The start of the experiment last year was similarly marked by festival-related impediments, with the freshly-painted lane immediately used/blocked by festival-booze delivery vehicles, shop-management personal transport modules and as somewhere for the people constructing the decking-cafés to leave bits of wood, tools and vans. Even if the start date of the experiment was then declared to be in September it was still setting a precedent for sanctioned and carefree occupation of a freshly-painted cycle facility.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
George Street Improvements
(1175 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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@gembo
Not sure I follow the reasoning that transport should be abandoned during the festival, when even the buses are at a standstill. It's the perfect time for George Street's cycling corridor to shine.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The festival should be the time small, portable transport is embraced most of all, not shunned
Posted 8 years ago # -
you cannot cycle through the throng on the royal Mile is what I meant. You get off and dismount. THere are too many people. Not a problem. THe issue with George St is it was billed as unimpeded. Which in fact it is going east west, you then get to the choice of going diagonal across the roundabout to then be blocked by the pub or going straight on along the road which is fine. GOing the other way it is obviously blocked. Pub hopefully paying handsomely to lease the street for a month. Had thie been the way it was punted in the first place I would not be bothered. Also Any leaflet about Roseburn to LEith rpoute should state Please Note temporary blockages appear in George St during the festival and you may be required to get off and push a bit. Sorry about that.
Pedicabs certainly do good business duri ng the festival. Cycling is trickier because of festival driving, tourists walking in front of you, glass smashed in the street etc. Your favourite restaurent starts doing that daft two sitting thing which no one likes. But Just after the festival before the students are back properly is usually best time to cycle in Edinburgh in my opinion.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
The tour guides will tell you about the way the streets were used as open sewers in the past. They still are, but now the sewerage is motor vehicles. There's not one road in the city centre that isn't used for motor traffic.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
It's all to do with priorities.
You take all the road space in the city and simply allocate it as below therefore keeping Edinburgh's tradition of traffic congestion and pollution.
- Private cars and lost minibuses
- buses + taxis
- tour buses
- delivery vehicles
- murder and mayhem tours free and paid for
- visitors on foot
- residents on foot
- outdoor cafe seating
- giant wheelie bins
- visitors and residents on bikesItems lower down the list can never impinge on anything above it. Simple law of nature you see!
Posted 8 years ago # -
Café seating is above pedestrians. Could A-boards or other footway-impeding signs be added too, please?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Not to mention roadworks signs.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Council 'update' : http://bit.ly/1NcaDqn
Posted 8 years ago # -
Well done EVERYONE who got involved in this!
Shouldn't have been necessary, but that looks a much better solution.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Success!
Posted 8 years ago # -
A very sensible layout, I hope it proves workable in practice.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Brilliant effort from the tweeters and others who lobbied!
Posted 8 years ago # -
Yay, well done CCE folk!
Posted 8 years ago # -
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Dear all
Please find attached an invitation and agenda for a Drop-In session on the George Street public realm design consultation. Details are as follows:
Date – 13 August 2015
Time – drop in anytime between 2pm and 7pm
Venue – Roxburghe Hotel, George Street Edinburgh
I would be grateful if you could circulate this email and the attached agenda and information to your networks, as all are very welcome to attend and contribute.
Many thanks and kind regardsIain
Iain MacPhail | City Centre Programme Manager | The City of Edinburgh Council | Services for Communities | Waverley Court,
"
Lots to talk about...
Posted 8 years ago # -
Hang on. We're back with the motorised traffic again!
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
Lesley Hinds (@LAHinds)
06/08/2015 19:51
@SpokesLothian @AndrewDBurns @CyclingEdin @CityCycling by next year we should event space manifesto"
Posted 8 years ago # -
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SRD (@SRDorman)
06/08/2015 19:52
@LAHinds @SpokesLothian @AndrewDBurns @CyclingEdin @CityCycling as always policies great. Implementation less predictable..."
Posted 8 years ago # -
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This will often have very little to do with the way the street itself is designed. Waltham Forest managed to transform Orford Road into a pleasant place, simply by closing it to motor traffic.
"
https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/blindness-to-motor-traffic/
Posted 8 years ago # -
Spurtle encourages consultation in George Street re-design
"So, if locals want to put an end to plastic potting sheds on one of Edinburgh’s three world-class streets, if we want to head-off year-round spiegel tents and other excrescences in future, if we want to halt the commercialisation of public space, preserve what is best about George Street and improve it in ways which will allow it to flourish once the St James Quarter has been completed, then we have to use meetings ....to make a heartfelt but rational case."
http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/locals-must-engage-latest-george-street-consultation
Posted 8 years ago # -
".... preserve what is best about George Street..."
It would be interesting to know that that is? (haven't read the article)
Posted 8 years ago # -
Article seems neutral on what might be best, but pretty clear that it doesn't like what is there. Always worth looking at Spurtle.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
1. GEORGE STREET CONSULTATION This Thursday
Drop-in consultation on 'key issues' for the long-term future of George Street.
Thurs 13 August, 2-7pm, Roxburghe Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square. http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/1895/help_shape_the_future_of_george_street_layout
In case you are confused about what's going on in George Street, here's the timeline...
(a) Sep 2014 – July 2015
(b) Aug 2015
(c) Sep 2015 - (??)2017
Experimental redesign of Geo St with 2-way seg cycleroute
Messy temporary solution around Universal Arts Festival venue Interim George St arrangement with advisory cycle lanes – note that we unsuccessfully lobbied for (a) to remain in place until (d) was ready, but the Council decided that the necessary Traffic Regulation Order legalities to enable this were too complex.
(d) (??) 2017 Final solution – probably with 1-way seg cycle lanes on each side.
The main aim of the Aug 13 consultation is to get public views for what should be in (d). Note that this is about all aspects of the future of George Street - not just cycling, not just transport."
http://www.spokes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/1508-12-action-update.pdf
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
He said it was unclear if the council wanted to operate the Assembly Rooms as a money-making exercise during the summer festival period or genuinely wanted to bring festival crowds back into the area.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
The general reaction to what the council did was that they ruined a great building which worked during the festival, for the sake of having shops and a restaurant in there.
Really? I think the refurbed Assembly Rooms are a big improvement on (the pretty shabby) what was there before. Presumably it "worked during the festival" because it had lots of rooms that were blank canvases for performance space, as they were largely unused during the rest of the year?
The Stand's takeover of the Assembly Rooms seems to work pretty well. The lunchtime talks are a good addition (Meades tomorrow).
Whatever, the Assembly Rooms really should be the centrepiece of the redesigned George Street - pedestrianise that block (at the very least) and it will suddenly become a building that people notice and gravitate to, rather than one that you squeeze past on the pavement.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
Since writing up my experience of the George Street design consultation in mid-August, there’s been a fair bit of discussion and chat about it. The City Cycling Edinburgh forum has several threads dedicated to the consultation, the blog comments have some good discussion points, and I’ve had quite a few face-to-face conversations about it, too. Who says democracy is dead, eh?
In a surprising twist, I also had a chap from the council on the phone to me last week. He was keen to hear about how I felt the consultation exercise went, and I hope I came across as honest and not-mad. We spoke for probably around 20 minutes, and I recounted my confusing and slightly depressing foray into public consultation. He was really helpful, attentive and promised to feed back my experiences. Which is really nice. Bear in mind he’s not taking forward my actual input on the George Street redesign because I’ve already done it via a blank sheet of paper and even blanker stares from consultants.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
Posted 8 years ago #
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This news had not been spread around last night as the whole street was deserted.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Driven at by an HGV with a wide load box office Portakabin this evening in the bike lane. A little bit slower and a banksman might be useful...
Posted 8 years ago # -
Wot bike lane - thought they evaporated after Fest.
Posted 8 years ago #
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