North Yorkshire Council (NYC) has progressed Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) for the Transforming Cities Fund Station Gateway scheme.
Lower Station Parade
There is a small improvement to the design of the Lower Station Parade bus lane, with a previously-proposed Loading Bay removed from the plans.
Anyone cycling up Lower Station Parade would have to use the proposed new bus lane, after plans for a cycle track there were torn up.
We had asked for ‘early release’ for cyclists at the top of Lower Station Parade. This would allow people on bikes to get away from the junction a few seconds early, and avoid the risk of being ‘side-swiped’ by buses turning into the bus station.
NYC have refused to put in early release for cyclists, using LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design as an excuse to make cycling provision worse than it could otherwise have been. That is very disappointing.
Station Parade
There’s to be a kerb-protected one-way cycle track on Station Parade, but only as far as the junction with Station Bridge. There, according to para 5.2 of the report, the cycle infrastructure will give up altogether and leave people to ride in traffic on the two-lane main road.
A very poor painted cycle lane had been in previous proposals (see the image above), but it has now been abandoned.
Cycling provision is only as good as the weakest link. Station Parade south of Station Bridge is a very weak link in this scheme, and will make the route as a whole unattractive.
A proper protected cycling link is needed along Station Parade from Station Bridge to Victoria Avenue.
Opponents of the Scheme
There was a long objection to the TROs from a group calling itself ‘Get Away’.
The report says in para 5.1 that one person sent an identical objection to the scheme 29 times, from the same email and postal address but using different business names.