The public ‘don’t trust’ autonomous buses yet
The electoral maths supports the idea of an alliance between Labour and the Lib Dems, writes Martyn Mclauglin
Stagecoach has admitted people had still to be convinced about the safety of autonomous buses as it announced a Uk-first trial between Fife and Edinburgh was now due to start next year.
The Cavforth – Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – pilot project over a 14-mileroutefromferrytoll park and ride via the Forth Road Bridge, M90, M9 and M8 to Edinburgh Park, will have a driver on board.
It was due to begin in 2020, but has been delayed by the Covid crisis.
Stagecoach head of operational standards Louise Simpson said: "There is a lot of distrust of computer-controlled devices in general, based on people’s personal experience, and more specifically, distrust of driverless vehicles due to what’s reported.”
Ms Simpson told a Transport Research and Innovation event on Tuesday organised by Edinburgh Napier University: “People don’t trust the technology just now, but they expect they would use it if they had to.”
During the national lockdown resulting from the pandemic I saw many more bicycles zooming by my front door. I also noted how the City of Edinburgh Council was rapidly adding more dedicated bike lanes to our city streets.
Each day I would sit in my lawn chair and wave to the cyclists whilst also envying their sense of freedom and the benefits they were receiving from this healthy exercise. It was at this time I began to hatch a plan to join them.
My quest to become a cyclist began with conducting searches on various online for an adult tricycle. I decided to expand to three wheels versus the traditional two to provide me with greater stability. I also occasionally poked my head into local cycling shops to inquire about how I could purchase an adult tricycle. Each time I told the cycle shop owners about my enthusiasm for cycling they smiled until I mentioned the third wheel and it turned out that when it came to adult tricycling there was a distinct bias toward two wheels.
After several weeks of searching I found a bright yellow tricycle and it was located only a few miles from my home. I contacted the owner and he agreed to show me his trike. I hired a taxi and explained to the driver that we would be potentially collecting an adult tricycle and to my delight, he warmed to my adventure.
Upon meeting the owner of the bright yellow tricycle he explained that it was previously owned by his adult son who is disabled and it was used for local neighbourhood joy rides. He then invited me to try the trike and I found that despite the pouring rain, I could easily manage to pedal into my tricycling future.
On our way home we stopped at a cycle shop and the salesperson said that bike theft is a huge problem in Edinburgh and that I needed the strongest of all possible locks that was obviously named for marketing purposes as the “Kryptonite” lock. I was surprised to discover that this Superman strength lock cost half the entire price of my recently purchased tricycle.
The following day, I decided to take my maiden voyage. I needed to make a sharp right turn and learned that tricycles require a wider turning radius. Suddenly I flipped over and landed upon the pavement with a loud crash. The bright yellow tricycle was now on top of me and though somewhat dazed and blushing with embarrassment, I managed to slowly came to my senses and upright my vehicle. Undaunted, I carefully remounted my machine and slowly and
this time more carefully made my way to the Meadows.
The Meadows is the perfect cycling course as the paths are flat, straight and well marked. As I tricycled along I soon realised I was driving more than a transportation device. The hundreds of happy faces that greeted me immediately made me realise I was now the captain of a genuine smile making machine.
A few days later I found a small silver horn with a black rubber bulb that when squeezed honked loudly and I quickly attached this to my tricycle. I also invited my wee dog Coco to join me as my copilot while riding securely and comfortably in the basket behind my seat. Each day Coco and I travelled through the Meadows we made more and more friends.
One way I greeted other skateboarders and cyclists as well as a few runners and asked “Want to Race?” Most just ignored me and a few giggled or laughed out loud. One or two said politely “No thank you.”
One morning I paused and noticed a young Muslim woman standing next to me wearing a colourful hijab and burka. I smiled down at her from atop my bright yellow tricycle and asked if she would like to race. To my surprise and delight she immediately responded while assuming a proper runner’s stance, looked me in the eye and said firmly “Let’s go!”
When the light changed we were off and we raced to the entrance of the Meadows. It was a tie. Despite her long gown and my very slow tricycle. we both gave our best efforts and had fun in the process. I then thanked her for the race and encouraged her to keep practicing and suggested that we might meet and race again upon a new day. She then reached over to gently stroke Coco and we continued our gentle cruising through the Meadows.
I am delighted that our city has embraced the recreational and environmental benefits of cycling. I am also happy that thanks to my bright yellow tricycle Coco and I may encourage a few more smiles during this otherwise sad time in the lives of many of our fellow citizens.
If you are of a certain age and fancy joining the many new younger cyclists in our city I encourage you to consider starting, albeit more slowly and modestly, with three wheels. After all, often it is the third wheel that has the added the unexpected benefit of producing smiles for myself and others as I tricycle through our inspiring city. And who knows, you and I might just one day race through the Meadows. If you hear my honking horn you may just wish to move over or join me in the next joy ride. Professor Joe Goldblatt is Emeritus Professor of Queen Margaret Uiversity and with his dog Coco drives a bright yellow tricycle. You may find him regularly in the Meadows experiencing The True Joy of Life. To purchase his memoir of the same title visit www. joegoldblatt.scot
Joe Goldblatt got more joy than he bargained for after joining the ranks of
cyclists in Edinburgh
www.scotsman.com
It is an anniversary which will pass by largely unnoticed, but today marks 40 years since the Social Democratic Party (SDP) entered into a formal alliance with David Steel’s Liberal Party. The partnership was forged just days before rioting broke out in south London, which foreshadowed wider unrest across Liverpool, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Mr Steel and Shirley Williams – one of the SDP’S so-called Gang of Four, who had broken ranks with Michael Foot’s Labour Party, marked the occasion by staging a photo-op on the lawn of Dean’s Yard, Westminster, where they unveiled a joint policy statement, entitled ‘A Fresh Start of Britain’.
Over the next two years, the Sdpliberal alliance won four by-elections, with the victory of the bon viveur, Roy Jenkins, in Glasgow Hillhead among the most notable. A young Charles Kennedy was among those who campaigned for him.
The alliance’s initial rise was dizzying. History may have lampooned Mr Steel for the conference speech in which he told his activists to return to their constituencies and “prepare for government,” but at the time, such optimism was not misplaced, with support reaching as high as 50.5 per cent in the polls at one point.
The truth, however, is that that early flush of electoral success would prove to be the alliance’s high point. Come the 1983 General Election, with Margaret Thatcher’s government buoyed by the war in the Falklands, the polling numbers were shown to be a false dawn. It emerged with 25 per cent of the popular vote, and the constrictions of the first past the post system delivered a mere 23 seats.
It soon became clear that in the crowded British electoral system, there was no room for two parties to occupy third place. Out of the alliance’s ashes came the Liberal Democrats, a party which drew on some of the better ideas in the alliance’s playbook.
It is no surprise the successful campaign which saw the Lib Dems enter coalition government a decade ago was based around a set of guiding principles which borrowed the exact same title of the blueprint put forward by Steel and Williams.
But it has been a long time since the Lib Dems have enjoyed a fresh start. Nowadays, it is a diminished force. Its status as the UK’S third party is a matter of opinion in light of the SNP’S repeated successes at Westminster elections, and Ed Davey has yet to convince that he is the leader to turn things around.
Elsewhere on the centre-left, Labour, having struggled to overcome the fierce infighting which dominated its time under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, finds itself in similarly dire straits. Keir Starmer has failed to set out the party’s direction, with its humiliation in last month’s local elections and the Hartlepool by-election putting him under more pressure. Some in the party are asking a question which has occupied the minds of its activists and supporters in Scotland for some time now - namely, can it ever win again?
Could the answer be a new alliance between Labour and the Lib Dems? The electoral mathematics would certainly support such an idea, given the Lib Dems came second in 91 of the 2019 constituency votes, all but five of which were won by the Tories.
Were Labour and the Lib Dems to come to an agreement that they would not stand against each other
in target seats, it would not necessarily guarantee victory, but it would undoubtedly reduce the chances of a Tory majority.
There would be resistance in Labour’s ranks to the idea, and any alliance would like depend on the SNP or the Greens, which further complicates matters. Other obstacles would lie in wait, such as impending boundary changes, and the expected inclusion of mandatory ID checks at polling stations in the Electoral Integrity Bill.
But here is perhaps where Labour and the Lib Dems could overcome tribal rivalries and mutual distrust by uniting around a commitment to proportional representation. Electoral reform was, it so happens, a key part of the Sdp-liberal alliance manifesto.
For some reason, Mr Starmer seems unwilling to accept that this is the kind of major commitment which would renew his party’s sense of purpose.
Millions of people around Britain have grown disillusioned because they feel their vote no longer matters. He has said as much. A crossparty campaign to change that would be to the benefit of our entire democracy.
The obvious argument against such a partnership is fresh in the memory in the form of Change UK, the centrist vehicle which burned out just ten months after its formation in the wake of its humiliation at the 2019 European Parliament elections, where it garnered a mere 4.4 per cent of the vote.
For a new party which counted Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry as its best-known MPS, the writing was perhaps on the wall from the get-go. Change UK only ever had one significant policy – a determination to remain in the European Union. When it quickly became clear there was no hope of it translating into reality, its demise was simply a matter of time.
The party’s short-lived cameo in British was not helped by the absence of the kind of planning which ensured the Sdp-liberal alliance became, for a time, a viable proposition in the eyes of voters.
Labour and the Lib Dems have the resources and the time to go one better. It may yet come to pass that either, or even both parties, will rediscover relevance and popularity on their own terms, but I would not put money on it. Talk of an alliance may be anathema to many, but if the aim of the game is to form a viable electoral force, it could represent the least worst option.