Standardising the rules regarding bus lanes makes good sense.
It is plainly confusing for drivers if driving in some bus lanes is permitted only outside the rush hours, while it is barred during the day in others, and never allowed at all in still more.
Focusing on the road may make it difficult to check the details on bus lane signage, and that is before hazards such as obscuring vegetation are taken into account.
Yet there is clearly a trade-off in instituting a blanket city-wide approach, as Glasgow is looking to do. With a one-size-fits-all operating time for bus lanes, they become more of a blunt instrument for traffic management.
The city is consulting interested groups for their views. The options on the table are all likely to find a degree of support. Many drivers will only see the need for keeping bus lanes clear during peak times, while the Institute for Advanced Motoring has already backed the option for day-long bus lane restrictions.
Those in favour of encouraging walking, cycling and public transport may prefer the most restrictive choice, 24 hour year-round bus lane bans.
Unlike the recent decision by Edinburgh City Council to impose a 20mph speed limit on 80 per cent of routes, the argument for this change is not primarily safety-driven. Indeed, many drivers will fear that it is more about the considerable revenue which Glasgow has generated since introducing 11 bus lane cameras in 2012, a figure which has since risen to 16.
However, this is about tackling congestion and promoting active travel. Bus lanes are an encouragement for cyclists as well as for people to leave the car at home and opt for public transport. Opinions will differ on how successful that has been, and they can be aired during the consultation process.
One option not apparently on offer is doing away with bus lanes altogether - which has been tried with some success in Liverpool. Glasgow City Council should also consider this, perhaps as a pilot scheme in part of the network.
But one of the problems is clearly the bus network itself. Using bus lanes to expedite the flow of public transport can only be fully successful if that network is itself optimal.
Glasgow's buses are far from that. Too often dirty, and inadequately regulated, they themselves frequently appear the cause of city centre congestion as rival operators crowd along popular routes.
Peripheral routes which are less commercially attractive are underserved, while prices are higher than in comparable cities. Can anyone judge the effectiveness of dedicated lanes to allow buses to travel faster in such circumstances? Not with any degree of accuracy.
Former Labour Leader and East Lothian MSP Iain Gray has tabled a bus regulation bill at Holyrood which would let local authorities exercise more power over bus routes in their areas. It would allow them to offer operators packages combining a number of commercial routes on the condition they also take on publicly necessary routes.
The idea could benefit many more communities than those in Glasgow and MSPs from all sides of the house should give it serious consideration.
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