A transport chief has warned that the pedestrianisation of a key Aberdeen street would backfire on bus services across the city.
Plans to close off Broad Street to traffic are being discussed as part of the Aberdeen City Centre masterplan, which is currently the subject of a public consultation.
At a meeting of north-east transport body, Nestrans, commercial manager at First Aberdeen, Danny Laird, said pedestrianisation would be detrimental to the firm.
He made the remarks during a presentation with Stagecoach North Scotland managing director, Steve Walker.
However, SNP councillor for Torry and Ferryhill, Graham Dickson, claimed the most recent traffic models revealed blocking buses from the road was now “not even on the table”.
Three options have been put forward for Broad Street: maintaining the status quo for full traffic access, introducing full pedestrianisation, or only opening it to buses and bicycles.
Mr Laird said Broad Street was a “crucial interchange” for his firm in the city with some 30 buses every hour, which explained why he objected to plans to “restrict bus access” to it.
Mr Dickson stated that his most recent discussions with council officers showed that the most likely options were to keep Broad Street as it is, or keep it open solely to buses and bicycles.
He added: “I think the traffic modelling at least shows that completely closing it to buses causes considerable problems towards the network.
“I think that is not even on the table. It is a decision between only buses or not making the changes at all.
“If the public overwhelmingly want to complete pedestrianisation, I am sure councillors would look to see how that could be achieved without having a detrimental effect on the city.”
City finance convener and Labour councillor, Willie Young, said: “It would be disrespectful to the public if we agreed anything at this point.
“However, the masterplan was clear that the best option was that we should have buses and cycles only, and that is the position the Labour group have moved on two separate occasions.”
The Broad Street proposal is one of four major transport projects in the Aberdeen City Centre masterplan, which aims to transform the area during the next 25 years.
