CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Have we been pedaling on the wrong parliament?
(36 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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Great news!
Let's hope it doesnae get stymied by post-truth jerks.
I reckon building cycle routes south of the Thames will be highly productive, since that area is badly served by the Tube.
Posted 8 years ago # -
cycle superhighway 9 is planned to run from Olympia to Hounslow in west London
And surely that ought to be extended out to Heathrow? (to offset the emissions from the new runway - LOL)
Posted 8 years ago # -
stymied by post-truth jerks
As I understand it big business is behind the superhighways now. Money and power talk loudly and persuasively.
Perhaps the target of cycle campaigning shouldn't be politicians but their paymasters - businesses and working class voters.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Edinburgh's big growth employer is high tech companies. That attracts a youthful, hipster type workforce - the kind of people who would regard cycling as fashionable. The MD of Skyscanner for instance is a big cycling advocate. There could be pressure from these companies to make the streets safer for their cycling staff. In spite of setbacks and the fight over the Roseburn to Leith route I'm optimistic about the future - that we'll soon be at a tipping point, especially with the example of London.
Posted 8 years ago # -
IWRS - great minds! Good to get business involved. The RBS BUG group has had some effect.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The answer to the question is no.
But stuff like this -
"
The proposed spending of about £17 per person per year gets near the levels seen in cycle-friendly nations such as the Netherlands and Denmark.
"
and
"
London is seen as something of a national testbed for schemes to tempt more people out of cars and on to bikes. While overall levels of cycling for transport across the UK have stayed largely static over recent years, in London they have accelerated rapidly, especially on the new protected bike lanes.
"
and
"
Khan has faced criticism that he has been slow to push through new bike routes, amid vehement if largely unfounded criticism from some driving groups, notably London’s taxi trade, that cycle lanes increase traffic congestion.
"
mean that more has to be done (and is being done by some people and groups) than just an annual ride.
Obviously London is different in many ways - almost a country on its own. Here the pressure needs to be on SG (and particularly Transport Minister HY) plus CEC (election next year) - though of course it could be argued that London is better funded than Edinburgh, which is an issue for both parliaments.
Posted 8 years ago # -
@chdot - I don't know what the commuting-by-car stats are like in London but surely they must be low compared to other cities.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"The MD of Skyscanner for instance is a big cycling advocate"
Didn't know that - any public statements?
"There could be pressure from these companies to make the streets safer for their cycling staff"
Indeed!
I get the impression that the Chamber of Commerce is broadly supportive of cycling initiatives in Edinburgh.
Posted 8 years ago # -
@chdot - I may be wrong about that & got him mixed up with someone else.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Skyscanner did sponsor Graeme Obree's carapace.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The answer to the question is no.
Betteridge's law of headlines wins again...
Posted 8 years ago # -
"I don't know what the commuting-by-car stats are like in London but surely they must be low compared to other cities"
Due to MASSIVE spending on public transport (over many years) and now 'European levels' on cycling.
TfL knows it's much cheaper to move people by bike than building yet another tube line (not that they have much trouble getting the money...)
In/around Edinburgh there is more noise and spending on roads to get people (cars) in and out than actual spending on getting people around in the city.
It would be nice if once the bridge is open and EGIP finished, there will be clear signals from SG that 'that's it' - no widening of the bypass, time for some local walk/cycle/bus improvements.
Posted 8 years ago # -
there will be clear signals from SG that 'that's it' - no widening of the bypass, time for some local walk/cycle/bus improvements.
We'll know "that's it" when SG start spending more than 50% of the £2000m transport budget on modes other than the car. (The remaining money that will be spent on roads will be for maintenence only)
Posted 8 years ago # -
It's heretical on an Albigensian scale, but people also need to be able to move house closer to work much more easily.
No transaction tax on house sales, and low stable prices for housing anyone? No?
Posted 8 years ago # -
I'd argue that the places of work need to be more distributed (like they used to be), instead of concentrated in the city-centre / Gyle.
It's no use having the whole of Fife as domitory, then expecting everyone to somehow [afford to] buy a house in Edinburgh.
Posted 8 years ago # -
The driver seems to be Transport Scotland, who are totally road driven, which is partly why they screwed up the Borders Railway...
Posted 8 years ago # -
I'd argue that the places of work need to be more distributed
Amen to that. Be nice if employment was more stable, too.
Posted 8 years ago # -
London's Cycle Design Standards are also the ones to look at (in the absence of anything better that can be rolled out immediately in the UK)
Posted 8 years ago # -
It's heretical on an Albigensian scale, but people also need to be able to move house closer to work much more easily.
No transaction tax on house sales, and low stable prices for housing anyone? No?
+1 I've always thought the punishing tax on moving house was weird. I can't imagine moving for work, with the duty plus legal costs etc. so massive every time you move.
Either I'll be passing up work I could be doing out of the immediate area, or driving there. Instead, you could raise the same tax revenue with an annual charge that everyone pays whether they move or not, so that moving for work is cost neutral. All that moving around would inevitably stimulate the economy as you took the opportunity to leave some junk and buy more for the new place.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"It's heretical on an Albigensian scale"
I think you mean Bogomilian.
I'd rather see restoration of the Fuel Duty Escalator as a way to deter excessive motor vehicle use. Currently however most government policy is directed at making life easier for drivers. Which leads to the following madness:
"A surge in loans for new cars was behind a big increase in lending to households, according to Bank of England figures, which may raise fresh fears that families are falling into the trap of debt-fuelled spending."
"Car sales are an all-time high in Britain, largely on the back of low-interest finance deals. A total of 2.63m new cars hit the roads in 2015, an increase of 6.3% on 2014 and above the previous record of 2.58m, set in 2003.
The data has prompted fears that British households are racking up unsustainable amounts of debt, with growth in consumer borrowing returning to levels last seen before the financial crisis."
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jan/15/car-loans-uk-consumer-borrowing-bank-of-england
New car sales accelerate by 2.4% in Scotland
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/new-car-sales-accelerate-by-2-4-in-scotland-1-4147788
Then again...
"It is possible that uncertainly over the results of the European Referendum has hit new car sales in these regions: both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Wales, in contrast, voted for Brexit.
The Scottish result accelerates a year-to-date decline in new car registrations seen to date in 2016: they are currently 1.1% lower than 2015, whereas the new car market in England is 3.4% up."
https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/new-car-sales-plunge-scotland-wales-northern-ireland
Posted 8 years ago # -
I think you mean Bogomilian.
What is this quintessence of CCE?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Re: moving - or we could fix our rental market so that it's an appealing way to live for more people, instead of everyone desperately trying to struggle onto & up the property ladder for fear of a lifetime trapped in short assured tenancies...
Posted 8 years ago # -
They could renationalise council houses
Posted 8 years ago # -
Posted 8 years ago #
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Re: moving - or we could fix our rental market so that it's an appealing way to live for more people, instead of everyone desperately trying to struggle onto & up the property ladder for fear of a lifetime trapped in short assured tenancies...
I guess somehow we'd need to make it so that the lifetime cost of renting a property was comparable to owning one.
At the moment that's definitely not the case - looking at where we used to live in Newington the monthly rent is 0.5% of the property price (after 16 years of renting, you've paid the entire mortgage capital, although obvs there's the interest thing to consider).
After 50 years of renting, well... the balance sheet probably doesn't look too clever.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Carlton Reid @carltonreid
London’s getting headlines today but @NewcastleCC has opened this £1.7 million city-centre cycleway .
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
He moved to Edinburgh, a decision he says proved a sound choice as a company base. As a technology entrepreneur he believes Scotland has “much more to offer” than south of the Border, saying: “The cost of resources in Scotland is lower and the same amount of money will get you much further.”
...
Favourite mode of transport: Bicycle
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
The Newcastle cycleway looks nice. How long is it?
I wonder if they had to fight any backlash against it?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Well to bang on about Making Edinburgh Safe for Cycling Hipsters, cities like Edinburgh to sell themselves as the creative places which have an agreeable life style & so attract young talent.
This was a thesis of The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida - written in 2002 so should have hit the medium sized company & council officials by now.
Posted 8 years ago #
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