THE bus gate on Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow has become pretty infamous in the two years it has been up and running.

Almost as soon as the gate was put in place, it was clear the number of drivers caught there was way above the average for a bus lane, suggesting the signs were inadequate. In the case of one offender, Geoffrey Bonelle, Glasgow City Council also went way too far by trying to seize the family car over the original £30 fine – a grossly disproportionate punishment for a relatively trivial offence.

Mr Bonelle has since reluctantly paid the fine, which had grown to £274, and the council has backed off from seizing the car, although it still appears unwilling to engage properly with the real issues around the bus gate. Indeed, it seems determined to shut discussion down. Mr Bonelle and his wife are attempting to recoup the £274 on the grounds the signs were substandard, but, instead of allowing the couple their day in court, the council is planning to challenge the jurisdiction of the sheriff court to rule on the matter.

It does not reflect well on the council that it is behaving in this way, particularly when it has made so much money from the bus gate – in the first year alone, it was £1.3million. Of course, the council might argue that the money will be spent on public services, which is a good thing. But with such a sum of money also comes a responsibility to explain and engage rather than simply impose and punish.

The most important issue for the council to address is the visibility, or not, of the signs, at Nelson Mandela Place. Mr Bonelle says the signs were unclear and Paul Mackie, of the consultancy CameraWatch, has also now suggested the cameras at the bus gate may breach data protection laws. Mr Mackie says where traffic cameras are in place, there must also be notices providing basic information such as the identity of who is collecting the data. As this information is not present at Nelson Mandela Place, he suggests the evidence used to fine the Bonelles could be illegal.

Whether that is the case may be tested in court in due course, but the point is Glasgow City Council should be doing much more to convince drivers and council tax payers the bus gate and other measures like it are working as they should. They may have backed down on the attempt to confiscate the Bonelles’ car – rightly – but they are yet to provide clear answers to the questions that might make bus lanes more popular, or at least accepted. Questions such as: do bus lanes actually encourage more people to use public transport? Are buses running more efficiently as a result? Is congestion less than it was? And are the warning signs obvious enough to be noticed by the average driver?

All of these questions should be thoroughly and publically investigated by the council to convince us all that bus lanes are based on an understanding that drivers will be warned clearly about the danger of a fine before it is imposed. Drivers should also be convinced that any fine is imposed in the public interest and proportionate to the offence. Anything else looks suspiciously like a scheme not for controlling traffic but for making money.