http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Princes Street or... "We tried that and it didn't work" en Fri, 22 May 2026 00:27:08 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94533 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:18:13 +0000 cc 94533@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Arellcat I'd go down from PY to the Meadows then head along North Meadow Walk towards Gilmore Place and then straight to Sighthill on the canal towpath.</p> <p>I agree about Princes St. With the incompetent botch of the Princes St tram lines wrt cycling we seem to be travelling further away from Jan Gehl's vision of a pleasant Edinburgh rather than towards it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94532 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 17:14:53 +0000 Baldcyclist 94532@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<br /> I suppose hardened petrolheads would see it differently. "That's the way it should be," they might say. "Parking in front of the shop, rather than walking from miles away."<br /> "</p> <p>It may indeed be horrible, but it appears to be what people want to do. How many High streets (Princes St included) up and down the country have been destroyed by out of town retail parks which offer parking a plenty? Drive up, fill up the car with groceries/clothes/toys/whatever, drive home. All done in a couple of hours, must admit I like the convenience of that sometimes too.</p> <p>The city may be a nicer place devoid of cars, but it is not a better shopping experience, and that must have some effect on the 'niceness' of a place too, unless of course charity shops, cash generator, and kilt shops are your bag. &lt;\ Devils Advocate&gt; </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94531 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:47:28 +0000 crowriver 94531@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I suppose hardened petrolheads would see it differently. "That's the way it should be," they might say. "Parking in front of the shop, rather than walking from miles away." </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94528 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:26:35 +0000 chdot 94528@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedinburgh/8103735874/sizes/m/in/photostream"></p> <p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8051/8103735874_acf882665f.jpg"></a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94526 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:44:06 +0000 Arellcat 94526@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Speaking of Princes St, after today's PY visit and about to mosey on down the road to work, I thought about my route towards Sighthill and its environs.</p> <p>In the past I would have cycled up George IV Bridge, down The Mound, done an illegal left onto Princes St and hightailed it towards Haymarket, Dalry, Gorgie, Balgreen and out along the A71. Today I realised just how much I wanted to avoid Princes St.</p> <p>I just couldn't be <em>bothered</em> dealing with all the buses, the taxis, and not coming a cropper on the endless parallelism of wet tram rails. I couldn't be bothered with the risk of the stupid pinch points, the constant cycle of overtaking each other to be first to the next red light, the need to keep one eye on my mirror, one eye on the rails and one eye on the next vehicular obstacle.</p> <p>I might have stopped on Princes St to visit the shops to buy more Christmas cards, but I didn't. I wound my way through the old RIE to Lauriston, Fountainbridge, Slateford and Chesser, and then back onto the A71.</p> <p>If I visit Princes St again anytime soon it isn't going to be by bike. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94521 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:26:33 +0000 Min 94521@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That is really quite stomach churning. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94476 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:21:10 +0000 cb 94476@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The other day when clearing out some old stuff I stumbled across some old Lothian Region Transport consultation notes* for the 1987 (I think) proposal to widen the pavements on part of Princes Street.</p> <p>It was a bit incomplete but the consultation feedback from residents/businesses etc were interesting.</p> <p> - Lots of people (presumably Spokes members) suggesting that the road should pretty much be replaced with bike lanes. (Response: no chance!)</p> <p> - Quite a few folk suggesting that the pavement work should be postponed until the City Bypass was completed as that would solve all the city centre transport woes (chortle).</p> <p> - A couple of Clubs/Associations representing car owners responded in a remarkably Mr Toad-esque manner. (I think they, or at least one of them would be more measured these days).</p> <p> - The best was from the George St traders assoc (or something like that), who were desperatly worried about the impact on parking on George St which was already woefully inadequate!</p> <p>Something else interesting was discovering that there were no Ped Crossings on Castle/Fredrick/Hanover Sts on the Rose Street axis.</p> <p>*This sort of stuff was the scrap paper of my youth. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94463 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:39:11 +0000 wee folding bike 94463@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Two tone Cambridge/Oxford beside it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94461 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:26:05 +0000 cc 94461@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I see what you mean. But at the same time I'm getting misty-eyed seeing cars from my very early boyhood! This Ford Classic is the very first model of car I remember - we used to have one when I was tiny:</p> <p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedinburgh/6932834035/in/set-72157629360808506" rel="nofollow">https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedinburgh/6932834035/in/set-72157629360808506</a></p> <p>When my Dad took delivery of it he discovered that they'd forgotten to bolt the engine into the engine bay. Dagenham quality that was, don't get them like that any more. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9115#post-94453 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:58:29 +0000 kaputnik 94453@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If you've a spare 5-10 mins, worth flicking though <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixtiesedinburgh/sets/72157629360808506/with/6786889498/">this photo set</a> on Flick of Princes Street in the late 1960s / early 1970s, which show in great detail just what a car drivers "utopia" it was with no traffic calming measures and on-street parking.</p> <p>Horrible! </p>