We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
These words – from the world’s greatest problem solver Albert Einstein – have stood the test of time.
As an engineer, they have always resonated with me – but more so today as our councillors prepare to make a crucial decision about the future of Aberdeen city centre.
I invoke his wisdom because Union Street has a problem which must be solved; its reputation has been badly damaged by the introduction of bus gates.
How have bus gates affected Aberdeen city centre?
People thinking about driving to the city centre fear being fined and are staying away.
This has wiped out more than one million visits and is starving businesses of the footfall they need to survive. The last thing we need are more empty shops.
From the clumsy communication and confusing signage, through to the gaslighting of legitimate public and business concerns, the roll-out of these traffic measures has been an unmitigated disaster.
Despite seeing the damage done, Aberdeen City Council seems unwilling to solve the problem.
Instead, its officers want councillors to make the measures – brought in under temporary traffic order, thus avoiding public scrutiny – permanent.
What might happen at major final meeting?
This afternoon, it will fall on our councillors to end the suffering endured by city centre traders, and everyone who cares about our city centre.
They are likely to be presented to two options; keep the bus gates as they are or adopt a compromise which will give the people who have left our city centre confidence to return.
I urge them to do the latter and give their support to the Common Sense Compromise put forward by traders and backed by nearly 12,000 citizens.
Councillors will be told by officers that it cannot be done for a variety of reasons. To borrow another of Einstein’s famous quotes, they have a problem for every solution.
Why KEEP the bus gates?
On removing the bus gates on Market Street and Bridge Street, they say this would “result in increased traffic volumes on key city centre streets and additional congestion, to the detriment of public”.
On the removal of the right turn ban on Union Terrace, they argue this “could have safety disbenefits for active travel users and potentially negative impacts on bus journey times and reliability in the future”.
If they look hard enough, they can find reasons for rejecting any compromise.
The suggestion that we fine visitors for a first offence are dismissed as being too difficult and out of line with other cities. The list goes on.
‘It’s possible council could be taken to court’
The focus of their multiple assessments has been to gauge the impact of bus gates of bus timetables.
Nothing has been done to measure the impact of the bus gates on local businesses, which is why we are getting the same answers to the same problems.
Left unchanged, these measures threaten to undermine the tens of millions being invested in the city centre and drive a wedge between our civic leadership and the people they serve.
If you look at what has happened in Inverness, it is also possible that Aberdeen City Council could be taken to court by frustrated traders.
This helps nobody.
Bob Keiller: My final bus gate plea
So, my plea to councillors is this; adopt the Common Sense Compromise and work with businesses to bring people back into our city centre.
Accept that removing some of the bus gates will have a limited impact on some bus services at busier times – but that is a compromise worth making.
We need an outcome that shifts the narrative and gives people the comfort they need to return to our city centre.
It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that this is the best outcome for everyone.
Bob Keiller is the chairman of Our Union Street, the community-led organising seeking to regenerate and repopulate Union Street.
Read more:
- Aberdeen clothes shop owner warns of closure as Labour and Tories join forces ahead of FINAL vote on bus gates
- Aberdeen bus gates poised to STAY as scrapping any ‘might annoy drivers’
- SNP councillor branded ‘foolish’ as he blames struggling Aberdeen businesses for city centre footfall drop as he votes to keep bus gates
- Exclusive: ‘No research’ on business impact before Aberdeen bus gates were installed and sparked footfall famine
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