Operators critical of lack of testing prior to launch, but praise the council’s fast response
Bus services are set to relaunch on Glasgow’s £40m Fastlink infrastructure in the next few after issues with traffic light signaling, the Scottish Herald reported.
McGill’s and Stagecoach had told drivers not to use the dedicated lanes because they were too slow (CBW1209).
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) has now confirmed that bus operators will reinstate services on the Fastlink route between Glasgow city centre and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital following engineering work.
SPT’s Chairman, Councillor Jim Coleman, said: “As the scale of the Fastlink project coincided with the opening of the new hospital, introducing these new bus priority measures was likely to be challenging and over the past few days officers from Glasgow City Council and SPT, taking into account constructive feedback from the bus operators, have been able to define a programme of works which will resolve these issues.”
McGill’s Managing Director Ralph Roberts said: “To be successful, Bus Rapid Transit schemes such as Fastlink generally require testing and adjustment to signalling priority before going into operation.
“Perhaps with the need to deliver bus services to the new hospital, testing didn’t receive the attention it should have. This is happening now, which invariably has led to disruption to services.
“The best news, though, is that there has been a very prompt and positive response by Glasgow City Council and SPT to the stance made by bus operators, and ultimately the most important stakeholder – our customers – will benefit from this.”
A spokesman for Stagecoach said: “Positive investment in targeted bus priority measures can help improve traffic flow for all road users. We understand work has now been carried out to address the problems with the Fastlink traffic lights.
“Assuming that our test is successful, we look forward to resuming use of the bus lanes as soon as possible and helping passengers benefit from quicker and more reliable journeys.”
