Yesterday I got to speak at the Operational Delivery Committee at the Aberdeen City Council to argue the case for a bike path for Union Street. This is following on from the petition I submitted in February. It was initially meant to be discussed by the Petition’s Committee in March but this meeting was cancelled. Instead the petition went straight to the Operational Delivery Committee yesterday and I had 10 minutes to make the case and then answer questions.
I think it went well and the outcome is that they’re going to investigate a segregated bike path for Union Street which is great. I wasn’t expecting them to say, “Yes, we’ll do it!” but they could have rejected it outright, which they didn’t. I got a lot of, mostly, sensible questions and I felt there was genuine interest and, dare I hope, a bit of excitement for the idea.
Someone from Original FM was there and he interviewed me afterwards. There was also someone from the Evening Express and they’ve got an article about it in today’s paper – Council to investigate calls for a cycle lane on Aberdeen’s Union Street.
My motivation for starting the petition was because when I cycle on Union Street I feel like I’m on the set of Terminator 2 in that scene where the young boy on his motorbike is being pursued by the terminator in a large truck. It’s unpleasant to have a large vehicle right behind you when you’re on a bicycle and that’s what it’s like when cyclists are put in a bus lane.
rachel.blog 
Congrats! I bet it went so well 🙂
Thanks, Anne! It wasn’t as terrifying as I was expecting and I’m happy with the outcome.
Yay! I strongly suggest being in close touch with the staff this gets assigned to. Also, are there similarly configured projects elsewhere that could be used as examples?
Good idea. I will have to follow up on this regularly. I know things go slowly in politics but I don’t want it to get dusty. In terms of other similar projects do you mean other segregated cycle paths through a city centre?
Yes. Hopefully there are some.
That’s brilliant! Good luck! Although I think logic rather than luck will be the winning factor, I suspect your solid research and well expressed ideas are a big factor in this getting off the ground.
Thanks, Denise! I really hope we get this eventually. It would be such a great thing for Aberdeen.
[…] we had to dash. The ride through town and the dreaded Union St went well and we managed to escape The Businator. I felt elated! On the way home I was a celebrity. People stared and shouted praise at the Beast. […]