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Bus Station Development Vital to Glasgow
Page 49
Page 50
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By Donald R. MacGregor THE proposal in the Inglis Report that the citizens of Glasgow should he induced to travel more by rail and less by road has been criticized in many quarters, This concept has been bitterly condemned by officials of the corporation transport department because of the loss which the undertaking would sustain.
The inadequacy of the existing terminal facilities for bus services was one feature of the road passenger transport situation in Glasgow which received particular attention in the report. There are, at present, three bus stations, at Buchanan Street, Dundas Street and Waterloo Street, and three bus stands, in Clyde Street, in Carlton Place and at St... Enoch station.
New Terminus The Inglis Committee considered that the Buchanan Street and Dundas Street stations should be abandoned and that their places should be taken by a new terminus on the site of the existing Queen Street railway station. It also suggested that the stands in Clyde Street and at St. Enoch station should be closed and a new station erected on the site of the present stand at Carlton Place.
Another proposal was that a new terminus should be erected at South Place to cater for traffic originating from the south side of the river. This would largely eliminate the congestion on the G!asgow and Victoria Bridges.
At present, 7,625 buses a day run in and out of Glasgow. Of these, 3,816 are inward-bound and 3,809 outward. The numbers of daily departures from the six different termini are as follows: Buchanan Street, 2,384; Dundas Street, 851; Waterloo Street, 2,371; Clyde Street, 1,415; Carlton Place, 326; St. Enoch station, 278.
The Buchanan Street station, frequently referred , to as Killermont Street station, is used by vehicles of Scottish Omnibuses, Ltd., W. Alexander and Co., Ltd„ and Central S.M.T. Co., Ltd. A waiting-room and inquiry office are among its amenities, its main advantage being that it is completely enclosed. Its biggest drawback is that it was designed to cater for only half the traffic which passes through it to -day.
Departures arc, therefore, far in excess of its maximum capacity. Incoming vehicles often have to wait in Killermont Street until there is room for them inside the station itself.
Only a few streets away is the Dundas Street station. This is used by W. Alexander and Sons, Ltd., David Lawson, Ltd., and Western S.M.T. Co., Ltd. The Western S.M.T. GlasgowLondon express service starts from this point. A large open site, the station has three departure bays in addition to an open space alongside, which is used at peak periods and for the express services. Utility-type shelters and art inquiry office have been provided, but the amenities are not highly regarded by passengers.
Waterloo Street station, near Central railway station, is the most modern in Glasgow, and is the only one which the Inglis Report proposes to retain. Western and Central S.M.T. operate from this point, but the five departure bays are so narrow that it appears improbable that they will accommodate 8-ft.-wide vehicles. The first floor of the building is used as a waiting room from which staircases lead down to each departure bay. This arrangement has proved useful during peak periods, for queues of passengers are marshalled up the stairs by inspectors, thus preventing confusion outside in the street.
Signal System To ensure the speedy departure of each vehicle, a coloured-light signalling system has been installed at the end of each bay. It was necessary to install this because with 2,371 departures per day from five bays, buses arrive and depart within a few minutes, stand time for both journeys being taken up at the other termini. In addition to this system, there is an electrically operated departure notice at the end of each bay which indicates the route and destination of the next vehicle leaving.
The companies operating from this station have found its capacity inadequate, especially at peak periods. To prevent congestion at these times it is necessary, especially if the = lay-over period is prolonged, to park vehicles in Wellington Street, as well as on an open site in Pitt Street.
Of the three bus stands already referred to, the one at St. Enoch station. from which Western S.M.T. services start, is the smallest. Here vehicles park by the side of the station on a slight incline. There are no shelters or timetable boards and unless there 1?appens to be a bus parked there, which happily there invariably is, it would be difficult to realize that it was a bus terminus at all,
Largest Bus Stand
The Clyde Street stand, used by Central and Western S.M.T., is by far the most important. It stretches the entire length of the street, which extends from Glasgow Bridge to Victoria Bridge. It is a wide cobblestoned thoroughfare with offices on one side and, on the other, a strip of level ground, used as an unloading quay, receding down to the river. Vehicles using this stand pull up on the quay side of the street, sometimes two or more abreast. Because it is wide. no congestion results. The inexperienced traveller would have much trouble in finding this particular departure point, as there are no signs or directions.
The Carlton Place bus stand is on the other 5ide of the river and is far smaller than the Clyde Street one. Here, again, as in Clyde Street, there are no shelters, no waiting room, not even a departure board. Vehicles here wait in a much narrower thoroughfare than Clyde Street, but the volume of traffic is also smaller. Services run by Scottish Omnibuses, Ltd., and Central S.M.T., operate from Carlton Place. Consequently, the recommendation in the report that three bus stands should be combined in Carlton Place is
hard to understand. It may be said that the Clyde Street stand is in a bad position, but the Carlton Place site is
no better. Vehicles would still have to wait by the roadside. The report further suggested that this would be another measure to relieve congestion on the Glasgow and Victoria Bridges. Vehicles using Clyde Street come from the south-west and must cross Victoria Bridge to reach Clyde Street on the inward run, and Glasgow Bridge on the outward joUrney.
On the other hand, vehicles using Carlton Place come in from the south —on the Clyde Street side of the river—and must cross Glasgow Bridge
to reach their terminus. This paradoxical state of affairs does not appear to be adequately explained in the report.
Out of the Frying Pan
Should the Carlton Place site be developed it would be necessary for vehicles to leave by Gorbals Street, a busy thoroughfare crossing Eglington Street, which carries almost as much traffic as Argyle Street, to resume its route out of the city.
The existing site in Clyde Street, although poor, appears to be more suitable for conversion into a large bus station than that in Carlton Place. If the ground now occupied by the port authorities were to be taken over, a wide space off the road would become available on which shelters, waiting rooms, toilet accommodation and signs indicating destinations could be erected.
Finding suitable off-the-street accommodatiOn for waiting buses and passengers is but a part of the transport problem in Glasgow. The visitor probably senses this even more than the citizen, who, on the other hand, is also made keenly aware of the growing diffi
culty of moving about the city by the near-impossibility of finding a place to park his car, except in the Blythswood Square region.
Traffic conditions in Glasgow are appalling. Tram enthusiasts would' raise a howl of denial, if it were suggested that the trams played their part in the creation of the heavy congestion which is found not only in the centre but almost everywhere in Glasgow. But it is true that the trams prevent the traffic from moving at sufficient speed to obviate hold-ups.
Vehicles in Glasgow move at a much lower speed than in any other large city in Britain, although in the main the thoroughfares are broad. Each time a tram stops, a long line of cars, lorries and buses is held up.
As the centre of the city is laid out on strictly geometrical lines, any individual hold-up soon causes congestion at cross-roads on each side of the first bottle-neck. Apart from this, the frequency of cross-roads in the centre of the city prevents the buses from using top gear for long periods throughout the day,
• Higher Speed: Greater Flow
Were it at all possible for the speed of the traffic flow to be increased, Glasgow Corporation would stand to benefit enormously, Time-table speeds could be raised, the number of vehicles on any particular route could be cut, and the service to the public could be improved.
Plans to modernize the municipal transport system reveal some of the tremendous difficulties faced. The municipal power station at Pinkston naturally turns attention to electric traction. How. on the other hand, can trolleybuses be operated in the centre of the city, where there are tram services at present up and down the main streets and motorbus services on the streets at right angles to them? To design crossings for trolleybuses would be an impossible task.
Yet there is no doubt that the continued operation of the trams in the centre of the city will eventually bring traffic to a complete standstill as the number of vehicles on the roads increases. Traffic is already being steadily slowed down, to the point where economic operation is approaching the impossible.
Learn from the Sassenachs Much as there is to be said for the tram, especially in a city like Glasgow, the motorbus appears to be the only vehicle which could be operated at a profit under the prevailing conditions. It would be worth much to the citizens of Glasgow if they could study for themselves the results obtained in London from the conversion from tram to motorbus operation. They might also find that, despite London's reliance on the motorbus, there is still room, especially in the outer parts of the city, for a large expansion of trolleybus working—again at a profit. The width of many of the main roads makes the use of 30-ft.-long double-deckers a possibility of part ieular interest.
Glasgow has shown what can be done in the way of efficiency with its
Waterloo Street bus station. It is to be hoped that improvements will soon be made to the bus stands, so that the inhabitants may continue to find cause to speak highly of their transport services. These in turn would benefit from a study of traffic engineering.