is therefore not surprising that Glasgow City Council (GCC) have said that they want cycling within the city boundaries to increase from its current miserly 1% of all journeys. However, despite these kind words and the appointment of a ‘cycling czar’, there is little evidence that Glasgow is taking the right steps towards making Glasgow a cycle friendly city. Recent cycling infrastructure projects such as access to Cathkin Braes (shared use paths), Fastlink (shared use paths and tortuous routes), and routes to the New Southern General Hospital (painted lanes where cars park), all demonstrate that GCC has not learned from past mistakes. Money is being wasted on infrastructure that no-one will use, few will want and that will only lead to more conflict. We call on GCC to provide a real legacy for Glasgow from the Commonwealth Games by following Edinburgh’s lead and committing a significant percentage of its transport budget to future spending on cycling infrastructure. We call for GCC to invest 5% of its transport budget initially, and to promise to raise that percentage as cycling levels increase. We also call on GCC to stop planning and building infrastructure on an ad-hoc basis, with minimal consultation, but develop a proper city wide plan with costings, time-lines and targets to ensure that the money committed from the transport budget is wisely spent.

We call on Glasgow City Council to invest in properly designed, funded and connected cycle infrastructure.