Glasgow LEZ

[colinallcars]

I was driving along the M8 this morning and noticed that signs have been erected notifying that the LEZ will become effective on 1 June. I’ve looked it up on the internet and discovered that it includes all the city centre car parks, with no easing of restrictions to allow access to them. That should kill off a few more hospitality/entertainment venues - well done Glasgow City Council.

footnote : I wonder if I could self identify as a Euro6 compliant car?

 

[HB]

It’s absolutely ridiculous but every city is facing this including Stirling which literally has only 3 streets !

 

[Dryce]

Glasgow city council seems to want to create a student enclave in the centre - while those who live and work around the city use the retail parks.

Fair enough.

But they've made it very difficult for cars and taxis to get in and out of the centre to access the two main train statons.

Instead they have built a cryptographically disjoint cycle network and some empty bus lanes while ensuring the few vehicles that do enter are subject to emissions generating congestion and time wasting inconvenience.

I think they could do a lot better. But hey - LEZ's and bus lanes solve all our problems don't they?

 

[KennyN]

As the Cayenne is Euro 5 it wont be allowed into the city centre from June , no major upset for me a the centre is a hole anyway and i am sure the shops in Breahead or Silverburn will happily take my £££.

We were at the Concert Hall last week and used the carpark next to Buchannan St. bus station . Fine at 17.00 but walking into a dark pi$$ infested carpark at 23.00 was a different matter , couple that with the army of Zombies shuffling around the area holding empty cups has certainly made me think twice about where we will eat / drink / socialise in the future.

K

 

[markjay]

Glasgow city council seems to want to create a student enclave in the centre - while those who live and work around the city use the retail parks.

Fair enough.

But they've made it very difficult for cars and taxis to get in and out of the centre to access the two main train statons.

Instead they have built a cryptographically disjoint cycle network and some empty bus lanes while ensuring the few vehicles that do enter are subject to emissions generating congestion and time wasting inconvenience.

I think they could do a lot better. But hey - LEZ's and bus lanes solve all our problems don't they?

Based on my experience in London, I don't think that LEZ and traffic restrictions are related, in fact these are two separate issues.

Traffic restrictions are meant to reduce traffic going through residential areas, and apply equally to all vehicles, with exemption for residents.

LEZ, on the other hand, isn't aimed at reducing traffic volume as such, nor will it achieve it anyway. In the first instance, only a small proportion of cars are not LEZ compliant, and even these will slowly disappear as time goes by. Then, those who have a need to regularly travel through the LEZ and do not have compliant cars, will simply replace their old Diesel cars with post-2004 petrol cars. The end result is that in the long term LEZ in itself is unlikely to have a significant impact on traffic volume or congestion.

What traffic restrictions and LEZ do have in common, is that they are aimed at improving air quality in cities, but other than that these are two very different issues.

 

[Dryce]

What traffic restrictions and LEZ do have in common, is that they are aimed at improving air quality in cities, but other than that these are two very different issues.

When it comes to Glasgow and Edinburgh I'm way more cynical.

There's dogma at work.

Glasgow's emissions were down to buses and LGVs. The buses have had money spent on them to improve their emissions. Arguably the LEZ was unecessary.

Again with congestion - Edinburgh council and Glasgow council have messed with the traffic systems - making journeys physcally longer and more complicated and more delayed. Glasgow took a well functioning system and basically bottlenecked it probably casuing more emissions. Glasgow took wide roads heading wets from the centre vand out to Govan and split them into an *empty* bus only corridor and added additional traffic lights and there are crossover sections. Then we have the farce of Central Station where Glasgow blocked the main roads passing it to private cars and it's next to impssible to drop and pick up. And you take a taxi? Well they have slow access through the centre. Note the pattern here. Council causes congestion and causes emissions.

Lately Glasgow closed of half a dual carriageway heading into Glasgow from the north to create a bus lane. idiots didn't realise that the traffic moving off the empty bus lane would back up traffic further north meaning any faster bus heading south would be delayed in the congestion back from the bus l;ane. (First time I've ever seen Glasgow remove bus lane signs and put up an instruction to traffic to use both lanes ..... this was spo stupid even they noticed and undid the damage).

So traffic restrictions and the LEZ have three things in common in Glasgow - DOGMA, PREJUDICE, and STUPIDITY.

 

[HB]

When it comes to Glasgow and Edinburgh I'm way more cynical.

There's dogma at work.

Glasgow's emissions were down to buses and LGVs. The buses have had money spent on them to improve their emissions. Arguably the LEZ was unecessary.

Again with congestion - Edinburgh council and Glasgow council have messed with the traffic systems - making journeys physcally longer and more complicated and more delayed. Glasgow took a well functioning system and basically bottlenecked it probably casuing more emissions. Glasgow took wide roads heading wets from the centre vand out to Govan and split them into an *empty* bus only corridor and added additional traffic lights and there are crossover sections. Then we have the farce of Central Station where Glasgow blocked the main roads passing it to private cars and it's next to impssible to drop and pick up. And you take a taxi? Well they have slow access through the centre. Note the pattern here. Council causes congestion and causes emissions.

Lately Glasgow closed of half a dual carriageway heading into Glasgow from the north to create a bus lane. idiots didn't realise that the traffic moving off the empty bus lane would back up traffic further north meaning any faster bus heading south would be delayed in the congestion back from the bus l;ane. (First time I've ever seen Glasgow remove bus lane signs and put up an instruction to traffic to use both lanes ..... this was spo stupid even they noticed and undid the damage).

So traffic restrictions and the LEZ have three things in common in Glasgow - DOGMA, PREJUDICE, and STUPIDITY.

Nail on head

 

[rf065]

Glasgow's emissions were down to buses and LGVs. The buses have had money spent on them to improve their emissions. Arguably the LEZ was unecessary.

Correct, Hope Street outside central station, always gridlocked with buses and taxis who never turn their engines off, every year it's named the most polluted street in Glasgow if not the UK.
Glasgows answer, ban cars from this stretch of road!

 

[pmcgsmurf]

It’s absolutely ridiculous but every city is facing this including Stirling which literally has only 3 streets !

Our local council have done a great job at reducing all the road widths to provide cycle lanes.

Don't know anyone that is happy with this, some of the roads are quite dangerous now for large vehicles passing each other!

 

[Darrell]

We drove from one of our jobs behind the Hard Rock at Hyde Park Corner to another in Birchin Lane near the Bank of England at around midday.

5.6kms. 1hr.

Bus lanes, cycle lanes, no left turns, no right turns, busses everywhere and then Google maps gave up. The area around Bank is very confusing and even the Police didn’t know.

 

[markjay]

Correct, Hope Street outside central station, always gridlocked with buses and taxis who never turn their engines off, every year it's named the most polluted street in Glasgow if not the UK.
Glasgows answer, ban cars from this stretch of road!

So what would you have done then? Knock down rows of houses on both sides of the road and widen the street...? Obviously, you either put up with the congestion and pollution, or you ban cars, or you put a price on travelling on that stretch of road - I don't really see a forth alternative.

 

[markjay]

We drove from one of our jobs behind the Hard Rock at Hyde Park Corner to another in Birchin Lane near the Bank of England at around midday.

5.6kms. 1hr.

Bus lanes, cycle lanes, no left turns, no right turns, busses everywhere and then Google maps gave up. The area around Bank is very confusing and even the Police didn’t know.

If you travel for your work, I would have thought that you'll want to see all those people who drive their cars because 'its more convenient', banned? Think about it this way, if the cost to travel up Park Lane (or any other congested road) was even higher than it is now, less people would use it. Wouldn't it be worth your while to pay a little more, and be able to drive through in 15 minutes instead of one hour? You'd get more jobs done in a day. The big question, to my mind, is how to dissuade people from driving through central London in their private cars, unless they absolutely have to.

 

[m80]

footnote : I wonder if I could self identify as a Euro6 compliant car?

Only if you cut the exhaust off.

I don't really see a forth alternative.

Only Edinburgh has that option.

Imagine a Utopia where there was a national policy for these things (including Scotland and other local councils).
It's like flippin' bin colours, it might as well be designed to confuse.

Methinks I'll join the virtue signallers and put some green tape down the edge of my number plates.

 

[Dickster]

If you travel for your work, I would have thought that you'll want to see all those people who drive their cars because 'its more convenient', banned? Think about it this way, if the cost to travel up Park Lane (or any other congested road) was even higher than it is now, less people would use it. Wouldn't it be worth your while to pay a little more, and be able to drive through in 15 minutes instead of one hour? You'd get more jobs done in a day. The big question, to my mind, is how to dissuade people from driving through central London in their private cars, unless they absolutely have to.

Yeah, so hit the poorest where it hurts

 

[Darrell]

If you travel for your work, I would have thought that you'll want to see all those people who drive their cars because 'its more convenient', banned? Think about it this way, if the cost to travel up Park Lane (or any other congested road) was even higher than it is now, less people would use it. Wouldn't it be worth your while to pay a little more, and be able to drive through in 15 minutes instead of one hour? You'd get more jobs done in a day. The big question, to my mind, is how to dissuade people from driving through central London in their private cars, unless they absolutely have to.

Is this post a piss take??

 

[markjay]

Is this post a piss take??

No, it is not. I strongly believe that we should find a way to ensure that only those who do need to travel by private car, do so. A colleague drives to the office every day, even though it takes 15 minutes longer than getting there by tube, because he 'can't be bothered'. A neighbour who also drives to work, told me he used to travel by public transport, but since a parking spot became available in the company car park, he now drives. There are just two many car journeys being made every day. People such as yourself who need to use the car or van for their job should be prioritised, and the way to do this is to stop as many of the 'convenience' car journeys as possible. Convenience is important, but there are around 10m people living in greater London and we all need to make some compromises to accommodate everyone.

 

[markjay]

Yeah, so hit the poorest where it hurts

People who travel by car instead of using public transport are 'the poorest'?

 

[Dryce]

So what would you have done then? Knock down rows of houses on both sides of the road and widen the street...? Obviously, you either put up with the congestion and pollution, or you ban cars, or you put a price on travelling on that stretch of road - I don't really see a forth alternative.

It's not about knocking stuff down. Glasgow (and Edinburgh) are blessed with wide streets. Glasgow has a grid that they have blocked off and restricted and turned into a maze with choke points.

I would remove some of the restrictions - and make sure there were suitable routes through which traffic could actually *flow* backed by some peripheral car parks that were easy to get to - and cheap or free. I'd also review the policy of buses having to run across the entire centre - and I'd provide decent drop off/pick off facilities at the two main stations and bus station.

Carrot and sticks instead of just sticks and more sticks.

 

[Harrythedog]

If you travel for your work, I would have thought that you'll want to see all those people who drive their cars because 'its more convenient', banned? Think about it this way, if the cost to travel up Park Lane (or any other congested road) was even higher than it is now, less people would use it. Wouldn't it be worth your while to pay a little more, and be able to drive through in 15 minutes instead of one hour? You'd get more jobs done in a day. The big question, to my mind, is how to dissuade people from driving through central London in their private cars, unless they absolutely have to.

You’re forgetting a very important point that the powers that be also ignore. The vast majority of van, trucks, HGV etc drivers are entering city centres because they HAVE to in order to earn a living. Taxing them more (which is what the charges basically do) is wrong on all fronts

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Is this post a piss take??

No the title of this post was a ......

"Glasgow LEZ"

Tisk tisk... this is no time from Trans jokes