Cash generated by Union Street’s controversial bus gate should be used to improve the signage for it, according to the council’s transport spokeswoman.
Sandra Macdonald, Labour councillor, said she thinks it would be a “very good use of bus lane enforcement money” to “reinforce the messages and improve and enhance the signage” of the traffic measure.
Mrs Macdonald said she has acknowledged there are issues with the clarity of the signs for the bus gate.
Last month we revealed that more than 42,000 drivers had been fined for going through it within six months — which has the potential to bring in more than £2.5 million for the council.
And our recent poll found that of 1,293 readers, 91% did not think the signs for Union Street’s bus gate are clear enough.
Cash made from fines ‘ringfenced’ for infrastructure projects
All money generated by the bus gate fines for the council must be spent on improving transport projects in the city, such as cycle lanes or bus stop improvements.
Mrs Macdonald said it would be fitting if some of that cash were spent on Union Street’s highly unpopular gate, which extends from just outside Greggs to the junction with Market Street.
She said: “Somehow, people think the money goes into the budget and is then just spent on whatever.
“But it isn’t, it’s ringfenced.
“And I think it would be a very good use of bus lane enforcement money to then go back in and reinforce the message, and improve and enhance the signage.”
Officers ‘going by the book’ with current signage, but other Scottish cities have different approach
Mrs Macdonald said the council officers in charge of operating the bus gate are simply following the rules, and that the blue circular signs are what must be put in place on a road to say there’s a bus gate present.
However, she highlighted that “other areas use all the tools in the toolbox, and we need to use more”.
In Glasgow for example, some bus gates have huge red markings on the road, clearly saying Bus Gate.
Glasgow’s newest bus gate with plenty of signage and private car drivers are still driving down the street… and they will probably all try and claim that there was no warnings of it. 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/atfWzRTkRn
— Thomas O. Cornwallis (@UrbanistTOC) September 2, 2019
The transport spokeswoman continued: “The concern is, and always has been, and the bus gate evidence shows, that drivers are not aware of the bus gate signage.
“Our traffic management team goes by the book, and these round gate signs say this is a bus gate, be aware, but that doesn’t always translate to drivers.
“We’ve had this bus gate in for a year and a half.
“There were measures put in place like variable message signs, and there was a huge amount of social media and press around it.
“But, with all the will in the world, people still didn’t see it and genuinely got caught out without realising they were there.”
Reader’s reveal why they think signs are a problem
When we asked our readers in a poll if they thought the bus gate signs on Union Street were clear enough, the vast majority of responses were negative, and highly critical of the council.
Concerns were raised about map apps and sat nav systems taking drivers through the gate and the sizes of the signs.
And others said that with the way the signs are laid out, by the time you get to certain parts of the road, it is difficult or impossible to safely turn around and avoid going through the gate.
However, there were a number of people who said the signs were clear, and said the drivers only had themselves to blame for not seeing them.
Our interactive map shows where all the signs are:
Spokeswoman’s own family mistakenly went through bus gate
Mrs Macdonald said she has not been fined herself, but added: “My dear cousin from Shetland came down and didn’t realise and went through not just the Market Street bus gate, but the Broad Street one as well.
“So I just know people are just not aware of it, especially if they’ve got a bus in front of them or another vehicle like a taxi in front of them, they just follow and don’t realise it’s not for them.
“I think the enforcement of bus gates is definitely something that we will listen to what people are saying and we need to improve how we do it because it’s clear — the message is not getting through to enough drivers.”
Bus gate to be taken down in the future
Following an Aberdeen City Council meeting this week, plans were agreed to remove the current gate east of Market Street, and put in a new one west of Market Street.
You can read all about these plans and see where and when the new gate will be installed 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.
