More than £1million collected from bus lane fines in Aberdeen will be spent on community transport and roads projects, including cycle safety and planning for a new bridge over the River Dee.
The income from the 2014 to 2015 period of bus lane fines in Aberdeen came to a total of £1.075 million, and the cash will be spent on improving transport across the city, as well as covering the operating costs of the camera systems themselves.
Cash raised will go towards the refurbishment of bus shelters, creation of pedestrian crossings, maintenance for the 10 council electric car charging points, improve cycle paths and many other causes across Aberdeen.
The money will also be spent on a number of surveys and studies, including work towards the planning stages of a new River Dee crossing.
More than 50 submissions were considered by the committee, which were prioritised in line with the council’s local transport strategy objectives to improve transport in Aberdeen.
The move was approved at yesterday’s communities, housing and infrastructure committee meeting.
Convener Neil Cooney said: “This programme in the past has been imaginative and it has been successful.
“It is going towards a wide range of projects including the resurfacing of core paths, upgrading bus shelters and funding more bikeability training, all of which will be of benefit to people across the city.”
First launched in March 2013, the fines were introduced to cut down on the misuse of bus lanes across Aberdeen by cars and other vehicles that aren’t buses, taxis or cyclists.
As part of the project, over the last year a total of 17 bus shelters have been upgraded, the “bikeability” safety training scheme was carried out at 19 primary schools, and areas prone to flooding such as Hazlehead Park have had drainage improvements carried out to encourage walking and cycling.