CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
Well done to ALL posters
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.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
In the EEN: http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/edinburgh-bike-commuting-hits-new-high-1-4125907
Quote from "Spokes spokesman": "The level and growth of cycling demand, and the falling motor traffic, surely cry out for segregated cycling provision on this relatively wide, but scary, city-centre road."
Now let's wait for the commenters (although even on EEN cycling articles the trolls are now often losing - something is changing)...
Still only one comment!!
"
12/05/2016 7:37 AM
LesterBongs
Just to save time, let's summarise what's going to be said in response to this so people can get on with their day:
Edinburgh isn't Copenhagen/Amsterdam/Utrecht/Seville/London/New York/Portland and people won't want to ride a bike
Edinburgh is too hilly, wet, windy, cold for bike commuting.
Cyclists don't pay road tax/aren't insured/registered/no helmets
Cyclists all cycle on the pavement when they aren't cycling slowly in the road and in any case there aren't any cyclists anyway and the ones that are there nearly kill me everyday
Bike lanes are the cause of all the congestion in Edinburgh and they are never used
Can't get a fridge on a bike
Lycra, Lycra, Lycra, Lycra, Lycra
Rant about buses, bus lanes and trams
just to change the traffic light sequences
Free flowing traffic!
War on the motorist!
Free parking
Clowncil.
Anything I've missed?
"
20mph limits will break my gearbox?
Lesley Hinds.
@wingpig - that's my favourite one. It's amazing how many mechanical engineers there are that comment on the subject.
It's legal to park in the Leith Walk bike lanes
Otherwise Law-Abiding
SNP / Tories / Labour*
* pick your political whipping boy of choice
"People should go elsewhere to practice their hobby of playing on bikes"
"I'd never cycle in Edinburgh, too dangerous... how dare they want provision"
"Need to have a shower... smelly cyclists sitting all day at work in lycra"
"Cycling causes all the pollution in Edinburgh"
etc
They won't use the cycle lanes provided for them.
They won't use the cycle path down the hill in the park, instead choosing to cycle too fast down the hill on the road forcing drivers to break the speed limit to overtake them.
Back to normal (not many comments though)
"
The Irritatingly Intelligent Chauvinist
9:29 AM on 12/05/2016
The Irritatingly Intelligent Chauvinist.
25% of journeys heading into the city were made by bike? That is complete and utter garbage. The only thing spokes are good at is pedalling lies. I mean who comes with such mince? And then expect people to believe it? When I was driving home after work last night, I can tell you the number of journeys I witnessed being made by bike was zero. I did not see one single cyclist. None at all.
"
WAR followed by the M8?
I did not see one single cyclist. None at all.
Such poor observation and selective blindness is unfortunately all too common in those driving...
Which is exactly why vulnerable road users should be separated from those that will not respect their vulnerability!
;-)
Robert
The one time, on a cycling story, when 'peddling' would have been the correct usage (unless he was going for an elaborate pun?).
Not one bike? Really? I guess he must have definitely gone WAR and then teleported to the M8. I saw about 15 or 16 on the cyclepath from Edinburgh Park to Balgreen. A few more on the way to Haymarket. Even 3 or 4 on Queen Street, and played cat and mouse with a couple from London Road to Mountcastle. And that was just the bikes going in the same direction as me.
He might be driving with eyes closed of course. But it's statements like that, which are clearly nonsense, that kind of belittle his entire argument. If you're willing to lie to make your point then it's clear your point has no merit.
"But it's statements like that, which are clearly nonsense, that kind of belittle his entire argument. If you're willing to lie to make your point then it's clear your point has no merit."
Like our favourite man of the (Roseburn) people's assertion that only 6 people an hour cycle through Roseburn...
Scotsman article as well:
Aaaargh
Check photo in that link...
to be fair I've seen that cyclist carrying a bottle of wine, which was incredibly irresponsible
I dunno which is worse really. This:
Or this:
Both reinforce stereotypes. But then stereotypes are based on reality.....they just exclude those who don't fit them.
Dad collected the data, son and daughter illustrated it, so that seems an entirely reasonable photo!
;-)
Robert
I was tempted to comment but have decided I just close the tab and walk away.
Of course the WAR is perfect place to count typical traffic flow. I also mini-raged at the comment "I suppose there are cyclists out there because they have no alternative because the clowncil took away all the parking spaces etc" well... YES that's the main POINT isn't it? There are never enough parking spaces. Check Polwarth for double parked cars in the morning as I cycle pass them!
On the Spokes website:
"SOUTHBOUND MYSTERY
"Strangely, the increased cycling levels in the last 5 years or so have been almost entirely citybound, with little change southbound. Indeed this year cycling levels actually fell slightly southbound at both Forrest Road and Lothian Road, though this was masked by the big citybound increase. Susprisingly, car patterns are somewhat similar, with a much bigger fall in southbound car traffic than citybound. If anyone can give a convincing explanation of the reasons, let us know!!"
Does anybody know if the big pothole in Princess Street has been fixed yet?
Students have all gone for a sunbathe instead of going to the library to revise for exams?
"Susprisingly, car patterns are somewhat similar,"
Is that surprising?
Is it getting particularly harder/more expensive to park in city centre (as resident or worker)?
That doesn't explain why more are heading into the city centre than out of it.
@chdot At first I thought the problem was that more people travel towards the centre but not back, so they must disappear somewhere.
But now I'm not sure I understand this at all. The count was done in the morning wasn't it? So in the evening you would probably get more southbound traffic then? Or am I missing something here?
"So in the evening you would probably get more southbound traffic then? "
Yes but it still does't explain the disappearing outward bound cyclists/traffic since the last survey.
I still reckon it's the sunny day student factor.
I'm surprised as well. If anything, my experience this year has been that the central bit of Lothian Road (ie the bit outside the Filmhouse where they take the survey) southbound is busier with motor vehicles this year, probably due to more right-turning cars from WAR, essentially traffic displaced from Morrison St during the gas works. The vehicle tailback on LR usually stretches back over the King's Stable Rd junction.
The disparity in N-bound vs S-bound traffic is definitely a fact, harder to know the reason why. My own pet theory is that long uphill drags like Dundas St in the morning maybe discourage some potential S-bound commuters, though Morningside or the Grange are pretty long drags the other way too?
Also odd as the wacky races of N end of Lothian Rd onto Princes St/Charlotte Sq is horrible on a bike IMO.
@crowriver Oh, do you mean the drop from 64 (2014) and 67 (2015) to 57 (2016)?
I wouldn't think this is a statistically significant trend. I'm too stupid to do a proper significance test, but as a rule of thumb, the standard deviation is the square root of the count, so that's about 8 for a count of 64. So you would expect the numbers to vary between about 56 to 72 just from random effects.
I suppose re-routeing could be a factor. Improvements to the meadows paths and meadows-innocent link are probably taking people away from Forrest Road. Not so sure about Lothian Road though, no great improvements to possible alternatives.
Lothian Road screams out for segregated routes. It's the best route north-south. The Mound steep, the Bridges exposed.
Something could be done about the junction to Queensferry Street that people were talking about on the other thread. I'd suggest a toucan crossing. You're in the city centre & cyclists shouldn't expect to hare through.
I cycle northbound up MMW sometimes, but rarely southbound in the early evening as it's often very full of pedestrians, and I'm often in a hurry. If I have the time to pootle and be considerate then I'll go there, otherwise I go south on Buccleuch Street. I'm not sure if that's relevant though.
Re my last post: The longer term trend look quite real (e.g. from around 40 to 60 in Forrest rd southbound, 138 to 211 northbound in 9 years), but I don't think one can interpret year-to-year differences.
I still don't understand why/if the northbound/southbound difference is a problem, or what exactly we need to explain. Generally people move into the centre in the morning and leave in the afternoon, so that's what the data shows. If most people in Forrest Rd are students or university employees, then perhaps you would get more going southbound in the morning (towards university), but if they are more diverse, then you get more northbound, don't you?
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