A report has unveiled the grave deficiencies of Edinburgh bus routes, including a dramatic increase of travel times.
The report revealed that trips on the 38 service are almost 20 minutes longer than they were in 2005.
The new Green Group Co-Convener Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill slated the current City of Edinburgh Council administration, saying that they are “completely failing to support” the public transport needs of the city.
This follows the incessant stalling of Edinburgh’s 7-7-7 bus lane pilot which would allow some bus lanes to be kept open for 12 hours each day.
Green councillors are lobbying bus operators in Edinburgh to provide data on journey times so interventions can be made to improve bus services, such as increasing bus gates and bus lanes, introducing bus priority at traffic signals, and expansion of bus lane hours.
City of Edinburgh Council, however, states that these proposed introductions to improve transport are “economically unviable.”
Many students expressed frustration over buses not showing up at all or bus routes being diverted randomly, one telling The Student: “It’s making me late for my lectures.”
Students also report that certain pockets of Edinburgh, such as Princes Street “is a nightmare” to get a bus from.
One student said that the government needs to address the increasing congestion in the city due to surging visitor numbers: “The tourism sector is booming in Edinburgh.”
“We need transport that can adequately accommodate for that.”
Image by Matthew Tosh licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.