Brand New Old Fashioned Modern Transport System of the Future from the Past

We have mentioned on several occasions the folly of hoping to solve traffic congestion problems by building more road capacity - that would be like trying to lose weight by letting your belt out. So we were pleased to see the major booster of a motorway project - Tom Smith, chairman of local business development quango ACSEF (Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future) - at last admitting to the true motivation for proposing to build a new motorway. Appearing on local BBC news broadcast "Reporting Scotland" Mr Smith said "if it had not been for the [protestors' court] appeals, we would already be enjoying driving on this road".

Enjoy!

Mr Smith was invited onto the TV programme because the most recent appeal by campaign group "Road Sense" to prevent the building of an orbital motorway around Aberdeen was rejected by Court of Session judges in Edinburgh on the 29th of February. This new road will be a "special category road" (which is to say, a motorway in all but name) and is known as the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

We found Mr Smith's "enjoying driving" statement refreshing, because - at last - there was no assertion that purpose of the AWPR was to reduce the congestion, pollution, noise or danger caused by motor traffic in Aberdeen. Nor was there any attempt to try to suggest that the £750m project would in some way save (or generate) money for Aberdeen and "safeguard the future" - all of which were the sort of rationalisations offered by him in previous years. No, now that a last barrier to the project going ahead has been removed, Mr Smith reveals what we already knew; this road is for people like him to enjoy driving upon. By this ill-guarded admission, Mr Smith has let slip something else which we already knew: that this road is a solipsistic solution only to itself and the demands of drivers to drive more, drive everywhere, drive always. In the view of Mr Smith and his fellow motorists, motor-traffic transportation is the desired outcome of providing infrastructure for motor-traffic transportation.

Let us be clear: we would be vociferous supporters of the AWPR if this major road-building programme were to be accompanied by a range of new-urbanism measures which would reduce traffic flows into and through the residential and central business/retail districts of Aberdeen - measures like suburban rail and trams, bus-only roads, pedestrianisation, bicycle infrastructure, parking restrictions and charges - just the kind of contemporary urban transport planning policy you see all across continental Europe, the Middle East and increasingly these days even in the cities of the USA. But, unfortunately, none of these measures is present in the planning of the AWPR, quite the reverse. Instead the AWPR will be complemented by multi-million pound radial access projects (including new inner-urban dual carriageway expressways) which will increase motor-traffic flows into central Aberdeen. We can't possibly support a scheme which will dramatically increase the proportion of space allocated exclusively to motor transport in and around Aberdeen. The results will be as predictable as they will be devastating to the liveability of our town.

More than once we have flexed our fingers typing rebuttals to the tired old "predict and provide" arguments for building ever-more motor traffic infrastructure - arguments which decades-long and worldwide experience have long-since discredited. And so then, flexing their politically-aspirant muscles, the business-community boosters of this orbital motorway project shifted their rhetoric onto the unfalsifiable ground of appeals to 'common sense' and populism. "Everyone knows" they said, "that the long-awaited Aberdeen Bypass is much needed, and the majority want it built." 

Check out the 'Common Sense' pro-motorway blog:

http://www.common-sense.org.uk/

(The type of discourse displayed in the comments section of the "Common Sense" blog-post is an object lesson in the dangers of unleashing populism in the service of business interests. Have a read, but it's not for the faint-hearted.)

For the sake of balance, we're happy here to quote some of the opposing voices, which have not been offered a platform by our local mainstream media:

Stan Blackley, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland:

The Scottish Government seems addicted to tarmac yet has set itself demanding targets to meet with regard to reducing Scotland's carbon emissions and tackling climate change. This new road will not help them in this regard, and goes to show that Scottish Ministers just aren't able to see the bigger picture. You can't cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change while simultaneously building massive new roads that create more traffic and development.

WWF Scotland director, Dr Richard Dixon:

It is deeply disappointing that the the court have thrown out this challenge from community campaigners trying to stop the Aberdeen Bypass. This scheme will trash local wildlife and increase climate change emissions as it generates new traffic. We call on Transport Minister Keith Brown to use the forthcoming budget to commit to ensuring that Scotland's transport sector plays its full part in tackling climate change.



Colin Howden director Transform Scotland, the national sustainable transport alliance:

The bypass will do nothing to address the key traffic congestion issue in Aberdeen. The real problem is car commuting into the city, especially during the morning rush hour - something that an orbital road will do nothing to address. The best way that this could be tackled would be to deliver commuter rail routes into the city. It is unfortunate that the Scottish Government seem unwilling to invest in public transport, and instead continues to subsidise car use. The only thing that this project will deliver is car-dependent commuter sprawl and out-of-town retail tin-sheds.

It's that "car-dependent" quote from Colin Howden of Transform Scotland which we think goes to the heart of the issues surrounding road-building projects like the AWPR. As we walk the streets of Aberdeen, we see the car-dependent all around us, and it perplexes us to see self-admittedly car dependent people correctly identify road-provoked urban sprawl as the cause of their dependence, and yet they call for the building of more, bigger, "upgraded" roads as a palliative. 

Only policies which lead to a shift in transport modes by a reduction in the use of motorcars (like roadspace reallocation away from use by motor-vehicles) will deliver a sustainable reduction in motor traffic congestion and its attendant externalities. Yet the old-fashioned motorists of Aberdeen stick to the old discredited roadbuilding polices of the 1960's. Like the people in the US midwest who Barack Obama ridiculed for clinging to their bibles and guns, the car-crazy folks of Aberdeen can't see over their dashboards; they want more, bigger and faster, "better" roads, "upgraded". It's embarrassing.

Those unfortunate addicts who seek the help of Alcoholics Anonymous are invited to consider why they do the same thing over and over again, yet expect different results. Were the extent of tasteless self indulgence, waste of natural resources, and disastrous externalities not so catastrophic it would be amusing to observe how closely aligned the rationalisation strategies of addicts and motorists are. We cannot be sure whether it is car dependency which leads to car addiction or vice versa, it's so difficult now to tell the difference. But what we can say is that the results are devastating.

Again, let's be clear - we are not anti-car. Cars are undoubtedly useful and I use a car when and where it's appropriate to do so - when and where there are no alternative transport modes available which would be less harmful to health, the urban environment, and the wider ecosystem. I have chosen a way of life which minimises my need to use personal motor transport - it was more than a decade ago when I stopped driving regularly. It was difficult - yes, but only for about a week. I soon became entranced by how quickly I became much, much fitter. I soon became enamoured by walking the urban environment, seeing things unmediated, feeling my range and freedom increase and engaging with the town I inhabited. In short, I began living in Aberdeen for the first time since I was a child. That's living in as opposed to merely inhabiting.

And now, on the rare occasions when I'm obliged by circumstance to drive, I feel the terrible oppression of claustrophobic restrictions. Queuing at traffic lights; one-way streets; speed limits; parking restrictions; inconsiderate fellow motorists; and all the other minor and major strictures which people have convinced themselves that they are happy to put up with daily - all the while tied to a chair in the tightly restricted space of a hot locked box full of plastic and metal and volatile refined hydrocarbons. Isolated from the outside environment. View restricted by glass screens, metal pillars, the rear-view mirror. Hearing restricted. Movement restricted. Personal space restricted. And we are expected to aspire to this? It was Voltaire who said "its difficult to free fools from the chains they so revere". It is clear that today, in this town, in this country, the motorcar is one of those chains. But, per Konkin "each individual can free himself, immediately". All that is required is an effort of will.

The magnitude of that effort of will would be less were our planners, politicians and the businessmen (who wield increasingly more and yet more power) to embrace the new urbanism movement which is sweeping the rest of the world. It's a source of great shame and embarrassment that - as our business tycoons here in Aberdeen gleefully look forward to "enjoying driving" on a new motorway - towns and cities in the United States - Portland in Oregon for instance - have implemented free (yes, free!) public rapid-transit systems while others, like San Francisco, are bulldozing up their urban dual-carriageways (or turning them into woonerf-style mixed use boulevards).

It's heartbreaking to see our town not only falling behind the new urbanism agenda, but so comprehensively repudiating it as to buy wholesale (and at great financial and external cost) into a transport system which was dreamed up sometime in the middle of the car-crazy 20th century - a time when it was thought that there were no limits growth and no limits to the pressure which could be put upon the planet's resources. A time when the devastating impact of high traffic levels on the liveability of urban centres had not yet been experienced. Today, of course, we know different.

Unfortunately, our local politicians, planners and business tycoons are embarrassingly forward at displaying their backwardness when it comes to their love of cars and driving. Their acknowledgement of neither the externalities of their plans nor the unsustainable implications of provoking continual exponential increase in distances traveled by hydrocarbon-powered personal motor vehicles makes us feel that we are the subject of a sick joke. The sickness of this joke is compounded by the fact that (with straight faces) they call this a "Modern Transport System". It is not; it is in fact quite demonstrably more than a little bit old-fashioned.

Infrastructure Modification

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedentary_lifestyle#Health_effects

Health effects

A lack of physical activity is one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide.
A sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity can contribute to or be a risk factor for:

• Anxiety
• Cardiovascular disease
• Mortality in elderly men by 30% and double the risk in elderly women
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Colon cancer
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Osteoporosis
• Lipid disorders
• Kidney Stones

Solutions

One response that has been adopted by many organizations concerned with health and environment is the promotion of active travel, which seeks to promote walking and cycling as safe and attractive alternatives to motorized transport. Given that many journeys are for relatively short distances, there is considerable scope to replace car use with walking or cycling, though in many settings this may require some infrastructure modification.

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Infrastructure Modification

He has just been awarded with one of those Disabled Parking Spaces directly outside his house. It was newly painted-in last month and it looks lovely with his new 'motability' SUV all nice and clean parked in it - it's as if it's an extra extension (like a loft conversion or conservatory) to the house! But it's free! It all falls into place once you get the blue badge. Neighbours have watched his sad disability progress over the years until now it reached this crisis requiring special facilities, allowances and entitlements. Over the span of his working life, as he became more successful in business, he treated himself to nicer and nicer cars - why not? A new one every year - the very latest models with all the gadgets and stuff. And as he progressed perquisite upon perquisite up the corporate ladder he was awarded a dedicated space in the company car-park nearer and nearer to the management suite - noblesse oblige! Bigger cars matched his ever bigger mass as his status and success became evident in his puffing waddling stature.

But as his paunch-padded comfort in the Jag or Beemer increased, so the affluence of the town around him increased and more and more of his neighbours got cars, then second cars - competition for on-street parking space close to the house increased almost monthly. Inconvenient! Annoying! He sometimes found himself having to park round the corner when he got home late from the office. Walking as much as 100 metres from the car to the front door showed that the years of living a life behind closed doors - the doors of his house, the doors of his office and the doors of his cars - had taken their toll. Breathlessness, flushing, sweat, knee trouble, exhaustion. Chest pains. Something had to give. He needed to park closer to the house.

Angina, diabetes, hypertension, lower back pain, gout, osteoarthritis and the poor mobility these cause have all blighted the man's life. But the chronic condition underlying all these acute symptoms is nothing other than the motorcentric sedentary lifestyle of which which his obesity is the inevitable result. Over the years, this man has become fatter and fatter, with all the concomitant conditions and societal costs. And the civic response to this self-inflicted disability? The civic response is to give pride of place to the agent of this man's dis-enablement, thus further enabling and normalising that dis-enablement and the self-disfiguring, self-damaging, self-abusive lifestyle to which it binds its subject. The strange-loop solipsism of the focal enshrinement of the motorised harbinger of obesogenic sedentarism once its inevitable omega point has been attained indicates that we approach an event horizon beyond which it will become impossible to plan or provide for modes of transport other than the private motor car, let alone imagine that any alternatives, such as actually walking - just a little - once in a while, really do exist.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_dependency

Automobile dependency implies that cities where automobiles are the predominant transport deny their residents not only freedom of choice about the way they live and move around the city but also that the culture of automobile use has produced a kind of addiction to them. The analogy is made with addictions to harmful substances and activities because of the well-known law of diminishing returns in relation to increasing use or participation: the more that is used, the less of the desired effect is gained until a point is reached where the substance or activity has to be maintained to remain 'normal', a state of dependency.

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College Street Multi Storey Car-Park.

Starting the new year with much in common with the way we blogged towards the end of the old, we paid a couple of visits to the other multi-storey car-park associated with Union Square; the College Street Multi Storey Car Park.

An interesting high quality modernist red-brick brick structure, the car park contrasts with the prevailing silver-grey which is usually regarded as characteristic of Aberdeen.  From the car park, [trainspotter alert] there's a great view of the arch viaduct which brings the railway from the south to Aberdeen and the Clayhills Engineering Works where passenger rolling stock is serviced.

From here, the rails extend south across the sea to join a network
which is uninterrupted from Vladivostok in the east to Lisbon in the west

And, surprise surprise! As ever when we visit the top-deck of an Aberdeen multi-storey car-park, we find a haven of peace and space. But don't just take our word for it, fellow psychogeographer of Aberdeen Lewis Dryburgh has shot this fantastic Ambient Video of the top-deck at South College Street. Enjoy:



Lovely. Do have a look at Lewis' other Ambient Videos on YouTube.

On one of our visits there was still a bit of snow about. And one solitary parked car, the red of its bodywork making a thrilling contrast with the blue-white day.

That single red highlight draws the eye -  making an almost martial statement, a bit like the little red dot on the black barrel of a Baretta Parabellum automatic, which shows that the safety catch is off. This red flash, we thought, by contrasting with the rest of the scene, merely serves to highlight the peaceful desertion which the College Street Car Park can offer.

Serene and paradoxically secluded in the open air in the centre of the town; calm on the top-deck as the life of the town bustles around the foot of the building, once again we find ourselves wanting to urge those in charge of these spaces to consider acknowledging their value as urban oases. Please - a couple of picnic benches, some container planting, a coffee vendor and Bob's yer uncle! A park! Sort of.

Indeed the South College Street Car Park was once used by some Aberdonians as urban open social space for leisure and sport. A blog commenter "Sam" emailed otheraberdeen@gmail.com to let us know that he shared our fascination in urban multi-storey car parks having this potential duality. He also told us about what was know as the "BT Comp".

College street or 'BT car park' as it was more commonly known was used for a long time in the Aberdeen skateboarding scene. Its rather strange that a car park can have a sort of alter existence or meaning. It was a standard car park by day but after 6pm when the attendants sulked off from work it became a social space for all skateboarders from across the city. Well, skateboarders and junkies who would inhabit the very bottom floor and the upper stairwells at night.

College street car park was also used annually for a number of years to play host to the BT comp. A one night only skateboard competition which would attract hundreds of people to congregate on the top floor to bear witness to an organized competition. Mayhem would be a good description. unfortunately though, as skateboarding became more popular generally a lot more kids would turn up and abuse the event which started to lead up to the end of the car park days. During the last comp a teenager fell to his death from the very top, im not sure of the story but from what i heard at the time they were larking about and being rather irresponsible by mucking around at the top ledge.

The introduction of Union square would also lead to more focus by the council on the use of College street car park. I think that the top floor also became part owned by an oil company so the employees would have a guaranteed car space. This meant 24 hour security which as you can imagine wouldn't take too kindly to the space being used by skateboarders and the like.

Many thanks for the information Sam - we really appreciate it! Sam also gave us a link to some footage shot at one of the BT Comps. Brilliant!



And, on a more downbeat note and with our sympathy to friends and relatives, here's a link to the BBC report of the tragic accident.

Well, all that sort of behaviour's over and done with now, and public use of the car-park is subject to published and displayed Terms and Conditions imposed by the management of Union Square, who now operate the car park.

We find the trumpeting of the use of number-plate recognition technology to be a highly sinister development. Not content with operating blanket surveillance upon us, non-governmental private operators have now taken it upon themselves to operate artificial-intelligence based tracking technology. Nice. We also note that they say:

"Records of vehicle registration numbers ... and images of vehicles and their drivers ... will be kept"

Which, in our opinion is totally unacceptable behaviour by a private organisation. That this impressive technology has been wrangled into a system used to extort parking fees from compliant consumers who have willingly traded their privacy for a dubious and short-lived convenience we find depressingly apt. It tells us a great deal.

Regular readers will know that we have had more than one  encounter with the people who are empowered to operate this surveillance and tracking technology at this site and at others. Our experience has caused us concern that the levels of skill, training and personal attributes demonstrated by these operators are not necessarily up to the standard which reasonable people might expect would be a minimum requirement for those charged with such onerous responsibilities. Still, number plate recognition robot systems overseen by teenagers less intelligent than the software they operate needn't trouble us pedestrians just yet and facial recognition software is still a good eighteen months away from being "productized" and we have not yet been "chipped". Not to our knowledge, at least.

We also noticed that the display sign T&C's point to the fact that further "Full terms and conditions are available" online (pdf). So we had a look at that too. We liked this bit:

The company has the right to exclusion rights in relation to persons who are causing ... unruly behaviour or misbehaving in any way and additionally in relation to persons who have no cause to be present on the car parking premises.

That'll be us, then. Because we came on foot.

An Ugly Sky.

Here at Other Aberdeen, we're naturally in favour of public transport for a town the size of ours. And, in common with a great many, we mourn the passing of the trams. Not that we were around when the trams were running - we're not that old! So it's a sort of vicarious nostalgia that we have for this most electrically-driven form of sustainable zero-emission transport (notwithstanding the remaining filthy sources of grid electricity).

And there we have to check ourselves. Regular readers know that we are suspicious of that sort of "ooh, it's not like the old days" nostalgia that wants to turn back the clock. We most certainly do not want to turn back the clock, and the difficulties which we in Scotland seem to have in delivering big-ticket infrastructure projects shouldn't be dismissed. The Edinburgh trams project has significant problems; we await with interest the final outcome and doubtlessly public enquiry into the cost and time overruns, specification variations and all the rest. It's disappointing.

But what really troubled us was sight of this photo which we came across online:

Look at the web of powerlines above the road and pavement. What a mess!

Our attitude towards trams is, therefore, a work-in-progress, we'll be coming back to this subject again and again.

These ones were gorgeous, though - imagine travelling on the top deck of this modernist beauty with its wraparound and wrapover windows. And look how mannered the area now disastrously blighted by the Bridge of Dee roundabout once was:

Oooh, it's not like the old days!