To me it's about the speed of progress and the 3 steps forward 3 steps back feeling.
CEC has done some good things that have made my life easier/better:
e.g. Tarmac'ing Pinkhill Railway
building the Balgreen Tramside path
responding to local maintenence issues
A90 cyclepath upgrades
Bike parking hoops installed in Corstorphine
There are also many things being talked about / planned that will further enhance my quality of life:
Gogar Station Road resurfacing / cycle infrastructure
A8 cyclepath improvements
20mph zones
Roseburn to Canal link
Canal to Meadows link
Family Network per 2020 ATAP
Balgreen Toucan
It's great that these are coming, and obviously I'd love for these to be a reality already, but if the majority can be completed by the end the year I'd be very happy. The 7% of transport budget is allowing progress to be made and I do accept that it can't all be done at once.
What would be interesting is how much of a pipeline does CEC have for cycling projects? Given there is only 5 years until 2020 (when the ATAP targets 10% of commuters), is there list of projects that is projected to be complete by then.
Maybe things are too fluid to give such information, but without it it is hard to judge if CEC are doing enough. The ramping up of the %age should mean we start to see more being done this year than last and more again next year.
I would also add that there are a number of smaller issues (many that I have raised on here) that I spoken to CEC/my councillors about and that appear to have been put out to the long grass without much progress:
Chicanes of Corstorphine
Craigmount HS steps
East Craigs Paths
Dropped kerbs
All in all it feels like progress is being made in places but it will be a slow process to counteract years of underinvestment and not designing cycling into infrastructure.
My 3 steps forward and 3 steps backwards comment was acknowledging the hard won progress being made as a forward step but also the things being put in place by CEC that hinder/discourage cycling:
Barnton Golf Course chicane / speed bumps
Broomhouse path / south gyle access crossing
Haymarket Tramlines (Trams fullstop)
Bus Lanes allowing in motorbikes and being open for cars during the day (I.e. during the school run home)
Meadow Place Road traffic islands
Balgreen chicane
Harrison Park Cyclists Slow Down signs
Badly installed infrastructure
Whilst there may be good reasons for some of these it's easy to get the impression that 'anti' cycling infrastructure is easier to get approved/installed.
I also think CEC suffers from the problem that society has, in that if you don't cycle you don't even consider them in your thinking. This isn't aimed at the cycle team but at the wider organisation. The trams are the obvious example, but closer to home we have the dropped kerb on Craigs road being installed for council vehicles to use and then gated off so that no one else can use it - I regularly see cyclists bumping up it.
It's this behavioural change that is going to be hard to do - that's why I'm so pleased that CEC have added cycling into the resurfacing and gritting prioritisations - it shows that cycling is important.
From what I see & hear Edinburgh is ahead of other cities with it's support for cycling. I hope that we can continue to lead the way with this.
(I acknowledge that this is a very West Edinburgh biased post, but it's where I live & ride - I assume other areas have similar issues)
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