Business concerns over Edinburgh’s 7-7-7 bus lane trial are heard ‘loud and clear’
Florist tells how Saturday walk-in trade has fallen by 85 per cent
A florist whose business is on the route of Edinburgh’s controversial 7-7-7 bus lane trial has told councillors her Saturday walk-in trade is down by 85 per cent since it began.
Nicola Boyd, who owns Nikki’s Fleurs in Wolseley Place, Meadowbank, said customers could no longer park outside her shop to pop in and collect flowers.
Presenting her petition asking for a rethink of the trial - which makes the bus lane operational from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week - she told the council’s transport committee: “I’m not against bus lanes, I’m not against public transport and I’m certainly not against making Edinburgh a greener city. What I am against is introducing restrictions for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, without properly considering its consequences for the people who live and work in these communities.
“I’ve worked extremely hard to build my business, employ local people and provide a service to the community and now I’m seeing the impact these restrictions are having.”
She said before the 7-7-7 trial began, she had up to 25 customers coming into the shop on a Saturday, but now there were only between three and five. “That’s an 85 per cent reduction in Saturday walk-in trade. Customers have told us they can no longer visit because they cannot stop and pick up a bouquet and go. A traffic warden sits outside my shop pretty much 24/7.”
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said the committee had heard her concerns “loud and clear” and it agreed to pass them on to officers who have the power to tweak the trial as it proceeds.
Conservative group leader Iain Whyte, whose ward covers Meadowbank, said it was not just businesses affected by the restrictions, but also people who lived along the route. “I’m told there’s at least one resident whose carers come for the morning visit at 6am because they cannot come any other time.”
Green councillor Chas Booth said he had “massive sympathy” for anyone struggling to run a business. But he said bus companies had told the committee there were increasing delays to their services throughout the city.
His Green colleague Lorenzo Martinico said: “I often used the route I can testify that the number of cars parked on the bus lane make congestion particularly difficult in that stretch.”
Tory councillor Jo Mowat said: “Small businesses do not have the reserves that are necessary to last through 18 months of disruption. I’m not having businesses go bust on my watch if I can do something about it.
“The petition was not get rid of the whole trial, it was could we perhaps adjust some of this. We will have some data and when we get more we could go and speak to those businesses.”
Lib Dem transport spokesman Kevin Lang said the issue highlighted competing pressures. “We’ve heard a lot about livelihoods and I come from a small business family so I’m particularly sensitive to the kinds of issues Nikki set out. But I’m also conscious there are other people’s livelihoods who are dependent on being able to get to work on a bus.”
The 7-7-7 trial is being carried out under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) which allows the scheme to be changed as it goes along.
Cllr Lang said: “I really hope that officers, who have the delegated authority to make adjustments to ETROs, reflect on what we have heard. Even some relatively minor adjustments to the timings of when loading is allowed could make quite a big difference.”
Cllr Jenkinson said the trial should be allowed to run its course, but he accepted a Green amendment which referred the petition to the traffic orders team to be formally considered as part of the ETRO consultation process.
He said: “We are at the early stages of this trial. It has only been up and running for a matter of weeks. Data is being gathered and the evidence will be looked at. There are powers delegated to officers to tweak and change where necessary.
“I do, like the rest of the committee, hear the petitioner and the people that signed that petition loud and clear. “
The committee agreed the move by nine votes to two.