PUBLIC meetings to sound out opinion on the Glasgow Fastlink transport project are being held this week.

Transport bosses want to hear from residents and busin-esses along the proposed route of the new bus system, which covers from the SECC to the Southern General Hospital.

Part of the scheme is due to be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games to take athletes and officials from the city centre to the SECC, but the rest will not be completed until 2015.

The plan involves connecting Buchanan Bus Station and Queen Street and Central stations with the SECC and the new hospital on the south of the Clyde via the "Squinty Bridge". A new bus hub in Union Street is expected to ease cong-estion in the city centre bottleneck.

The plans for the city centre traffic manage-ment have yet to be finalised and delivered by Glasgow City Council but are essential to deliver a 20% reduction in city centre journey times for the Scottish Government funding to be delivered.

The first meeting takes place today at the Campanile hotel, near the SECC, and a second meeting will be held in the Pearce Institute in Govan on Thursday between 9am and 9pm.

It is expected that tenders for the Fastlink infrastructure will be issued next month.

Eric Stewart, assis-tant chief executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, said work was continuing on the scheme.

In a report to SPT councillors, he said: "While the workstreams are within the overall timeline for completion and budget, the details and implementation plan for the city centre elements are awaited from the city council and may present a risk to the overall delivery."

The plan is for buses to run at six-minute intervals.Measures will include bus gates and lanes and signal priority for buses.

Mr Stewart said the meetings, organised by the city council this week, were for the public, elected repres-entatives and local business to give their input to the Fastlink design process, and are part of the Traffic Regulation Order.

Councillor Jim Coleman said: "These sessions are an opportunity to update residents on progress and get some feedback too."

stewart.paterson@ eveningtimes.co.uk