A car centric worldview

For my current module (Thinking Strategically:  Systems Tools for Managing Change) we are asked to nominate an Area of Practice to use throughout the module.  My chosen Area of Practice is:

Transport System Management

This morning the following caught my eye on twitter:

Living close to this I dug a little deeper to read the full details from the announcement to understand more fully what was happening. I was intrigued at the temporary aspect of the footbridges as crossing the A9 (a busy dual carriageway) on foot is a deeply unpleasant hazardous activity - one which I never enjoy.  Turns out there is a major golf competition and it's anticipated that thousands of people will be walking from the train station to the golf course which requires them to cross the A9, hence the temporary footbridges.

However .... the rationale given is that they are needed to "reduce disruption to motorists".  Interesting worldview!  Nothing about protecting pedestrians and reducing their safety risk.  Transport Scotland state they are  "committed to increasing levels of cycling and walking for transport and leisure" - not much evidence of that here!

So - then curious to see how the event described travel options went digging.  The 2019 Solheim Cup is marketed as the biggest event in women's golf and their 'how to get here page' offers the following suggestions (in order of listing):

• on site car parking
• park and ride - with detailed directions and route suggestions
• air
• active travel (bike parking available - but no route suggestions, and no walking advice)
• taxi, drop off / pick up
• train (with train times but no details on walking routes from the station to the course)

Again an interesting worldview with a car centric view of the world.

Over 33,000 passengers use Gleneagles station each year (based on ORR data 15/16) and the number increases substantially when there are events in Gleneagles.  Many of whom (I assume) drive from the local area - to be honest if I lived in Gleneagles I would drive to the station.

Imagine if they actually thought about the wider system and the change which could be achieved in levels of active travel and reduction in safety risk if these bridges were permanent.   I can only wish!  Which is simply more evidence of my personal worldview.