A new bus gate will be installed on Union Street as part of efforts to reopen Aberdeen’s city centre to buses and taxis.
But if you’re worried about the Granite Mile being covered in multiple bus gate systems, fear not.
Because plans are also in place to remove the controversial existing bus gate between Greggs and the junction with Market Street near Sports Direct.
Where exactly will the new bus gate be?
Following a tumultuous meeting of Aberdeen City Council this week, councillors voted to reopen Union Street in its entirety to buses and taxis.
Officers have now been instructed to remove the current bus gate east of Market Street, and put in place a new one “between Bridge Street and Market Street”.
Non-permitted vehicles will not be allowed to go through the new bus gate.
This will all cost an estimated £10,000, but the cash will come from existing operational budgets, as well as the controversial Spaces for People initiative.
Labour councillor Sandra Macdonald, transport spokeswoman for the city council, said the new Union Street bus gate will extend from just outside Lush to around Jamieson and Carry jewellers.
However, she stressed this is an early estimate of location, and that “the devil is always in the details”.
What is the timescale for these changes?
Mrs Macdonald said due to multiple ongoing projects in the Union Street area at the moment, the new bus gate won’t be installed and the current one won’t be taken away for some time.
She said: “In the short term, to be absolutely clear, for the next three months I would reckon there will be no change to what we have in place at the moment.
“It’s not just the fact we’ve got Union Terrace Gardens work ongoing and the new market work ongoing, but these things take time.
“There needs to be discussions with bus operators, the traffic commission needs to be involved.”
What will Union Street look like once this is finished?
Once this is finished in a few months time, the current pedestrianised area of road running from Union Terrace to Market Street along Union Street will be gone.
In its place will be the new bus gated zone, where only buses, service buses, bicycles, and taxis will be permitted.
Bus stops and pedestrian crossings in the currently pedestrianised area will also be reopened.
All four lanes of the carriageway will return too.
In addition, officers have been asked to start looking at re-establishing the taxi rank on Back Wynd, as well as the night time taxi rank on Union Street at the St Nicholas Churchyard.
This will be the first time that buses and taxis will be allowed to freely use the entire length of Union Street since before the pandemic and the Spaces for People measures were implemented.
However, the long-term future of Union Street is still not yet clear.
Read the latest on the battle over the pedestrianisation of Union Street here.
You may also like to read:
- Are Union Street bus gate signs clear enough?
- More than 42,000 drivers fined for driving through bus gate on Aberdeen’s Union Street
- Readers’ letters: Bus fines a ‘cash cow’? Our readers react
- Fined for going through the bus gate? You can pay on the city council’s website here.
- Or, you can appeal your bus gate fine here.
