Shawlands Bike Bus calling for safer cycle roads in cities
The group took to the streets on Friday with banners saying "safe streets for all"
A group of parents and children in Glasgow are campaigning for better routes for cyclists in the city.
The Shawlands Bike Bus have been cycling to school every Friday morning since 2021, but their campaign has been renewed by recent incidents involving young cyclists.
Around fifty people gathered for this morning’s ride to school, with banners and flags calling for “safe roads for everyone”.
After an 11 year old boy died last week having been knocked off his bike by a bin lorry in Ediburgh, co-founder Katherine Corey said it “puts fire back in out bellies for why we’re doing this”.
The group are also hoping for better clarification on how Advanced Stop Lines (ASLs) at traffic lights should be used, following the death of student Emma Newman last year.
Katherine said: “We like to think of it as a sort of gentle protest that we’re doing because we love doing the bike bus.
“We shouldn’t have to be doing the bike bus though, it would be great if our children could cycle safely to school on segregated cycle lanes like other countries do.”
She added: “I think people can see something like a bike bus and think that’s just parents cycling their children to school, but actually what we’re really doing is, we are protesting, because the streets aren’t safe enough for all to be going around their daily business, especially outside of schools.”
The Bike Bus have gathered so much support they’ve started running on Mondays too.
Co-founder Jo Wright echoed Katherine, saying: “We love doing it but we wish we didn’t have to.
“If we had proper infrastructure any kid could cycle to school.
“Not every kid can have a bike bus, this takes people having the opportunity to have free time to get it organised, and really sadly we’ve seen just in the last wee while children killed on their way to school, cycling to school.”