A campaign has been launched to create a £150 million Aberdeen Rapid Transit scheme for the north-east, but what do our readers think of the plans?
Last week, regional transport body Nestrans officially got the wheels in motion for its ambitions to bring the Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) proposals to life.
If the idea comes to fruition, a new fleet of vehicles would be introduced to Aberdeen.
They would be similar to normal buses, but larger, and would be intended to take passengers quickly and efficiently across the city.
Nestrans director Rab Dickson says he believes the system would be a “top of the range public transport service” for the Granite City.
But our readership isn’t quite completely convinced by the initial proposals revealed so far.
Public’s opinion split on Aberdeen Rapid Transit in Press and Journal poll
After the plans were unveiled last week, we created a poll to see what people thought about the ART ideas floated by Nestrans so far.
In total, 266 people answered our question of if they think the ART would improve transport in Aberdeen.
141 people voted yes, at 53.01% of the vote, and 125 people voted no, with 46.99% of the vote.
So what are some of the reasons people have for being for or against the £150m scheme?
‘It will take more than a bus with hub caps to improve public transport in the north-east’
After our initial story was published, it attracted a significant number of comments from people who were not on board with the proposals.
Some argued they think it would be best to first consider the state of road surfaces in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire before putting more large vehicles on them.
Others raised concerns about the scheme potentially ill-serving residents on the outskirts of Aberdeen, and some criticised the current state of bus service provision in the north-east in general.
A comparison to Belfast and its £90m Belfast Glider transit system, which is similar to what the ART could end up looking like, was also made — but the social media user argued Aberdeen has a lot of traffic to contend with.
‘This could be a good start to transforming public transport in the city’
Although 53% of participants in our poll said they think ART could be a good idea, there were far fewer positive comments than negative ones.
Those who do think ART could improve transport links in Aberdeen argued that it could cut down on congestion, tackle air pollution and result in more reliable travel times for drivers of cars, vans and heavy goods vehicles.
And one person highlighted the fact that unlike the Aberdeen ebikes which have been plagued with vandalism problems, at the very least the ART vehicles won’t likely be stolen and left in a bush.
But who would be paying for the Aberdeen Rapid Transit? Who would operate it, where would it go, and how much would a ticket be?
You can find the answers to all these questions and more in this interview with Nestrans, which goes through all your biggest questions about the ART proposals.
And you can visit the official ART website here.
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