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.
As mentioned on another thread, would be good to keep comments/experiences on overseas infrastructure together, both as a point of reference - for people travelling to these places and also possibly for campaigning reference.
I'll start by reposting my Finnish experience and will happily write something up on Austria. I know others have posted great stuff on other overseas locations, so if you can find these and repost, it would be great.
Finland - 3 different experiences
The first was in Helsinki, using their City Bike Scheme very similar in concept to Boris Bikes. Pay an up-front fee (€5 for a day or €10 for a week) and then ride as much as you like for free, provided you re-dock your bike every ½ hr. These were a great way to explore and to see the central city highlights.
Helsinki has 1200km of cycle trails to choose from. All are floodlit and I assume, used for cross country skiing if winter conditions allow. Most streets have clearly demarked cycle and pedestrian paths built in on the pavement and then there are a large number of corridors which go through parks, or effectively entirely off road active travel corridors with lane markings which mean that you can get across town quickly without having to wait at lights. They weren’t resting on their laurels- cycle paths had their own” roadworks” with excellent and clearly marked diversions as they were upgrading the existing network. I saw 2 new “active travel only” bridges being built. One, that was already open between two islands near central Helsinki is a thing of beauty. The network was really well used and I am hopeful that they will meet the 30% active travel target mentioned above.
In addition to cyclists, runners and pedestrians, I saw a number of roller-bladers and roller-skiers too. There was a wide range of interesting bikes- from bakfiets (the front compartment was full and the rider was carrying a violin), recumbents and several of what I can only describe as the cycling equivalent of a Harley.
The next day I went to a wonderful bike shop (Bicyclean Helsinki) where the owner couldn’t be more helpful. I wanted to do a longer ride and he gave me a fantastic map showing all the trails in greater Helsinki and beyond. I followed (with a few navigational diversions) a scenic route path which first went East, then North and finally West of the city. The paths were still great and the initial part was following the coastal inlets, past some lovely housing. After about 20km I got out to wilder country in the archipelago, birch forests, rocky shorelines and loads of outdoor gym equipment.
The Northern leg headed inland and took in lakes, rivers, 2 arboreta and a nature reserve and ended up in farmland- Finns have an equivalent of Highland cattle! Returned via the central park which took me all the way from the countryside to the North into the centre of town – a network of trails criss-crossing for what I can only assume would be cross-country skiing.
Finally I had a quick jaunt out to Finland’s second city Espoo about 10km to the West round a coastal lagoon and across a couple of Islands, before hugging the coast back to my starting point.
I reckon in ~100km I was 10% on road, 20 % on tarmac cycle paths, 30% on dirt and 40% on gravel and I was pleased with my choice of hybrid. About ¾ of the route was following some form of water (sea, lake or river) and I encountered loads of Finns outdoors, - some in massive allotments – hidden in forests out of town they are very keen foragers and it was blueberry and chanterelle season, about a dozen primary school classes out for field trips. Definitely a feel -good trip.
On return to Bicyclean, I had a further chat with the proprietor- he’d had a hard summer and was going to have to offer something different as the city bikes had hit his business hard- perhaps an unintended consequence. The service was second to none and I really hope that he comes up with something good.
The final hire was in Jyvaskula, a University town in the Lake District about 3-4hrs North of Helsinki. A hotel bike hire on a grey day allowed me to go round the lake (a 12km fully lit cycle and pedestrian path) and to explore the town. Again the infrastructure was great and people were using it.
All in all, a hugely positive experience and the infrastructure model I hope that we can aspire to in Edinburgh
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts