St Andrew's on a Saturday
I visited from Perth on Saturday and hadn't been to the main town in ages. Had a lovely walk on the beach with the dog and lunch at Balgove Larder.
When we went into the actual town, it was mad to see how busy it was - great in a way but traffic was mental! I can't believe the amount of cars everywhere and in the car ourselves driving at snails pace and impossible to get a parking space. My mother was driving and she's disabled so couldn't park and walk in.
Seems a shame that it continues to be so car centric, when there's really no space for all the traffic that was there. It felt noisy, smelly and overwhelming with the amount of cars and I wondered if there were plans to have any low traffic streets or introduce measures to make it more accessible with public transport like trams etc.
It would be so much more pleasant and safer if a big bit part of it was pedestrianised or had public transport only.
There was also no internet connection in the centre of town for any of us visiting, probably due to the amount of people? Was nuts though! I couldn't move money in my bank account to pay in shops that didn't accept cash.
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u/Odd_Gap_9491 20d ago
Trams...in St Andrews? Surely it's not in anyway big enough for that.
The biggest issue for people wanting to go to st Andrews is the lack of a train station in the town. Yes...I know about Leuchars....but it's a train then a bus and I can bet nobody can be arsed with that. It's also 15 mins away so not really local as people try to sell it as.
It's always been a busy town though, park and ride might be an answer somewhere just passed Guardbridge. The fields there often get turned into such anyway when the Open is on
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u/Nairney 20d ago
I work in St Andrews. Year on year the town gets worse in terms of traffic and parking. It’s a culmination of numerous factors:
- Loss of parking spaces in town centre due to traffic management schemes and Covid outdoor seating.
- Modern cars being larger and streets and parking spaces being small.
- Poorly thought out placement of pedestrian crossings and badly maintained road signs and road markings
- Old buildings frequently being redeveloped and requiring lengthy building works with associated works vans, scaffolding etc impacting on parking plus disruption to traffic (North Street in particular is bad for this)
- I don’t know if student number actually have increased in the past 15-20 years… but it absolutely feels like they have. If they haven’t increased then maybe their road sense / spacial awareness has decreased? Maybe that’s unfair and it’s just the case that more students now stay away from the town centre and are now walking / driving / cycling more from further out to reach uni buildings in the town centre.
- Year round tourism. In the past town would be busy over the traditional summer holiday period, and during any golf tournaments, but now tourism is all year round with no real off period - same for the East Neuk villages. So the town feels busy all the time with no real quiet spells.
Lots of development gets blocked by the community council to protect the town’s heritage/ aesthetic etc, which is fair enough, but it feels like the town is being left behind now in terms of infrastructure.
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u/Spiritual-Mix-6605 20d ago
One-way orbital system around N. Street, S. Street and City Road and Gregory Lane. Pedestrianise Market Street with controlled vehicle crossings for Bell Street onto Greyfriars Gardens (1-way north) and College Street onto Church Street (1-way south). Disabled parking/loading only on the 1-way streets.
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u/sonicloop 20d ago
I was there on early Monday morning and it was the exact same. Had to drive around for a while then just got very lucky with a parking space. Would probably get the bus next time.
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u/Grouchy_Conclusion45 20d ago
Sorry, but pedestrianisation has ruined Perth. It's dead quiet now on a Friday night as it's hard to get anywhere easily. Keep it in Perth if you want it, but don't advocate killing St Andrews, which is still buzzing most nights and days
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u/Gullible-Mode-1141 20d ago
There are a lot of cars around just now as there has just been a new influx of Students. There are still a lot of tourists around. Plus there is a lot of work going on so loads of work vans in town plus all the extra roadworks/traffic lights aren't helping. We sure as hell don't need trams. Where would they go??? That is just as mad as the folks trying to bring back the trains to the town. The town has increased massively and there is no where for the trains/train station to go.
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u/WiseAssNo1 20d ago
It's was Saturday. Even more day trippers than normal.
Best to go at the start of the week.
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u/Zircez 20d ago
You think it's mad now, try it on a hot summer Saturday or when the golf is on. Town is in desperate need of a proper park and ride system, at least for summer and weekends.