Slow lane plan for dawdling Princes Street pedestrians

WITH dawdling shoppers and tourists taking photographs, it can be a daunting challenge for anyone wanting to navigate Princes Street in a hurry.

The congestion on UK streets is said to be so bad that commuters spend almost three-and-a-half days a year waiting behind slow-moving pedestrians.

But a solution to the phenomenon that is "pavement rage" may be on the horizon, with calls for an "express lane" for pedestrians on Princes Street. The unusual idea could also attract shoppers back to the city centre, with surveys showing that people are resorting to the internet just to avoid pavement congestion.

The possibility has been raised by Tory councillor Jason Rust, with transport leader Phil Wheeler today saying he is willing to listen to all suggestions.

The express lane would be the first of its kind in the UK, and could operate during the street's busiest seasons – Christmas and the summer festivals. Traders in London launched a similar plan several years ago for Oxford Street, which involved two lanes of pavement – but the campaign dissolved within a couple of months.

Cllr Rust today said he is considering launching a motion to councillors about his idea.

"While there is such upheaval with city centre vehicular traffic at present, this would not be the most appropriate time to introduce any changes, but there may be a case for considering a pilot on Princes Street at Christmas and, if successful, this could be implemented during the Festival period over summer 2009," he said.

Graham Bell, spokesman for the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, today described a Princes Street express lane as a "fantastic idea". "If you go on the south side of the street, because of the number of bus stops and the habits of the denizens of our fair city dawdling at the stops, sometimes you have to push your way through," he said.

"Or if you choose the majestic wide boulevard on the north side, you're karate-ing your way through the information given by people in yellow jackets working for charities, or people holding golf sale signs.

"So I can see a lot of sense in this, because, on a serious point, even in its sub-par state, Princes Street is a major attraction."

A recent survey by Nurofen Express found that 71 per cent of people are often irritated by crowded streets.

Cllr Wheeler said: "The results of this survey are interesting. More interesting, perhaps, will be to see what serious proposals can be put forward to try to deal with the problem."

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
THE Evening News ran the Princes Street gauntlet yesterday afternoon.

Setting out shortly after 3.20pm, we were just 22 seconds into our run before we were accosted by a beggar and a Big Issue seller in quick succession.

You need a hard heart to get from one end of Princes Street to the other, as the clipboard wielding Save the Children reps also discovered as we whizzed past.

The worst part came ten minutes in as the scaffolding outside M&S created a bottleneck for pedestrians travelling both ways. We deftly dodged a piper's busking case, before finding ourselves heading straight into the path of a second beggar.

A quick skip to the right, and our reporter was hit full on by an armful of shopping bags, knocking him sideways and into a ladder positioned outside Jenners.

After a two-minute hiatus at the South St David Street lights, we deftly dodged a Norman Wisdom lookalike ambling along and an afternoon drunk who swayed into our path.

From there it was on through the resultant bottleneck, past a leafleter and a man who stopped suddenly to fix his shoe to finally reach the statue of Wellington in just under 20 minutes.