CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
As Obelix would have translated that:
"Rhubarb, rhubarb...rhubarb... rhubarb, rhubarb...
David Haxton | Customer Services Manager | Tram Co-ordination Team | City of Edinburgh Council
9 Lochside Avenue | Edinburgh Park | Edinburgh | EH12 9DJ
Tel: 0131 529 6164"
As I translate that, "Cyclists don't matter."
@ davey2wheels
"There is a yellow sign "EXTENT OF TAXI RANKING" on the pavement toward the end of the rank. I saw this because there were no taxis in the rank at all. "
Been there for a few weeks. The reason it is rarely seen is because there are usually parked taxis obscuring it!
@skotl, your welcome to use it. If it gets results then all the better. I actually got the bus into town past the rank on Saturday night and at that point the taxis were queued all the way back to the junction with Dalry Road before Ryries. Simply unbelievable.
Cheers.
I'm thinking perhaps we need to start photographing and emailing the Taxi office with numbers of transgressors?
There was a chap photographing the rearmost taxi at Haymarket yesterday evening. I assume that if a few of us start contacting the taxi office regularly, they might at least not be able to claim to be unaware of the problem...
Lot of activity at Jug handle this morning. Two cyclists being interviewed, parking attendant on hand and temporary camera on pole , presumably monitoring rather than enforcing
Oh, interesting.
Nothing (including not many taxis) of interest when I went through just after 7:30.
Delegation visiting now.
Camera man. Three Parking attendants.
Taxis being moved on.
Delegation of six discussing signage etc.
When I went past about 8.45 there was a van with "Survey Vehicle" on the side parked in the ASL
Lesley Hinds@LAHinds43m
'In Haymarket this morning with officers discussing actions to be taken to improve access for pedestrians,cyclists, taxis and drop off'
From twitter.
Horse, stable and door bolted, spring to mind! When I saw the initial structures for the tram stop being built last year I wondered why the space inderneith wasn't used as a covered cycle park.
"When I went past about 8.45 there was a van with "Survey Vehicle" on the side parked in the ASL"
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Well, at least she is pursuing it. Hopefully some kind of sensible changes will come out of this.
@ Wilmington's Cow
Yet another example that the council doesn't grasp the concept of irony.
They've had numerous opportunities to get this right. I'll not hold my breath.
Normal service resumed following the visit of Cooncillor Hinds.
Black cabs backed out onto the tram track and a private hire stopped in the ASL just now.
Yesterday about 6pm:
Normal service has been resumed...
So that's an 'extra' 5 taxis - one hiding the 'warning for cyclists' - plus a new sign from Ryrie's adding to the pavement clutter!
I sympathise with the taxi drivers for being given inadequate infrastructure ('we' understand that!!!), but they are breaking the law, being inconsiderate etc.
Really CEC has only one option - close the taxi rank. (But it won't.)
Really CEC has only one option - close the taxi rank. (But it won't.)
I think that they should try enforcement through numberplate recognition cameras. Every garage forecourt has these, so how difficult can it be?
Not so much difficult as time consuming and expensive by the time you have to procure it and install.
Checking as I've passed each morning, its been queued out the back of the rank each morn so far. In evening, I am later and usually its clear.
Taxis backed up onto the main road at 10:00am this morning.
Thanks to the taxi who held back to let me get over the rails with plenty of space. I even tried a bunny-hop!
What is left of small-vehicle circulation space under the new station building? How about a pick-up rank down there leaving the jug handle for set down only.
There's a section in the Grauniad G2 today that compares cycling in cities around the world. Often the commenters of the EEN will rabbit on about, "How come they manage without problems in other cities around the world with trams?"
Well there was a strong indication in the G2 today, from someone who lives and works in Berlin I think, that the rtam tracks there cause quite a number of falls.
There have been 2 falls on bike from Berlin trams in my immediate family. One was a proper stuck-in-groove over the handlebars job, the other was a slip on wet track when not taking the right angle of attack a la Haymarket junction.
The second slip was my sister in law. She skidded and hit a parked taxi. The taxi driver jumped out and made sure she was ok, picked her up, and the bike too. Didn't even look for damage to the cab.
"The taxi driver jumped out and made sure she was ok, picked her up, and the bike too. Didn't even look for damage to the cab."
See, now that's nice. In fairness to Edinburgh drivers I thumped into the back of a car and went for a massive tumble on Melville Drive a couple of years back in a spectacular filtering and shifting from inside to out fail. The driver was astonishingly good about it, similar to the above, and even when I pointed out a scuff that might have been me and offered my details to pay for it he waved me away.
Berlin has very greasy roads this time of year, freezing fog prevails. Makes tram tracks a trickier proposition. I find their infrastructure quite confusing, far too much shared use for my liking, but would be fine and dandy on a regular known commute.
I walked by the jug-handle yesterday at 6pm - of course the ASL was filled by a taxi, as was the cycle lane, and there were taxis backing up right out onto the carriageway forcing three cyclists over the tramlines.
I stopped to watch a taxi u-turn across the west-bound carriageway seemingly to try and join the back of the queue, he made a bit of a mess of it and had to 3 point it before deciding there maybe wasn't enough room for him in the "rank" and drove off. The cyclist whom he had cut across in the first place seemed rather bemused while he waited - I sympathise but this isn't the bad driving thread, there's some fresh paint in the jug-handle:
Behind the official 3-space rank there is now a demarcated box big enough for 3 taxis which says "Drop Off Only". The only reason I saw this was because the taxis parked in the "Drop Off Only" box picked up passengers and moved away.
Was this CEC's answer to the issue of taxis illegally parking? Providing them with an excuse?
So there about 1300 licenced taxi (vehicles) in Edinburgh.
Surely the Council has a way of communicating with them (if they have not done so already).
Then it must be fair game to have a camera in place to record the numbers and send out fines.
It must be pretty annoying to those good drivers who pass by the rank on the basis that it is full only for the guy behind to pull in and pick up a big fare.. The sooner proper enforcement is put in place the better.
@ douglaswaring
"The only reason I saw this was because the taxis parked in the "Drop Off Only" box picked up passengers and moved away."
So it's only marked on the road? No sign? Pretty useless, both for for irregular taxi visitors to be aware of its proper purpose, and more-so to prevent cyclists accusing taxis drivers actually using it properly from breaking the rules.
"Was this CEC's answer to the issue of taxis illegally parking? Providing them with an excuse? "
That's a rhetorical question, isn't it? ;-)
How long until something like this appears for the jug handle?
http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/a-sign-of-trouble
Yes, very telling. The council definitely has a 'we'll out signs up' mentality without understanding that good routes have no need for signage.
More worrying is the reference to cyclists being directed onto pavements to avoid trams, because they weren't considered when trams put in. Sound familiar?
Especially in light of Ian Maxwells comments as spokesman for spokes in the EEN, basically supporting the on pavement infrastructure and saying that something similar might be put in at hay market.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts