"
WIDESPREAD road closures during the Edinburgh Festival are being considered to ease congestion and improve pedestrian safety.
"
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Festival car ban bid to ease crowd pressure"
(22 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
-
"The Institute of Advanced Motorists said it had no objection in principle to the scheme."
That's it, that's all there is. Is Neil Greig on holiday or something?
Posted 9 years ago # -
"The situation was exacerbated in streets like the Cowgate, where pavements were also frequently blocked by vehicles servicing venues."
This will presumably still happen, even if the roads are shut to general traffic, but I suppose the people having to walk around the outside of the giant booze-delivering trucks will then be doing so on a road mostly otherwise free, except for other giant booze-delivering trucks. And important cars carrying important performers and meedjafolk to and from venues.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Been an idea for years but now must be the time. Security issues will be another consideration although those risks have been around for a while.
Posted 9 years ago # -
South Bridge is a nightmare for pedestrians at the best of times, but during the festival it is absolutely packed. You have to walk on the road to make any sort of progress, which isn't ideal given the number of buses getting servicing the bus stops on that stretch (which are one of the key causes of the pedestrian throughput torment in the first place).
Would be interesting to see what would happen to city centre traffic if you closed that, George V Bridge and the Cowgate...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Would be interesting to see what would happen to city centre traffic if you closed that, George V Bridge and the Cowgate...
Traffic CAOS!!111
Posted 9 years ago # -
From my perspective, its a no brainer, but I live just south of The Meadows so walking/cycling to the main attractions are a doddle.
Interesting Living Streets comment about Park and Ride - there are lots of P&R facilities already, but I reckon that most people see these as work day commuter facilities only.
Festivallers ? If they arrive by car from (say) Fife, they want to park in George Square if they are going to Udderbelly, Teviot etc.
CEC need to be pushing P&R all the time (even incentivising it - free buses one way, perhaps?) because the city simply cant cope with the car numbers.
I have had to drive to work a few times over the last couple of weeks for various reasons and - as a user experience, its awful.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I keep suggesting that at Christmas they should have free park & ride buses instead of free parking in the centre.
not only would it raise the profile, but if people do it once, because its free, they may realise they like it and switch to that mode for other journeys as well.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Festivallers ? If they arrive by car from (say) Fife, they want to park in George Square if they are going to Udderbelly, Teviot etc.
To be fair, my Fife-based acquaintances who came to the festival all came by public transport. I'm not sure who would think they could park at George Square in the height of festivities.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@PS - I go to a lot of fringe gigs there and incredible though it is, loads of people do park or try to park there.
Partly I think because there are still parking spaces in George Square at Festival time.
It astonishes me that it is not completely blocked off for the duration to allow for pedestrians, especially given the number (usually including me) who are worse for wear.
Posted 9 years ago # -
one of the bizarre things about george square is that, except perhaps at Friday lunchtime, there are always empty spaces.
luckily most people do treat it as pedestrianised and drive slowly and carefully - because people are wandering around everywhere. the exception to this was this summer when they put in a one way system and everyday I saw cars being driven recklessly across to cobbles to george square lane, including some terrifying near misses.
Posted 9 years ago # -
During last year's festival season, my daughter was unable to walk for medical reasons. So I ended up driving her to a number of shows. It really was bedlam on the streets, with cars nudging forward through crowds of walkers. A car ban from many streets is the only sensible way forward
Posted 9 years ago # -
@SRD "I keep suggesting that at Christmas they should have free park & ride buses instead of free parking in the centre"
Exactly.
Far too sensible an idea to make it to fruition :-)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Says nothing about cycle provision (or does it and I missed it?). Hopefully not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Posted 9 years ago # -
This is good news, the pavements aren't nearly wide enough to cope with pedestrian footfall during the festival.
But does anyone else think it's really bizarre that Living Streets come up with a really obvious solution to a very visible problem and the council just say yes? Presumably if the council thought the benefits to pedestrians would outweigh the drawbacks for car drivers they would have done this by themselves ages ago? It's not as if temporarily closing roads during events and festivals is a novel idea...
I'm guessing Living Streets did some very effective lobbying behind the scenes. Maybe the moral of the story is that lobbying really does work and we should all go and have a cup of tea with our councillors.
Posted 9 years ago # -
This is what LSE sent to LH:
http://www.livingstreetsedinburgh.org.uk/2015/11/16/car-free-edinburgh-for-festival-for-2016/
Posted 9 years ago # -
"....many city centre pavements were so crowded (especially in the Old Town) that they were not only uncomfortable, but also felt unsafe. In addition, bus timetables became highly unreliable. Narrow pavements were occupied by hundreds of people, while wide roads were occupied by a handful of vehicles."
Been like that for years mind you. Ideas of banning cars were just too radical before though. Now that cheap air travel has boosted people's environmental awareness (!) with weekends on mainland Europe, we are pushing at an open door. Nobody drives car directly through the city centre in festival as a time saving option. More restricted streets means the roads left open will have more time on green if lights are re-adjusted.
Utrecht - "It's not as if temporarily closing roads during events and festivals is a novel idea..."
Add to that the fact Edinburgh had the 'T works' on for years which maybe helped increase cycle use - despite nothing much being done to enhance that mode of transport.SRD- report sensibly reminds them - "Unlike Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games (with similar attendances), there are no special provisions such as Park and Ride."
Might be a massive success. If EN commentators hate it then we know we are getting close to the right answer!
Posted 9 years ago # -
The vans have returned to the Cowgate. The van with registration BT54HLR was the same vehicle from last year that managed to park on the pavement for a month last year.
160615143618IMG_5584 by Paul fae Fountainbridge, on Flickr
160615143605IMG_5583 by Paul fae Fountainbridge, on Flickr
160615143635IMG_5585 by Paul fae Fountainbridge, on Flickr
160615143651IMG_5586 by Paul fae Fountainbridge, on Flickr
Posted 9 years ago # -
I hope you have tweeted these to @CityCentreLeith
May produce some action with ticketing...
Posted 9 years ago # -
there was a van parked in the bus stop on Grassmarket this morning around 9.45 - brought east bound traffic to a total stop the full length and beyond, because the eastbound traffic had to wait foir a gap in westbound to go around it.
stupid.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I think there is a generous trend to confuse these drivers with people who GAF. They don't.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I had a birds eye view of white van man driving completely onto the pavement on Hanover Street at 0845 this morning, just so he could saunter into a nearby shop. The 5-point turn on the pavement was particularly special, 3 yards from a bus stop at rush hour, with pedestrians scattering round him. Millers Flooring, congratulations, you win dangerously stupid today.
Posted 9 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
