Glasgow cycle paths and city bus routes are set to get a £12.8 million boost after the council won funding.
The cash is to be spent on improving the Renfield Street bus route as well as active travel plans including the Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Cycling village scheme and Battlefield Street design works.
Designs are also to be put forward for bus route improvements in Hope Street and some bus stops are to get high access kerbs and better waiting areas.
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Councillor Angus Millar said: “Our new transport strategy sets out a very clear vision for transforming how we get about Glasgow in future. Moving on from a reliance on private vehicles, especially for the shortest of everyday journeys, is crucial to our effort to deal with the climate emergency.”
The city convener for climate and transport added: “By investing to improve public transport and deliver active travel alternatives, we can encourage more people to leave their car behind wherever possible. And there is also a basic fairness in promoting alternatives to private vehicles when less than half of Glasgow’s households have access to their own car – by making public transport alongside walking, wheeling and cycling more attractive options, we are addressing the obvious inequality that currently exists in our transport system.”
He said there is an “appetite for change in Glasgow for a shift towards sustainable transport.”
The £12.8 million package of funding is made up of £1.51 million from SPT; £4.07 million from the Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes programme; £553,000 from Paths for All: Smarter Choices, Smarter Places; £6.6 million from Sustrans and £115,000 from Transport Scotland Direct Resource.
The SPT funding is to go towards enhancing the city’s bus infrastructure.
Money from the active travel schemes is to be spent on widening and improving footways, enhancing public spaces and installing active travel space.
Projects earmarked for funding include making permanent the city’s Spaces for People infrastructure, the Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Cycling Village scheme and supporting the Battlefield Street design works.
Smarter Choices Smarter Places cash will go towards encouraging less car use and supporting opportunities for active travel.
Glasgow’s new transport strategy has set a target of reducing the distance travelled in private cars by 30 per cent by 2030 to help make the city carbon neutral by 2030. The council said 40 per cent of transport-related carbon emissions are caused by the use of private vehicles so a wide spread shift to active travel and public transport is seen as essential for the fight against climate change.
Councillors sitting on the City Administration Committee are expected to formally accept the money for the sustainable transport projects on behalf of the council this week.
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