CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years 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.
"shorttermism is a BIG part of the problem"
Indeed. Council cutbacks ue to tighter funding settlements undoubtedly played a part in this. Also it is difficult to plan long term when UK government is driving us all over the Brexit cliff edge in 18 months' time...
Please let's not use Brexit as an excuse for Councils and SG not building cycle infrastructure...
This is indeed welcome news. But, I can't help thinking that it would have been better if there had been more specifics, rather than a lot of the fluff that is in the statements.
For example, Sturgeon could have said:
"We will be doubling the active travel budget to deliver a coherent network of segregated cycle infrastructure in Scotland's cities, overseen by a new active travel commissioner."
But she didn't...
We need to hold local and national government to account on how this money will be spent. There are quangos licking their lips ready to sook up this funding. It needs to go to quangos (Sustrans) and councils that actually want to build stuff. Not the quangos that want to make pointless adverts.
Anyway, bravo to POP and Spokes and others to get us to this point. I hope this is the beginning of an era of on-road segregated cycle infrastructure that my daughter will be able to enjoy by the time she is half way through primary school (about 2023!).
"Please let's not use Brexit as an excuse"
Fair enough. You can bet the government will use it as an excuse in about two years' time.
Hopefully SG can keep public spending at current levels. We'll see. If not, will they choose to cut A9 dualling? Or...
Let's hope one of the extra Community Links + projects comes to Edinburgh. Also the first Low Emissions Zone. That would do for one year.
After that, anybody's guess really.
Probably needs another thread.
Oh, it seems there is. Go to LEZs if you want to talk...LEZs.
@crowriver, no doubt they will. But this about priorities. There is plenty money to spend on infrastructure, as the SG have proven with all kinds of schemes they've embarked upon. Whatever happens with Brexit, it's not an excuse for not spending a proportionate amount of transport budgets various on cycling.
I'm slightly hesitant with disturbing the hornets' nest but what the beef with Sustrans by some posters on here?
I get that we issues with some of their legacy decisions and it is odd that Active Travel has a different funding arrangement than say bypasses but their involvement in the Roseburn working group and clear steer for Option A were critical for getting the right decision.
Sustrans means different things to different people.
There can be no doubt that they have/do/will do more good than harm.
There are bits of the Sustrans network that are BAD.
But this simple truth is that the don't own much of it and don't always have as much influence as they/we would like.
It's also a large organisation with all the problems that can bring.
It also gets a lot of money from SG, so is 'in the middle'...
what the beef with Sustrans by some posters on here?
I'd rather Sustrans existed than not, but that said I can never quite shake the (unwarranted and rather insulting) thought that they are the Inkatha Freedom Party of cycling whenever I wind up using one of their tortuous routes. I'd be much fonder of them if they were less willing to compromise and play nice. I wouldn't last a minute working for them.
Thanks.
"There are bits of the Sustrans network that are BAD."
Yeah. That's what I was referring to by my legacy comment. We just don't know how much of that was dictated from external politics or internal thoughts.
Recent decision making seems better though...
"That's what I was referring to by my legacy comment. We just don't know how much of that was dictated from external politics or internal thoughts."
Perhaps neither.
Early routes were (mostly) along disused railway lines, which were obviously mostly flat but in places had been cut by developments or reverted to fields, so detours were involved.
Then there were the local authorities' and landowners attitudes, practical (often costly) issues of drainage, missing bridges etc.
When the idea of the Millennium Network came along there was the added problem of making it all connect - complete with unsuitable roads and traffic.
I do get the impression that looking after the current network isn't the priority it should be (but then that would involve revenue money). Perhaps SG should find some more money for looking after what exists (or dealing with improving the bad bits).
"Recent decision making seems better though..."
I think that is true for many reasons. I think there is a better understanding/working relationship with SG/TS - but money (and a sensible share of Transport budgets) remains an issue than SG might be beginning to address.
Sustrans made the best with inadequate materials. In an ideal world there would be no Sustrans, simply a Transport department that would have a budget to spend on a proper transport system including railways, cycle routes and roads, along with some powers of getting land from land owners and forcing developers to make sensible access. There isn't, & so we have Byzantine ways of funding and planning cycle routes.
I have used Sustrans routes and their nice maps happily on tours & though there is the element of the treasure hunt I don't know who else could guide me on the quest to get into a strange city, where all melts into ring roads and dual carriage way and accesses to Ikea. (Cycling on the edge, man!)
"
The Scottish Government has at last made a truly major shift on active and sustainable travel, with £15 per head cycling+walking annual investment from 18/19 onwards and a range of other initiatives…
"
http://www.spokes.org.uk/2017/09/scottish-government-activates-active-travel/
UK National Cycle Network will be 5000 miles instead of 3000.
“Despite these great efforts, serious problems of funding, access and standards for future and existing routes remain. Some councils will not stand up for landowners where new access is needed for a safe route, and others are building below proper NCN standards for surfacing or safety.
It is hugely to Sustrans’s credit that they have achieved so much, but it is crazy that government seeks to build a National Network through a charity without legal powers or national funds, entirely depended on the goodwill of countless landowners and councils! Spokes continues to call for a national “trunk” cycle network for which the government would have ultimate responsibility”
Leaflet 74, Late 99
Anything been learned in 18 years??
"
We’ve asked many times before whether the powers that be are listening. Today, we got our answer. The announcement today by the First Minister as part of the Programme for Government that spending on active travel will be doubled from £40m a year to £80m a year represents a huge step forward for Scotland. We’ve had promises before, we’ve had visions, and fine words and policies aplenty – but now the government are putting substantial money to back up those fine words and that makes all the difference.
"
Another announcement on how the extra money is being spent.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/cycle-routes-in-the-frame-for-nearly-7m/
"Transport Secretary Michael Matheson has pledged an extra £3.9m to develop the National Cycle Network in Scotland, bringing the total to £6.9m for 2018/19."
The Doune-Callander link will be welcome . Would be good if they can do something about all the effing chicanes littered across the "National Cycle Network" in Scotland. Maybe spend a few bob paying someone to travel around (by bike) with an official Sustrans angle grinder to remove the beggars?
If you haven't filled it in yet, Sustrans are doing a survey on the NCN - https://sustrans.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/national-cycle-network-review-survey
It's a little bit frustrating ("which 2 of these things should be a priority" type questions, when clearly all of them should be) but I seem to recall there's a place at the end to indicate parts of the NCN that need improvement, and you could maybe combine it with a follow up email listing more if you run out of space ...
Ah, apologies, that's closed now (I should have checked). As you were!
“Maybe spend a few bob paying someone to travel around (by bike) with an official Sustrans angle grinder to remove the beggars?”
One problem might be that Sustrans doesn’t actually own a lot of the NCN.
BUT surely there are some basic laws and ‘agreed’ guidelines about access(?)
And the first place that kindly angle grinder should visit is all those ‘temporary ‘ chicanes at south Queensferry!
Hacksaws are quieter.
I wonder how long a it would take with a hacksaw to remove those chicanes at Dalmeny. A yellow vest and a cordless angle grinder might cause more noise but would be done quickly enough not to raise to many eyebrows.
Driving into them seems to be motorists preferred method of removing street furniture, normally within 2 months of installation.
Could we crowd-source an old Landrover fitted with a winch?
From the Scottish Greens:
Today the Scottish Parliament will vote on an amendment put forward by @AlisonJohnstone calling for urgent increases in the active travel budget for Scotland to at least £25 per person, which would put us on par with the Netherlands. RT if you want it to happen!
https://twitter.com/scotgp/status/1063019119216414721
For 5.4 million people, that means £135 million (up from the current £80m) out of a £2400 million budget
Here's what they are spending the £80m on...
https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/43939/active-travel-budget-allocation-2018-2019.pdf
So 62.78 out of the 80 million being spent on designing/ building things you can ride your bike on.
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