transport in glasgow

The city of Glasgow, Scotland has a transport system comprimising air, rail, and road, as well as an underground rail system.

Airports

Glasgow has two main airports; Glasgow International Airport (Abbotsinch) is the larger of the two and handles the majority of Glasgow's air traffic, including shuttle flights to and from London and the rest of the UK, and transatlantic links to Chicago and New York. Glasgow Prestwick International Airport is located 29 miles south west of the city in Ayrshire and caters mainly for charter flights, low-cost airlines, and freight traffic. There are also two small airfields in the nearby towns of Cumbernauld, and Strathaven, near East Kilbride.

Rail

Railway stations

The city has two main line railway stations. Queen Street Station, located on the northern periphery of the city centre connects Glasgow to the North of Scotland, and Edinburgh. Central Station, located on Argyle Street is the northern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, and connects Glasgow with the South, and is the rail gateway to England and the rest of the UK. There were two additional mainline stations serving the city at one stage. One, St Enoch Station, was sited at St Enoch Square, where the current St Enoch Shopping Centre is located, the second, Buchanan Street Station, was located at the end of Buchanan Street, approximately where the Royal Concert Hall currently stands. These stations were removed in the 1960s as a result of the Beeching Axe.

Suburban rail

There is also a suburban above ground rail system, centred on Central Station for the City south of the Clyde, the Ayrshire coast, and ferry ports on the Clyde. Queen Street Station is for links with Edinburgh and the east coast of Scotland and west to and north to the Highlands on the famous West Highland Line. Glasgow North Electric Urban line runs to Helensburgh in Argyll & Bute and to Balloch at the start of Loch Lomond. The rail based urban and suburban systems are run by Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT).

Major roads

Glasgow has a less congested road network than Edinburgh, and the argument for congestion charging has not been as great. The city is linked to the rest of the country by the following main roads.

A8/M8: Main east-west corridor which links Glasgow to Edinburgh, and Greenock to the west.
A82: Dumbarton, Loch Lomond and the North West Highlands
A80/M80: Stirling and the North East
A77/M77: Kilmarnock, Ayr and the South West
A74/M74: Main link to the South and England

City layout

The city centre is layed out on a grid plan, a result of the westward expansion from the old medieval core during the Georgian era, initially into the area now called the Merchant City. Much of the initial grid can be credited to a surveyor named James Barry. The desire to create a regular layout of streets fits in well with the Enlightenment ideas about rationality: at the same time, similar developments were taking place in Edinburgh, with the creation of the New Town. Despite this, the layout is not very regular, due to the awkward topography, with numerous drumlins, as well as the generation of point de vues out of the existing Palladian mansions in the Merchant City, all but one now demolished. This layout makes it relatively car friendly, despite the numerous and confusing one-way systems.

The Glasgow Subway

See main article: Glasgow Subway Glasgow is one of only three British metropolitan areas that has an underground metro system; the others being London and Tyne and Wear. The Glasgow Subway (previously Glasgow Underground), was built in 1896 and substantially modernised in 1977. It has a single circular route. This, taken together with the orange-coloured paintwork of the carriages, has led to it being known as "The Clockwork Orange". Because the Glasgow Underground had to be dug through rock, its tunnels are much smaller than those of the London Underground.

Bus

Deregulation of bus services began in October 1986, since that time bus operators have been able to start new services, change services, or cancel existing services by giving 42 days notice to the relevant authorities. Operation of non commercial services that SPT deem to be socially necessary may be awarded by competitive tender. The largest bus operators in the City are:

First - (part of First Group) who are the successors to the former Glasgow Corporation Transport Department, and the former Central and Kelvin subsidiaries of the Scottish Bus Group.
Arriva - The successors to the former Clydeside subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group.
Stagecoach - The successors to the former Western subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group, with their Stagecoach Glasgow company competing on several city routes.

Full bus, train and ferry information is available from Traveline Scotland