Oh Doctor Beeching.... Thankyou!

A little while ago we wrote of Aberdeen and Grampian Chambers of Commerce (AGCC) and their exciting aspiration to run a thrilling futuristic monorail on the route of the old Deeside Railway instead of the useless Sustrans National Cycle Route 195 which currently occupies that transport corridor like some sort of freeloading dog-in-a-manger.

While the AGCC monorail proposal for the Old Deeside Line is brilliant and forward looking, we couldn't help but think that there was something not quite right - that the proposal was missing something obvious. We said that one of the benefits of the monorail would be the fact that it would likely put the bus-route along North Deeside Road out of business, thus freeing up precious road-space for the drivers of Aberdeen Cars. But perhaps we would be best to take a leaf out of the book developed by our English cousins in the South West, where plans are afoot to turn the disused Bath to Bristol railway (currently only used by arrogant horsey people, walkers, cyclists, joggers, dog walkers, children, old people and all sorts of other petrol-tax-dodging people who are either unemployed or underemployed - in short, people who don't count and about whom we don't like to think) into a rapid-transit bus corridor. We understand that these plans are currently on hold. While not as exciting, futuristic, thrilling and forward-thinking as our own railway path monorail, there is much to recommend the Bristol/Bath bus plan. Primarily the fact that it will immediately get the hated buses off the road, freeing up precious roadspace between Bristol and Bath for more and nicer cars and vans, like those driven by the nice people at Bristol Traffic.

Bristol/Bath Railway Path
(Photo by Steinsky via Wikimedia commons)

But, of course, all this is just stupid. What a lot of nonsense, to think of converting these paths for public transport, when much more obvious and pragmatic use is clear to see. Via a citizen contributer known only as "Edinburgh Tags", we hear of a better solution yet, and one pioneered here in Bonnie Scotland! A part of the former Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway (as closed by the Sainted Beeching) has been turned by Network Rail into a road, for cars and vans. No mamby-pambying around with compromise public transport options (however thrilling or futuristic), they have cut straight to the chase and pragmatically decided that what the market economy really calls for, what's really needed in order for economic activity to flourish, is more roadspace for more cars and vans. The trackbeds of the railways closed by Doctor Beeching in our Nation's Capital are seen as an ideal solution to increase the stock of available roadspace in Edinburgh.

Enter here.

Passing space - thoughtful!

That sign's not there for cyclists, pedestrians or arrogant horsey people.
No, its there for the drivers of Edinburgh Cars to ignore!

So yes, the capital leads the way. We must follow their example and get rid of the walkers, cyclists and equestrians from these former railway line routes. Never mind thinking of a monorail. Discard thoughts of dedicated bus lanes. We should take a leaf out of Edinburgh's book and convert the Old Deeside Line Sustrans Route 195 into a road for cars immediately. Economic growth for Aberdeen "City and Shire" (and so, by extension the rest of UK "plc") would then be assured!

The only weird thing is that it's taken this long since Beeching closed the railways in the 1960's for this obvious and inevitable solution to be identified for all that dead space!