New shelter for Edinburgh bus stop that's about to be taken out of service

Councillor Susan Webber at the new bus shelter

A POPULAR bus stop has been listed to be taken out of service - just two weeks after a new shelter was installed.

Residents had been pressing for the shelter for nearly a year, complaining the old one offered no protection from driving rain, and were delighted when the new one finally appeared at the stop outside the Gibson Craig Halls in Currie.

But now the stop - where people can catch the 44 bus into the city - is one of 26 earmarked to be taken out as part of a trial to reduce the number of bus stops an speed up journey times.

Pentland Hills Conservative councillor Susan Webber backs the trial in principle but is puzzled by the stops the council has chosen to remove from the route.

“In Currie they picked the one outside the Gibson Craig Halls, where there is a convenient pedestrian crossing, but kept the ones either side where there is no crossing.

“And the same team involved in the trial has just put in this brand new shelter at the bus stop they are proposing to remove.

“There was a shelter there, but with the way the prevailing wind comes in it didn’t offer any protection and people had been asking for a better one.”

A decision on the bus stop spacing review, which includes the list of 26 stops to be taken temporarily out of service, was deferred last week and is now due later this month.

Cllr Webber said: “I was aware that this bus stop review was taking place but I was under the impression, falsely it now seems, that there would be an element of community consultation, even if it were just with the community councils. This would allow the recommendations at the very least to be sense checked.

“How silly does it now look that following a request on March 12 last year made by me, for a new bus shelter, that this new bus shelter was installed two weeks ago at the very same bus stop the report looks to have removed.

“I do have more serious safety concerns with the stops selected for review, trial or not. I will be taking this matter up urgently with officers and looking for the recommendations to be reconsidered.”

Transport convener Lesley Macinnes said: “This bus shelter was recently replaced before this trial was finalised as part of a city-wide scheme to allow us to maintain shelters that are no longer fit for use.

“While it would be temporarily closed as part of the separate bus stop review trial, this would by no means be final, and would involve consultation with the community throughout the period.

“The proposed bus stop spacing review trial has involved a great deal of work to strategically assess stops along the corridor, taking into account a range of criteria like pedestrian crossings, walking distances and nearby facilities.

“This is part of an investigation, and would allow us to assess demand for stops, as well as the impact these changes can have on journeys. Ultimately this is about making travel by bus more attractive and reliable for residents across the city.”