Category: Uncategorized

The Scottish Government has ‘paused’ the Bus Partnership Fund. The Fund is ‘a long-term investment of over £500m to deliver targeted bus priority measures…to reduce the negative impacts of congestion on bus services and address the decline in bus patronage’ https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/bus-partnership-fund/

When it was launched in 2019, it was the biggest investment in buses for years. Edinburgh and surrounding Councils planned to use it to finance major bus priority programmes, including on nine of Edinburgh’s busiest road corridors.

Continue reading “Bad budget for buses”

We’ve updated one of our key graphs. It now shows:

• The impact of the Covid19 pandemic
• The reallocation of bus lane space during the pandemic, now largely reinstated
• The reduction in bus lane hours in 2015

In December 2022, EBUG published an initial commentary on the Tram extension to Newhaven and buses https://edinburghbususers.group/ebug-comments-on-the-edinburgh-tram-extension-and-buses. At the time, construction was not complete, particularly at bus stops.

The Tram route has now been operating since June, so we revisited the sites previously inspected for an update. To recap, we had surveyed only the most southerly bus stops on Leith Walk, and the updated survey covered the same ground.

NB as previously, we did not carry out a full bus stop audit.

At Elm Row northbound, the bus stop appears acceptable. The shelter is long, and therefore spacious. It is perhaps disappointing that the opportunity was not taken to install wider end panels for better weather protection; this would have required moving the shelter onto the cycle path.

Continue reading “Update – comments on the Edinburgh Tram extension and buses”

Dear EBUG member,

This is the eleventh of our occasional updates for members. While the previous edition also served as the official notification for our upcoming AGM, we now provide our members with the agenda and associated documents.

To remind you: the AGM is on Wednesday June 21, at 18:00 in the Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge. Our Guest Speaker is Councillor Scott Arthur, Convener of Transport and Environment at the City of Edinburgh Council.

Continue reading “No. 11 – Edinburgh Bus Users’ Group: Members’ Bulletin June 2023”

Travelling around the western edges of Edinburgh, it is difficult not to notice the housing developments springing up. Social media has been alive with commentary on some of them, but EBUG’s been looking particularly at ‘Cammo Meadows’, which may be a harbinger of more to come.

Continue reading “Cammo Meadows; planning for public transport?”

As Trams to Newhaven nears completion, there’s been much discussion in print and social media about the design/implementation of streetscape features, particularly on Leith Walk. The City of Edinburgh Council’s present and previous transport convenors made it clear that there will be a thorough review and rectification process, consistent with the Edinburgh Street Design Guidance.

Continue reading “EBUG comments on the Edinburgh Tram extension and buses”

Joint statement

A Working Group formed in summer 2022, partly following the removal of a bus lane on the A8 which provoked wider concern over the future of Edinburgh bus lanes. Members include Edinburgh Bus Users Group, Spokes, Living Streets Edinburgh Group, BEST, SW20 and CRAG. The members continue to be independent organisations, but all recognise that bus lanes are important because they reduce bus journey times. They also reduce bus operator costs, and provide a degree of priority and protection for cyclists and emergency vehicles among others.

Continue reading “Written deputation by six local groups to the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee, 8 December”