Saturday August 4th 2018
Written by David Bol, Local Democracy Reporter
The city council will carry out a citywide review of bus stops in order to speed up public transport across the Capital.
The city has more bus stops than other comparable cities and the council will consider bringing them in line with national guidlines that “400m is the optimum distance between bus stops”.
Transport Convener Cllr Lesley Macinnes said: “We are bucking that national trend of declining use of public transport – it’s very much not the case in Edinburgh.
“There’s a number of measures in this action plan that we are looking at in conjunction with public transport providers. We have a large proportion of our bus stops that are less than 200m apart. that makes a big difference to buses.”
A report to councillors points out that one fifth of stops in the city are less than 200m from the previous stop.
It adds: “Theoretical savings of at least 20 seconds per stop removed is supported by actual savings achieved elsewhere in the UK where stops have been rationalised.
“This may not seem significant but a conservative review of the stops on the service 16 route, for example, would produce a five minute reduction on end to end journey time.”
The council will also look at measures to halt vehicles from entering tram only areas, possibly through camera enforcement.
Cllr Macinnes added: “It has to be a proper citywide look at this, rather than a piecemeal approach.
“We have an issue about vehices going through tram stops and knocking off paving stones on platforms.”
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