Bus stop car parking blitz hits the roads

DRIVERS who park at bus stops will be fined £60 under a new crackdown in Edinburgh.

Enforcer parking attendants, police and traffic wardens will all have the power to target offending drivers under the plan.

New markings are being painted around the city’s bus stops, showing drivers the area they must keep clear of. Within three years, every bus stop in the city is expected to be protected by the "clearway" markings.

Currently only police and traffic wardens can take action to keep bus stops clear. However, traffic wardens can only book drivers causing the problem on the Capital’s Greenway bus lanes, while limited resources ensure police officers are rarely able to take action elsewhere in the city.

City transport chiefs now intend to take advantage of new legislation allowing £60 spot fines to be issued to drivers blocking access to bus stops.

The new clearways will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ensuring a 25-metre area around bus stops is kept clear at all times. They are designed to ensure buses are not forced to stop in the middle of the road, causing traffic jams, and to ensure buses are accessible for all passengers.

The moves comes just weeks after plans were revealed to install oversized kerbs at dozens of Edinburgh stops to make buses more accessible.

The council has started introducing the clearways, which are marked with bold yellow lines, rather than the white markings which exist around most bus stops at the moment. Areas where the clearways have been introduced include Morningside, Bruntsfield, on routes to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Newington and outside Ocean Terminal.

Around 225 bus stops in the city now have the markings but another 1800 are due to get them by the spring of 2007.

The move has been ordered in the wake of demands for tougher action on the problem of blocked bus stops by the Capital’s two main bus operators and commuter groups.

City transport leaders declared the crackdown was aimed at sending out the message that parking at bus stops was "completely unacceptable".

City development director Andrew Holmes said: "Bus operators and passenger and disability groups in the city regularly draw our attention to ongoing problems they have with the irresponsible behaviour of motorists who indiscriminately park their cars at bus stops, effectively rendering them ‘no-go’ areas to bus passengers."

Mr Holmes added that the "inconsiderate" parking of vehicles at bus stops also caused general traffic congestion and had implications for road safety.

Councillor Andrew Burns, the city’s transport leader, said: "Lothian Buses has invested over £40 million in low-floor buses with extending access ramps in the last four years to reduce the difficulties that the elderly, disabled people and parents with buggies have boarding and alighting buses. This level of investment is pointless if these new vehicles cannot pull right up to the kerb because of indiscriminately parked cars."

Lothian Buses’ chief executive Neil Renilson described the problem of motorists parking at bus stops as "a menace". He added: "This is something we’ve been looking for the council to take action on for some time. These clearways have now been introduced in some areas but we understand there’s going to be a massive expansion of it, which is obviously very good news.

"They will bring substantial benefits for our disabled and less able passengers who will now be able to get on and off our buses safely.

"We’re very pleased the inconsiderate motorist is being put on notice that they will have to pay the consequences if they park at a bus stop."

Gavin Booth, vice-chairman of the Federation of Bus Users, said: "Bus operators have spent substantial sums investing in easy-access buses and it is ridiculous if elderly or less able passengers are unable to take advantage of these benefits because a car or van is selfishly parked.

"We’d support any moves to fine drivers who leave their vehicles parked in a position that inconveniences bus passengers."

Various exemptions to the rule include emergency services vehicles, a vehicle breakdown, the collection of mail by postal vehicles or the setting down or picking up of passengers by a licensed taxi.