Here are EBUG’s key ‘asks’ of all parties and candidates standing in the City of Edinburgh Council elections in May 2022.
Edinburgh Bus User Group (EBUG)
Manifesto for the 2022 Council Elections
Quality Public Transport for Everyone
EBUG believes in a working partnership between the Council and bus operators which recognises that each should focus on what it can do, and what it does best.
The next Council must Increase the budget and capacity of the Council bus team and focus more pro-actively on delivering tangible improvements for bus users.
Investment
- Improve coordination of bus and tram timetables and integrated ticketing
- Radically improve the funding for “commercially unviable” routes such as services calling at key destinations and from poorly served rural and suburban communities.
Better Bus Stops
- Complete a programme of bus stop renewal and improvement
- Review the provision of bus shelters, always prioritising bus user needs
- Complete early renewal/refreshment of real-time information on street displays
- Reduce walking distances at interchanges (e.g. bus/tram/train).
Highways
In order to improve travel times and reliability, more bus-friendly highway infrastructure is needed;
- Expand the overall number and extent of bus lanes, and their width where possible
- Extend bus lane/gate operating hours to 7am-7pm, 7 days a week
- Ensure that bus lane rules are properly enforced.
Bus Users’ Needs
Access to appropriate public transport is fundamental. Bus users are all pedestrians for part of their journey. Pedestrians are at the top of the urban transport hierarchy.
- Protect the needs of people with visual, mobility or other impairments;
– Current Floating Bus Stop designs do not meet these needs and should not continue to be rolled out
– Cutting stops and increasing the distance between bus stops discriminates against older and less able bus users - Bus services should be reviewed, to meet user need /demand, including a focus on orbital routes and linking neighbourhoods
- Bus services through the city centre must be retained, rather than cut back by a ‘to not through’ policy.
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Where does ‘your’ candidate stand, on these?
You can download the Edinburgh Bus User Group Manifesto as a PDF here.
Please feel free to share widely, so that all election candidates hear the voice of Edinburgh’s bus users!