You could try carrying a takeaway bike up the stairs next time you're there.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme
(1576 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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@Blueth it's not ironic! It's wonderfully appropriate. You can eat as many calories as you want when you cycle everywhere. That's what I do and I'm skinnier than at any time since I was a cycle courier in the year 2000/2001.
Posted 5 years ago # -
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My ward, Sighthill/Gorgie, is one of the most public transport-dependent in the city. Low levels of car ownership mean that public transport options are essential for the large population of students, professionals and pensioners in the area. We need to do all we can to encourage cycle uptake as an active transport alternative for journeys to work in particular. A heavy concentration of hire points in the city centre does not achieve this. It also does not seem equitable to constituents in my community who feel overlooked.
“
Not sure about the last sentence, but I hope she will work with other marginalised councillors.
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I and many of my colleagues from the South West were dismayed to note that no new cycle provision has been made in the South West. Or, as I pointed out to the committee, from a possible 49 funded projects, zero are located in the South West.
“
Well, this is quite encouraging if they really are noticing and feeling neglected, time to contact your marginalised councillors (unless you live in the over privileged city centre).
Posted 5 years ago # -
The density in the city centre is far from excessively high and will need proportionately scaled up as docks in the perhipery go in, as a very high % of journeys will be radial.
Had my first experience of a docked bike in ‘sleep’ mode this morning, instead of being told to immediately withdraw the bike, I had to push the button. It took about 30 seconds to wake up and unlock. Presume this is one of many energy saving features for the on board computer.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Agreed, Harts, but there's calories and there's calories. I'm sure you don't live on burgers etc.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“The density in the city centre is far from excessively high and will need proportionately scaled up as docks in the perhipery go in, as a very high % of journeys will be radial.”
Is there a known plan for future dock intentions?
I wonder if, based on evidence from other cities, there is any vague idea about where docks should go in line with ‘predictable’ demands for trips to and from the centre and, in addition, potential for local trips.
I hope Cllr Graczyk isn’t just trying to raise her own profile or that of her area by asking for hire bikes and also has a wider view of desirable infrastructure needed to significantly increase cycling.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I think I read somewhere that the operators will be taking suggestions for dock placement but I don't know where I read it. So I'll leave my suggestion here in the hope it floats to the right ears - the shared use path alongside Morrison's on Gilmerton Rd could be a good call. It's part of the quiet route between Roslin and the Innocent as well as being on a main road to town if you're brave enough. It would be almost as handy for many locals as their nearest bus stop.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I would encourage the hire team to always install clusters of 3 docks approx 150m apart from each other and not to do one-offs like Portobello.
The risk of a single dock being overfilled with no reasonable diversion is extremely high just now.
Requests for docks accepted through any of their contact channels (twitter, facebook, in app messenger, email)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Cllr Graczyk? Isn't that the former Conservative party member who was in discussions about joining the SNP?
Quite why she was in the Tories if she was concerned about disability benefits is something of a mystery.
Not sure we should take her opinions too seriously. Sighthill for example would need more bike-friendly infrastructure to benefit from takeaway bikes. Gorgie has similar issues, but at least is not that far from the NEPN.
I would think Leith Walk and Easter Road areas are higher priority, given these areas have the highest population density in Scotland.....(also high density of AirBnB visitors who might need a hire bike to get around town).
Posted 5 years ago # -
The Gorgie/Dalry corridor can't be too far off Leith Walk in terms of density, though long and linear rather than short and wide. It's valid to request attention.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Klaxon, while that is true, the population in the Leith Walk area has grown very rapidly over the past couple of decades, and continues to grow. Lots of new developments going into the various gap sites, most are high density residential. Similar things have been happening in Fountainbridge but less residential and not at the same density.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Compared to the trams fiasco and the failed attempt to introduce congestion charging, this latest example of ineptitude by Edinburgh’s local authority is a fairly minor matter. But it’s also a badly missed opportunity to showcase health and exercise in the city and it begs the question, what next? How about Edinburgh Leisure in association with Dunkin’ Donuts? I wouldn’t put it past them.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Also:
Interestingly, at least to me, this minority rule concept cropped up twice this week. Firstly the council’s fascination with bikes and cycling seems to get stronger every week and the launch of Just Eat cycle hire arrived with great fanfare.
There is no doubt this is a good thing assuming that people use the bikes and it will take some time for that to be clear. All the initial users on social media were keen cyclists already and clearly that is not the main target user. Those who cycle regularly will mostly continue to use their own bikes especially as the hire bikes are said to be quite slow and have basic gearing so the scheme’s success will rely on persuading new people to cycle.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I'm hoping that it turns out that the decision for the branding of Just Eat Cycles was that of someone called Pat so that it becomes appropriate to use a 'Just sack Pat' screenshot from the excellent Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"...will be taking suggestions for dock placement..."
Hopefully they'll also be looking at data like people's locations when they launch the app.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I hope so too. Not sure if they should put more docks where lots of people are logging in, or where no people are logging in, though.
Posted 5 years ago # -
One thing I was told on the Meadows is that hotspots where people pause their journeys (feature coming soon) will be fed into the dock planning process
Posted 5 years ago # -
"...the bikes are branded with messaging that goes completely against the whole point of the exercise."
I didn't realise just eat promoted polluted cities!
Posted 5 years ago # -
Scheme creating a lot of interest from the commentators and councillors. Hopefully all the carping cabal can be persuaded to get on their bikes?
Posted 5 years ago # -
I've been dwelling on if some of the complaints about the sponsor could be subconsciously rooted in class. I can imagine a person who would see a banking sponsor as "fit for a capital city" but fast food as "uncouth"
Personally glad to see a scheme come together that isn't costing the council anything. It means it is being built at a time of cuts. TFL's system is extremely expensive to the public purse - £3m a year or ~30p a journey - and isn't expanding any further. Oliver O'Brien writes about why here.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Klaxon, "Personally glad to see a scheme come together that isn't costing the council anything. It means it is being built at a time of cuts. "
Absolutely. Can't think of a better use of sponsorship in the city just now.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Had my first shot on the bikes today. Really good experience. App worked perfectly and easily. A bit of fiddling to find the right height for the saddle and off I went.
Good upright position, so you see everything. Very stable feel to the ride - I was doing no hands at times, which is very rare for me. Good cornering at pace. A wee bit bumpy on the cobbles, but that's to be expected.
It did feel a little under-geared for the route I was on (mainly flat or downhill), but that was just comparing it to how I would normally ride. Going the gear's pace was comfortable and non-sweat inducing. I'm not sure I'd be entirely happy riding them in traffic at that pace, so I hope it will add to the case for segregated cyclelanes in town.
The brakes felt a bit sketchy on a couple of occasions where I was going down a relatively steep hill. I was freewheeling and leaving the braking to when I approached the junction, but got a skitey moment where the brakes are on but don't bite. I stopped in time, but would now recommend braking early and often.
All in all, the bikes are good fun. I could see myself using them a lot for nipping across town, especially if they can get the density of the docking stations right.
Posted 5 years ago # -
A buoyant day for ridership
The number of trips and cyclists hit 50% of launch day, and it was free on launch day
Trips today: 227
Most trips in one day: 403Cyclists today: 151
Most cyclists in one day: 273Posted 5 years ago # -
The map on the app is really helpful. Has anyone checked if it toggles from showing the number of bikes available at each docking station when you're looking for a bike to the number of available docks once you have a bike hired?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Kevin Buckle's aversion to commas (and other punctuation) makes his column quite difficult to read.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“I've been dwelling on if some of the complaints about the sponsor could be subconsciously rooted in class. I can imagine a person who would see a banking sponsor as "fit for a capital city" but fast food as "uncouth" “
I’m sure there may be an element of that, plus notions that takeaway = fastfood = bad.
https://www.just-eat.co.uk/area/eh4-edinburgh
Additionally that only those people do takeaway.
(I suspect for some people fish suppers and pizza don’t count.)
Of course, as has been mentioned, there is some concern around notions of irony around Just Eat (and the possibilities of over-eating) and a transport system that involves exercise.
HOWEVER if any of the assumptions about ‘Just Eat customers’ are true, perhaps the bike branding will lead to a whole new range of cyclers.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Would be good if Just Eat were making some sort of cycle hire offer to their Edinburgh customers on their database? Perhaps they are, I wouldn't know.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"The map on the app is really helpful. Has anyone checked if it toggles from showing the number of bikes available at each docking station when you're looking for a bike to the number of available docks once you have a bike hired? "
It does, though I only noticed from this prompt. It then keeps showing the lock-spaces in green long after you've re-docked the bike.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Posted 5 years ago #
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