CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
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Lorries, vans and buses face being banned from the most polluted streets in Scotland by the end of the decade.
Transport minister Humza Yousaf announced the move yesterday as part of a drive to clean up the air quality in the worst affected areas of the country.
There are already about 200 low emissions zones (LEZs) in place across Europe and Mr Yousaf set out a timetable that would see similar schemes established in Scotland by the end of 2020.
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In an age of unprecedented environmental awareness, we have been slow to address the damage being caused to the public on the worst of our busy streets, such as St John’s Road in Edinburgh and Hope Street in Glasgow, where the traffic is heavy and the infrastructure not conducive to air pollution dispersal.
Now it has emerged that the Scottish Government’s pledge to introduce low emission zones by 2018 is likely to slip back until 2020 in practical terms, when the zones become operational.
Opposition party criticism of the timetable is inevitable, and the Scottish Government should indeed be held to account on such matters – particularly manifesto pledges which were drawn up to attract votes.
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/leaders-target-emissions-not-roads-that-suffer-them-1-4197777
Whilst ignoring the elephant in the room - private motor cars
Has there ever been a study showing the difference in pollution between private cars and trucks etc.? Just wondering how big the elephant in the room is?
While I do wholeheartedly agree there need to be fewer cars on the road (it's staggering on my daily commute just how much single occupancy driving goes on) at the moment my biggest concern is the fact one of my usual routes is tipper truck coated (and this morning heading in the opposite direction, I think heading to Donaldson's as well, a giant crane). I do think we're getting something seriously wrong when large vehicles such as that, which are proven to be more dangerous to other road users, are given free reign in our cities during peak travel times.
I find it staggering that the likes of Tesco etc are allowed to send one massive juggernaut around Edinburgh to service their wee local shops - simply because filling one huge truck is easier for them.
I can almost get huge trucks servicing megastores, but why oh why do they need to be in Colinton Road, or the QBiC (sic) ???
"why do they need to be in Colinton Road"
Simple answer is that it suits them are there are rarely rules/law making it difficult - or easier to do things differently.
In general UK LAs have less scope for 'bylaws' or 'city codes' that could deal with 'local issues'.
London has regulations about large vehicles and operating hours, I don't know if Edinburgh could do anything similar.
"I don't know if Edinburgh could do anything similar"
Hmmmm, like we always say here, they could do a lot if they had the courage.
Unlikely, I suspect although there will be a lot of bleating about wrecked roads/pollution/gridlock.
...had a terrifying moment this morning as I entered the Polwarth roundabout and saw a MASSIVE Dalton's scrap lorry to my left that didn't look like it was stopping.... luckily it slowed down, although it never did stop.
(i know they have a yard there and obviously need to collect from it, but this thing was a juggernaut).
"In general UK LAs have less scope for 'bylaws' or 'city codes' that could deal with 'local issues'.
London has regulations about large vehicles and operating hours, I don't know if Edinburgh could do anything similar."
This was not always the case. Local government used to have quite a lot of responsibility and corresponding powers. However successive governments in the late C20th took away powers from local government, centralising control, first at Westminster, and subsequently to devolved administrations (including London).
To an extent in England such issues have been dealt with through directly elected mayors for some cities and towns. We in Scotland need further devolution to local authorities, but there doesn't seem much appetite at Holyrood for this.
"We in Scotland need further devolution to local authorities, but there doesn't seem much appetite at Holyrood for this."
Yes, sadly.
In the specific instance of Donaldson's could it have been made a condition of the planning consent that operating hours of large tipper trucks be restricted?
I think it was mentioned upthread that they are probably restricted from operating at night due to noise / impact on local residents etc. so presumably it's actually quite easy to place restrictions? Or is there something specific for night time operating?
So many questions...
WC - data from London shows that diesel cars are a significant source of NOx and PM pollution - creating more than either buses or HGVs. However, they are only one of many sources, accounting for 11% of total NOx pollution.
Can't see Edinburgh being significantly different.
See page 10: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Driving%20Away%20from%20Diesel%20final%20report.pdf
That's an incredibly interesting report Morningsider, thanks!
We in Scotland need further devolution to local authorities, but there doesn't seem much appetite at Holyrood for this.
There will be, in time, given the noisy and persistent campaigning by the likes of Lesley Riddoch and Andy Wightman for local government that's actually local and has the powers and finance to actually govern.
"In the specific instance of Donaldson's could it have been made a condition of the planning consent that operating hours of large tipper trucks be restricted?I think it was mentioned upthread that they are probably restricted from operating at night due to noise / impact on local residents etc. so presumably it's actually quite easy to place restrictions? Or is there something specific for night time operating?"
I'm sure there was something in the 'reporting' for the St James Centre rebuild that suggested that the huge numbers of weighty tippers carting the old St James Centre away in chunks would follow a designated route out of the city centre.
"Lorries, vans and buses face being banned from the most polluted streets in Scotland by the end of the decade."
So, redirected towards less polluted streets, which will become a lot more polluted?
I'd be curious to know by what factor a bus is more polluting than a car. Twice? Five times?
Or, to put it another way, at what point does removing buses - and thus encouraging more people to use cars - become self-defeating?
WC - you can restrict the times that deliveries are made to a construction site through a condition attached to the grant of planning permission. However, the restrictions have to be reasonable - if they aren't then the developer can appeal against them. Typically, where such restrictions are applied they allow deliveries between about 0730 and 1930.
Again, London are way ahead of us here - often requiring detailed Construction Logistics Plans to be prepared for larger developments - covering routeing, noise, vehicle types and so on.
It speaks volumes about the SNP that, when coming up with solutions for chronic problems caused by vehicles that the one type of vehicle that's totally off-limits is private cars.
I wonder if one semi-modern, semi-well-maintained, mediumly-polluting bus (e.g. not the latest hybrids or other diesel alternatives) is really worse than the 90-or-so single occupant commuter vehicles it could replace.
I think average bus occupancy is closer to 12. And car occupancy close to 1.2.
So a bus would have to pollute 10 times more to be equivalent to a car in terms of "pollution per passenger".
But all this ignores the inefficient use of road space by private cars, clogging up the city and causing buses (and all other vehicles) to pollute more.
It also ignores the fact that bus users often walk part (or all*) of their journey.
*If they have no access to a car
I think average bus occupancy is closer to 12
I was thinking specifically about rush-hour I suppose when your average Lothian double decker will have 50-overflowing on board.
I presume someone will helpfully send all this information on pollution and cars to the Minister?
Given St John's Road's status in the hierarchy of Scottish Polution I wonder why the council hasn't asked Lothian buses to operate it's cleanest vehicles on the routes which pass that way.
Also given that within 5 years electric vehicle technology will have developed considerably further than it already has why the SNP is talking about banning all buses rather than just the most polluting ones.
With so many diesel cars not sure if would make that much differences, may be council should ban diesel cars from that road at peak times when pollution gets high
Probably worth pointing out that it is pretty unlikely that any Lothian Buses would be banned from a Low Emission Zone. The German examples quoted in the National Low Emissions Framework (published last year, but the basis for the Parliamentary Question) restrict Low Emission Zone entry to diesel vehicles with Euro 1,2 and 3 engines. All buses built since October 2005 should have engines that meet the Euro 4 standards.
More details: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/11/5671/14#case14
The nice new hybrid single-deckers on the 36 route have recently all been pilfered and relocated elsewhere. I always assumed that they have been moved to a more pollution critical part of town.
If we're playing hunt-the-hybrid, the number 24 always seems to have lovely new hybrid buses. Maybe the Grange is a pollution hotspot...
The 12 (which goes along St John's Road) has been switched to the new hybrids.
I know how LB decide - multiples of 12 only for hybrid routes.
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