Trapped! Village bus lane catches out 3,000 drivers
(...and only 3,000 people are living there)
IT covers a stretch of road barely 100yds long through a sleepy village.
But a new bus lane camera near Edinburgh has caused uproar after snaring 3,000 motorists – equal to the population of the village of Kirkliston – in less than a year.
In its first ten months of operation, the camera raked in a reported £77,000 in fines, making it the City of Edinburgh Council’s second most profitable camera, despite being sited ten miles outside the congested city centre.
Motorists complain the bus lane, which runs through a new housing estate, is confusing and hard to avoid as the two-way Eilston Road suddenly narrows down to a single lane restricted to buses, taxis and cycles.
They argue that the signs are unclear, the camera is hard to spot and by the
‘It catches people off-guard’
time they reach the lane they have no option but to carry on – to a £60 fine.
The scheme has been described as a ‘money-making exercise’ and compared to similarly unpopular routes in Edinburgh and Glasgow city centres which have generated hundreds of thousands of pounds for local authorities.
Resident Angela Gullone, 44, a university researcher, said yesterday: ‘ It catches people off-guard. I had visitors who decided to turn their car and unwittingly went into the lane. I felt terrible after they phoned me to say they’d received a £60 fine.’
Ross Chalmers, 29, was issued with a fine while working on new homes in the development. He said: ‘I was caught after reversing up the road to let a lorry out. I was raging because I hadn’t driven along the road but the council wouldn’t listen to me.’
Van driver Allen Caldwell, 47, was one of four motorists who unwittingly drove on to the bus lane in the space of one hour on Monday.
He said: ‘Half-way up a residential street is the last place you’d expect to find a bus lane and a camera. It’s shocking. I’m dreading a fine coming through my door now.’
Edinburgh SNP councillor Norman Work said the bus lane was created to prevent the route becoming a motorists’ ‘rat run’.
He admitted he had received ‘a lot of complaints’ and was calling for the lane to be painted green, like other bus lanes in Edinburgh.
He added: ‘A lot of locals say this is just a money-grabbing scheme for the council, but the cameras are there to discourage people from using it. I don’t know if some people don’t just take a chance.’
Last year Glasgow City Council, which racked up £800,000 in fines from one bus gate in the city’s Nelson Mandela Place in two months, said it was to aid traffic flow.
In 2013, the council received £3,283,776 from bus lane fines, while Aberdeen City Council generated £896,000 and City of Edinburgh Council made £718,000.