http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "Three years to save the future of Scots tourism" en Mon, 18 May 2026 08:18:15 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47308 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:56:07 +0000 cb 47308@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Looking up local bus time tables (particularly rural ones) on the internet is a bit of a hit and miss affair.</p> <p>The trouble is, you can usually find what you're looking for, but find yourself wondering if you can really trust the amatuerish webpage you are looking at. Is it up to date? Where does the bus actually stop (which side of the road should you stand on - that's not always obvious?), how much does it cost, etc, etc.</p> <p>But in my experience that's not a problem that's unique to Scotland. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47305 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:39:36 +0000 crowriver 47305@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Scotland has no lack of places and things to see and do. It just has a dire lack of affordable ways to get to them that aren't a car.</em></p> <p>Sad but true. Alas we cannot expect the SNP to change things, indeed they seem to be trying to make it even more difficult to leave the car behind. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47290 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:52:52 +0000 kaputnik 47290@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>my Austrian in-laws</em></p> <p>In contrast, I had an Australian colleague 4 years ago who marveled at our trains here. He was properly amazed that not only were the seats not wooden, but had cushions on them!</p> <p>I spent a good deal of spring/summer 2005 on the isle of Canna doing my thesis fieldwork. Niether myself or my study partner drove or had cars, so apart from the odd lift with other researchers, we spent a lot of time going back and forth by public transport.</p> <p>This involved carrying all our camping and field kit and food supplies for 1 or 2 week stays on first train out of Edinburgh to Glasgow, changing for train to Mallaig (and sometimes again at Fort William), then having a 20 minute stopover in Mallaig to catch the only one of 3 ferries a week that went out to Canna (precluding much shopping time in Mallaig Co-op). Calmac were as unhelpful as making us carry all our stuff onto the vessel up the gangway, rather than letting us walk it onto the deck (where it was stowed anyway) because we hadn't paid a freight subsidy.</p> <p>Getting home without paying for an overnight stopover involved getting a local minibus service from Mallaig back to Fort William, timetabled to arrive 10 minutes <em>after</em> the departure of the last Citylink bus back to Glasgow! Of course the drivers knew this and if you told them they were happy to put their foot down and arrive 12 minutes early to give you a chance to get the bus. There was then another change at Buchanan Street to get back into Edinburgh at about 1AM. A sleeper train (with seated accommodation) ran from Fort William to Edinburgh with a more relaxed timetable and no changes, but is organised and ticketed to try and prevent it being used as a "local" service.</p> <p>The trains, 2 different bus companies and Calmac tickets all had to be booked seperately. It used to take about 15 hours to do a straight line distance of 150 miles!</p> <p>But yes my point is if you arrive in Edinburgh or Glasgow and want to go exploring up the west coast to some of Scotlands more beautiful and wilder places, without a car, it's not easy! Even the natives are thoroughly confused about timetables and ticketing.</p> <p>I don't think I would have got to any of the places that I did (well not easily or cheaply) on my summer tour without my bike.</p> <p>Scotland has no lack of places and things to see and do. It just has a dire lack of affordable ways to get to them that aren't a car. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47278 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:21:14 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 47278@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Lothian Buses <em>are</em> good - but any city break I've been on the 'joined up thinking' is superb. We have some of the same ideas here, but it's difficult to find out the information. Other cities, even non-touristy ones, seem to manage to disseminate the information to Joe-Foreigner-Public much better. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47275 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:08:20 +0000 Kim 47275@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"A lot of tourism is about travel/transport", here is a major problem for Scottish tourism, most tourist find the lack of transport options difficult. </p> <p>I know this from request for information from relatives and relatives of my Austrian in-laws, they really don't want to drive (on what they see as) the wrong side of the road and expect to find the level of public transport they take for granted at home. They are shocked to find just how backward Scotland is, and puts them off coming here. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4465#post-47271 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:10:00 +0000 chdot 47271@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Of course <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/politics/three_years_to_save_the_future_of_scots_tourism_1_1976852">The Scotsman article</a> under this headline isn't quite so apocalyptic. </p> <p>It's about the fact that in the next few years the are various events (inc. a couple of big sporty ones) and new buildings (inc. V&amp;A Dundee) that will attract people/tourists. </p> <p>"<br /> The Winning Years initiative is to be launched formally at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, just weeks after it emerged that spending from overseas visitors was down by 17 per cent in the first half of this year, contrasting sharply with a 5 per cent rise across the UK.</p> <p>However, the number of UK visitors to Scotland went up 6 per cent from January to June, with domestic spending up about 13 per cent.<br /> "<br /> So not all 'bad' then!</p> <p>A lot of tourism is about travel/transport. Of course more <em>could</em> be made of cycle touring. There are Sustrans routes - the usual mix of good and bad - which seems likely to be stalled by proposals in the current Scottish Spending Review. There are also signed routes in places including Fife, The Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. </p> <p>There was even a report on it in 2006 -</p> <p>"<a href="http://www.visitscotland.org/pdf/cycling_2006_to_2015.pdf">Cycling as a tourist activity represented 1 million (or 8% of all) trips to Scotland in 2003 and £219 million revenue.</a>" </p>