CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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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.
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What! None of this makes any sense. Why bother with a painted cycle lane at all. If you can make it through the traffic maelstrom outside Waverley, I doubt you would be phased by the possibility of the odd delivery van on the ramp.
The gate is crazy - anyone with a heavily loaded bike (not unusual at a major railway station) will probably struggle to open it. It won't stop those determined to cycle in the station from doing so - they will simply re-mount after passing through.
The gate itself opens in both directions and is self-closing. It's easy to push open; you could just bang your front wheel into it. That said, I have no idea how recumbent owners will open it except perhaps by kicking out with a spare foot. I haven't measured the gate, but it's three or four feet wide. If you have a tandem with huge panniers front and back, you're as well not bothering.
I really can't believe that Network Rail is actually saying this is the entrance and exit for cyclists to use, and I hope I'm wrong and there's some other gate still to be installed. To put the gate where it is, tucked out of the way and eight feet from the shop wall, is a nice way of saying that cyclists are to be tolerated but nothing more.
The chaps in orange were installing the fenceposts and fences; I didn't see any other gatey-looking stuff lying around.
Might be interesting to FOI Network Rail and ask what design standards they're working to.
If the railings will be built right around the circle then that gate will become the fag break gate.
The south ramp is looking better and better ...
It was still closed off when I arrived at Waverley with my bike on Friday evening - any chance that I will be able to exit up the new route when I return this evening?
Apparently not. Looks very nearly ready...
Work going on about two hours. Not yet finished though.
The facility isn't quite open yet, but there's your problem:
Obstacle course by beqi, on Flickr
There's a bigger gate, in a sensible position, but it's for more important things like deliveries, so it's locked.
Access denied by beqi, on Flickr
Hmm.
Live (11:15)
Lesley Hinds, Tom Norris and many others currently being goofy on the go bikes to presumably launch the new access
Is that Sarah Boyack?
Indeed it was. Couldn't remember her name.
I'm guessing that Network Rail will have made sure that no deliveries will have been made during the launch...
Looks like Derek Mackay was there too...
Interesting development. A couple of nights ago I was standing on the overhead walkway observing the area and noticed two things:
1) cyclist coming down dodging around the speed bumps by veering towards the side.
2) People stepping over the barriers to cut across.
Last night I was walking down the North ramp and noticed
1) 1 cyclist going down the ramp
2) 1 cyclist pushing her bike down the footpath
3) Fresh temporary bollards and new stripy tape "protecting" the permanent bollards and railing, which I notice is gone from Klaxon's photo above.
"I'm guessing that Network Rail will have made sure that no deliveries will have been made during the launch..."
That would have been hilarious.
Lesley "I'd Just ike to start by thanking..."
Approaching lorry "BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!! ...!!!"
Of course the van driver couldn't dump it on the other side of the ramp because that would have blocked it...
But it's a parking lane, innit?
I noticed it was all open this morning as I sauntered past disguised as a pedestrian. The gate looks okay actually: plenty clearance for most pedal powered conveyances I'd have thought.
Here's the Network Rail press release:
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/new-cycle-lane-opens-for-edinburgh-waverley-passengers
Best to think of it as an absurd comedy piece. Or perhaps everyone really has forgotten that Network Rail caused the problem in the first place, which at least gives them an excuse for thinking the new facilities are a decent solution to cycle access into the station.
Well yeah, but on a sightly more hopeful note:
"The ramp will continue to be used for deliveries in the short to medium term, however, solutions are being sought to find a long term alternative to bringing deliveries into the station via the ramps."
Could be interesting...
They can't bring in station supplies on a train because they've turned all the goods stations into car parks. And they can't bring in supplies by cargo bike because bikes.
The only people shown cycling in the accompanying picture are doing so on the unpainted part of the ramp due to an 'obstruction' on the official cycle lane. Get used to it.
I distinctly recall Phil Verster, MD of the Rail Alliance, giving evidence to the CEC Transport Committee (link upthread) saying that he didn't think the north ramp would be used for cycle access, but the south ramp was more likely. I would love to know why his mind was changed from that eminently sensible idea to the risible 'solution' we have now.
The south ramp would at least have allowed people to cycle all the way (almost) to the mass of parking on platform 3, which is really quite a distance to push your bike, lock up and then run back to catch your Glasgow train or run into the toilets in the central block because you're about to be spectacularly productive.
The fact that the north ramp and gate is probably adequate for 95% of cyclists means that the other 5% are consistently disadvantaged because of a failure to consider the full range of users, the same as the diversion path on Roseburn Park.
They could have left the foot access to the station as the Waverley Steps, and the stairs from Market St, and the ramps, and the only reason this changed is because they were required to provide access for people with mobility impairements.
Hi @Arellcat. Not sure if your comment,
"They could have left the foot access to the station as the Waverley Steps, and the stairs from Market St, and the ramps, and the only reason this changed is because they were required to provide access for people with mobility impairements."
is meant to explain why Phil Verster changed his mind from the S ramp to the N one. If so, could you expand a bit? He was right then, and the south ramp is still the right choice. The new cycle lane, with a gate, which dumps you into the most congested part of the station, may be "adequate" for 95% of users, but the south ramp would be "better" for 100%, and wouldn't have required any extra infrastructure; just open the barrier. What was the killer reason that changed his mind?
http://www.endole.co.uk/company/09819596/intercity-railfreight-limited
Changing from http://www.5pl-uk.com/ this weekend
about to launch more routes, including deliveries to stations .. where HGV trucks can access platforms to transfer to trains ... has run trials at Euston where trucks drive right to side of train and load/unload at night .....oh dear we've sealed off Glasgow Central from all directions and built 2 more platforms, Queen Street ...not much better Waverley...errr ... smart thinking....
Re why north not south, seems to me they probably thought just as far as the zebra crossing at foot of south, envisaging speeding bike collisions, and bikes streaming onward uninterrupted into the station, chose north.
@ih, my comment was to try to illustrate the fact that NR had to be forced (by legislation) to improve conditions for disabled people. Otherwise those modifications would have been carried out much sooner. I get the feeling that cyclists, who might all be passengers, are basically just pests who need no special treatment that provides equality of access, but public pressure made NR relent.
As gkgk noted, I think the presence of the pedestrian crossing, and the habit of cyclists to race down hills and run amok in public spaces, was the single reason why the south ramp was not an option. Whether or not this would have held out in real life — I suspect not — is not up for argument anymore it seems. Public perception of cyclists has thoroughly polluted every kind of public space design thinking, despite no-one remembering all of the good drivers and good cyclists that we enounter every day. It's human nature to remember negativity.
In some respects, the 1960s idea of reducing Waverley to a local station and building (or rebuilding) Princes St Station at ground level might well have been the better option overall. Waverley is, to all intents and purposes, a glorified underground station with complex access arrangements.
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