Dear Councillor Jenkinson,
Congratulations on your new appointment as Transport Convener. We are sure you will be aware that this can be a challenging role, and we thought that some of our observations may prove helpful.
At Full Council in September 2022, our deputation acknowledged how Edinburgh’s bus network is successful, but often taken for granted. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a successful partnership between the Council and bus operators. At that time, Lothian Buses operated a successful service, grew passenger numbers and returned a dividend to its share-owning Councils.
In parallel, the City of Edinburgh Council used its extensive powers as highway authority to assist and where appropriate prioritise bus operations.
Latterly, Edinburgh Council lost sight of this but while Scott Arthur was Transport Convener, a lot of ground was regained. We hope you will progress with his legacy.
We feel it is vital to:
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- Maintain a partnership between Edinburgh Council and bus operators which recognises that each should focus on what it can do, and what it does best.
- Enhance the capacity of the Edinburgh Council bus team with a clear focus on delivering tangible improvements for bus users.
- Renew, improve and maintain bus stops.
- Review bus shelter provision, prioritising bus user needs.Complete the renewal of real-time information displays.
- Reduce walking distances at interchanges.
- Recognise that cutting stops and increasing the distance between them discriminates against older and less mobile bus users.
- Resolve the bus station situation at pace.
- Improve travel times and reliability by creating more bus-friendly highway infrastructure.
- Extend bus lane and bus gate operating hours to 7am-7pm, 7 days a week, as agreed unanimously by Full Council in July 2022.
- Monitor the need for bus lanes and ensure those in use are properly enforced.
- Protect the needs of people with visual, mobility or other impairments.
- Retain bus services through the city centre.
Current Floating Bus Stop designs do not meet the needs of bus users and should not continue to be rolled out (worryingly, it appears that these are being introduced by default in new projects).
The Scottish Government ‘paused’ the Bus Partnership Fund. As a matter of urgency, the Council must work to progress the 8 (or 9) bus priority corridors which were to be covered by that Fund.
Last year, passengers made 110 million trips on Lothian Buses alone. That is more than the entire Scotrail network. As Convener, you will encounter proposals from all quarters presented as ways to solve various transport problems. In addition, there is already a plethora of policies and plans. We believe the remainder of this Council term should focus on delivery rather than rexamining principles.
We look forward to productively working with you and your team.