Asked (via twitter) if we could have a website that tracked the counters - am told it is coming. Woo!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Progress! (MMW COUNTER WORKING!)
(185 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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just over 20,000 at 08:40 this morning!
Posted 10 years ago # -
20,000!
I was counted this morning for the first time, having had the bad luck to be away during PoP and last week. Number 252. It pleased me more than I had expected. It seems like actual concrete proof that somewhere up there in the remote authorities someone cares about cycling.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Today I was also numbers 761, 859 and 1362. I'm impressed at how fast the numbers are mounting up.
Posted 10 years ago # -
If you jump on it, it works (as in, goes up by 1). A skateboard also suffices.
Posted 10 years ago # -
was about to log in with this anecdote, when I saw that cameron rose had beaten me to it.
http://cameronrose.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/that-counter-in-middle-meadow-walk.html
I was chatting with two chaps who were obviously curious about it, when a third guy came over and said that he;d seen a little boy going over it with roller skates (wondering if he meant skateboard?).
Posted 10 years ago # -
For an 8 year old boy to trigger it 10,000 times with any equipment is impressive.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I can't believe any 8yo would have the patience to do anything for long enough!
Posted 10 years ago # -
must admit, my first thought on seeing CR's blog was 'spoilsport'. not very grown up of me....
Posted 10 years ago # -
That Cameron Rose is a typical tory spoil sport.
"The explanation for the 12,000 increase in 14 hours lies with a boy aged about 8 or so years old. He had discovered a non bicycling way to trigger the counter. I saw him at 7:20 last night carrying out his entertainment and warned him off.
"If I saw him telling my son off he'd get a
blooded nosepeice of my mind, for his troubles. Children are naturally courious which makes them excellent learners. Misserable Old Duffers are natural complainers which is why people despise them so much.I'd like to see his proof an 8yo boy incremented the counter 10000 times overnight. If not then he's just wasting council resources in having the counter reset. Is he a natural anti cyclist?
Who do I have to fire off an email to at the council to get his meddling ways retracted?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Unless my maths is way off the wee laddie would have to have triggered the sensor every 4 seconds for 14 hours to carry out this amazing feat by himself.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I can just imagine Cameron Rose at a future council meeting: "We'll have to reduce these counted figures by one-third because people are artificially inflating them"
Posted 10 years ago # -
Cameron Rose does ride a bike to get about town, in fairness (and often over the Meadows, as I would see him en-route to Laid Back Bikes).
It would be interesting to know if it was tampered with, although the solution evidently can't be to reset it every few days.
Once again we find ourselves asking, "how come when they buy this stuff in Europe it just works, cheaply and indefinitely, but when the UK does it, it's junk"
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's such fun to see everyone watching it go up though. Cyclists checking over their shoulders. Pedestrians just standing and waiting for bikes to go by. Very cool
Posted 10 years ago # -
I was no. 1628 when I cycled down MMW at about 6pm. I think the grand total was up to 39000 or something like that.
David Hembrow reported on the daily numbers on Dutch cycle counters and also posted extracts from correspondence from the Center for Trafik in Copenhagen, including:
"The counter relies on a sensor placed below the asphalt (eddy current loop detector, most likely) on the bicycle path only...It is our experience that the automatic counter generally counts around 10% less cyclists than the actual number during the peak hours and around 5% less in normal hours."
and
"The idea of the counter is not to be an official measurement, but more to give the cyclists an idea of the approximate magnitude of bicycle traffic..."
The Dutch aren't terribly fussed about getting exact numbers, but they're seeing cycling rates four or five times higher, and ours is in a prime location so in a sense we need every increment we can get—without jiggery-pokery. But I also happen to feel that Councillor Rose is being a little hypercritical of both the intended accuracy and our inquisitive child. I wonder whether a CEC vehicle in quiet hours might have contributed?
Posted 10 years ago # -
@SRD I'm with you, it's great fun! And it's a daily reminder that somebody up there cares about cycling.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"
Sensor loops in the ground connected to the new counters only pick up the wheels on bicycles, not pedestrians or other traffic. Funding of £250,000 has come from the Scottish Government.
Southside councillor and keen cyclist, Cameron Rose, said: “This is a great initiative, public policy needs to be based on hard data and this device offers real-time information.”
"
Posted 10 years ago # -
Walked past at lunchtime and it said 999 for today.
A large gentleman jumped on the sensor and, to applause from bystanders, it changed to 1000...
Posted 10 years ago # -
I suppose he might have had steel-shanked soles on his shoes... But it does beg the question: what sensor type is this cycle counter actually using?
When I passed over it about 6.10pm on Thursday to be about no.1730, I had a look down at the tarmac. It looked like a cross between the old electro-pneumatic sensors for traffic lights and a regular embedded eddy current sensor.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"It looked like a cross between the old electro-pneumatic sensors for traffic lights and a regular embedded eddy current sensor."
Yes, but it seems to react 'well' to being stamped on.
Posted 10 years ago # -
But that's the point: an eddy current sensor wouldn't react at all to stamping on.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Yes, that's what it looks like and that's what happens.
Bit odd!
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Arellcat I can absolutely and utterly assure you that the chap I saw activated it by jumping on it. There were no bikes nearby. While it's possible that he may have had steel shanks in his shoes, I think it's unlikely, as he was dressed in sports-casual clothes. I expect most of them were synthetic.
He was quite a heavy chap, and he did have a couple of goes at it, but it really does look like it responds to pressure.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Maybe he had lots of metal plates in his legs?
Posted 10 years ago # -
I saw someone doing the same thing with his hands. basically kneeling and pressing. count went up each time.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Clearly they're showing their support and saying "I wish I could do this with a bike but I'm too scared to ride on our horrible roads"
right... ?
Posted 10 years ago # -
That 8 yr old has obviously been editing Cameron Rose's blog too! "since it was erected on Friday 25th May..."
Posted 10 years ago # -
I haven't seen these counters but some use piezo-electric sensor technology, which do respond to pressure. Piezos use a wider (and straight) strip than loop detectors which have thinner lines, in a rectangle, parallelogram, or right-trapezoid.
Posted 10 years ago # -
It will be up to 50,000 today! (albeit with a chunk of questionable counts – I saw a girl with a scooter stop by the counter and then start to roll the scooter back and forth over the sensors on Friday evening, shouting proudly to her family who were walking slightly ahead)
Posted 10 years ago # -
@Slowcoach. It's definitely more of a strip than a rectangle, possibly about an inch wide. While passing it at POP I thought it may be pressure based and wondered if that meant a number of sensors could be in place allowing for simultaneous bike passes to be counted in a way that an induction loop couldn't.
Posted 10 years ago #
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