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.
Are people really demanding that bikes be banned from cross-town routes?
It's clear that Councilor Macinnes truly believes that this is a great compromise drawn up by skilled professionals.
This isn't, I fear, a belief that will survive her first attempt to use it to get her new e-bike from Broughton Street to Leith Street on a dark, windy Friday night in February.
"the Edinburgh central core route which provides a nearly continuous two lanes each way from Tollcross and Dundee St to Willowbrae Road, via Lothian Rd and Queen St. It's the ghost of the urban motorway we never got."
The Edinburgh inner ring road exists, de facto. Not via Willowbrae Road, but via Queen's Drive and Holyrood Park. 25,000 vehicles per day pass through that park and doubtless many of them circumnavigate the Meadows too...
“The Edinburgh inner ring road exists, de facto. Not via Willowbrae Road, but via Queen's Drive and Holyrood Park. 25,000 vehicles per day pass through that park and doubtless many of them circumnavigate the Meadows too... l
And Edinburgh planners have responded to this demand (to be able to travel easily and quickly from Marchmont and Morningside to Leith/Edinburgh East by making how much public transport or cycling facilities available?
I'm pondering this:
Taxing tactiles - Leith Street
and whether five-bar tactiles are really the best approach. What bothers me is that they lead straight into a lamp post.
And maybe I've not been paying attention, but why does the shiny new cycle lane require one to merge with traffic simply to cross Greenside Row? Will there be a toucan for east end-bound cyclists who will presumably want to use the continuation of the cycle lane?
why does the shiny new cycle lane require one to merge with traffic simply to cross Greenside Row?
I think the pavement at the corners there is shared space, so cyclists won't need to rejoin the carriageway.
They are shared space. There are incredibly subtle shared use signs etched into paving blocks on the footway surface. It's true, I walked over them last night.
Found these interesting snippets today while reading about Newcastle's abortive urban motorway.
"
There is nothing, it can be held, in the experience of the United States, to suggest that frank acceptance of the visual impact of the motor vehicle is leading to the emergence of any new kind of brilliant, lively urban townscape. On the contrary, it is producing unrelieved ugliness on a great scale…our conclusion is that visual intrusion is a serious matter, to which society, perhaps after some false starts and bitter experiences, will be bound to pay serious heed.
"
"
"The general lesson is unavoidable: if the scale of roadworks and reconstruction seems frightening, then a lesser scale will suffice provided there is less traffic.
"
from "Traffic in Towns" (The Buchanan Report), published in 1963.
Was down at the John Lewis end yesterday afternoon. Came up from calton road and waited patiently at the red light. Was eventually just told to go through it by a workman. He seemed to be saying it wasn't working. Though you do have to give way to cars from the right at green side and pedestrians from all parts.
This laissez faire attitude then led a guy behind me to bomb through pedestrian red (no peds around).
@mgj According to my 'cycle-friendly' place of employment, bikes AREN'T traffic...
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then a lesser scale will suffice provided there is less traffic.
"
from "Traffic in Towns" (The Buchanan Report), published in 1963.
“
Interesting.
So does that mean planners wilfully ignored this or that Buchanan included it as an ‘option’ that the rest of his report argued against?
Does anybody know how these new bike lane exits along Leith Street are supposed to work (without killing anyone)?
I pass them every morning, and I'm still unclear how - cycling up, with other cyclists coming down on your right hand side, you're supposed to essentially make 2 90degree turns with no space to wait (for either coming down cyclists, or cars coming up behind you). Plus the kerb looks like a prime pedal catching implementation, too. Falling onto the road. Nice.
Am I too negative? Am I not seeing the fantastic improvement this will make to cyclists on Leith Street?
"Conservative Cllr Nick Cook accused the Greens of being “hypocritical and wrong”."
Nick Cook speaking from good vantage point as he has a fair bit of experience of being hypocritical and wrong?
What nonsense about the southbound section previously being 'protected by a bus lane'; the same cars were parked in it all day every day, owned by the small shop owners (wedding dress firm being the worst with their silver Golf)
In a backwards terrible way, those cars did make the bus lane a cycle lane. There was enough space to pass the cars, but you couldn't be tailgated up.
It's been de-facto one lane uphill for years and is now being widened.
“It's been de-facto one lane uphill for years and is now being widened.”
Part of the bus lane was wide enough for parking (partly legal after the abandoning of the allday lane.
Soon (I believe) two lanes all the time for all traffic.
Plus ‘you should be over there’ - in that dodgy bit of ‘shared’ use.
Fun and games.
@mgj No doubt their cars'll be taking up permanent residence in their old spots again as soon as Leith Street reopens, with zero enforcement of any parking restrictions that are in place.
(Just look at the new Leith Walk bus lanes right now - permanent parking bays even during operational hours, with almost no council interest in keeping them clear).
Sound familiar?
“
Efforts to uncover the terms of this deal have been blocked on grounds of “commercial confidentiality”.
“
Suppose the government and councils made it a condition of awarding a contract that the details of how public money is being spent would be published - none of this 'commercial confidentialiity' nonsense. Does anyone think that firms would simply refuse to do business on those terms? I think not. As with so many things, our public officials have been 'captured' by commercial interests.
“Suppose the government and councils made it a condition of awarding a contract that the details of how public money is being spent would be published”
Well yes.
I’m not convinced that any/all tender winners demand/expect such confidentiality.
I think it’s Gov inspired nonsense to avoid sundry embarrassments - like the extent to which they get overcharged for things.
Companies that undercharge and then go bust ought to be embarrassed too - but not as much as those in charge of a system where accepting the lowest bid is expected.
(For instance) The lowest bid to fix a set number of potholes may not be close to best value for money.
Shovelling in a bit of tarmac into a broken road (irrespective of the weather at the time of the ‘repair’) is unlikely to effective for long, but will probably be inline with the letter of some inadequate contract.
local Tories mounted a major effort against the gate closures, and a gyratory removal which is also part of the scheme. They lost all three of their seats to Labour candidates who supported the plans...
I note that the stretch between road and pavement heading 'up' Leith Street has now been barricaded off. No longer for us the ability to get off the road, get off our bikes and become a pedestrian.
June 28+29 #LeithStreet. Parts of the temporary 2-way cycleroute closed for resurfacing at various times on these dates. You are asked to push your bike on the footway at those times.
https://twitter.com/SpokesLothian/status/1008673246051491840
"CALTON ROAD, GREENSIDE ROW, LEITH STREET AND WATERLOO PLACE, EDINBURGH (REDETERMINATION OF MEANS OF EXERCISE OF PUBLIC RIGHT OF PASSAGE) ORDER"
Apparently this has been referred to Scottish Ministers for a decision. Transport Scotland has then, "due to the number of maintained objections" referred it to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA).
If anyone can explain what all of the above actually means, that would be appreciated.
On another note, it took me just slightly too long to figure out why they misplaced the D in the DPEA acronym.
Frenchy - DPEA used to be the Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals. It changed name a while back, but kept the same acronym.
Anyway, this is standard practice. The Local Authorities' Traffic Regulation Order (Procedures) (Scotland) Regulations 1999 requires an inquiry to be held into a TRO where there are outstanding objections (i.e. the objector won't withdraw an objection after negotiation with the authority) where the TRO would:
prohibit loading or unloading of vehicles:
(i) at all times
(ii) before 07.00 hours
(iii) between 10.00 and 16.00
(iv) after 19.00
or if the passage of public service vehicles would be restricted or it would create one-way streets.
All inquiries into a TRO are handled by a Repprter appointed by the DPEA. The Reporter conducting the inquiry will produce a report and recommendations for the authority, which is required to consider that report before deciding whether to proceed with the order. Generally, the authority will stick to the recommendations made by the Reporter, as failure to do so could leave them open to a legal challenge.
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Sustrans will open a dialogue with Scottish Futures Trust around coordination of funding, and where opportunities are found, evaluation of the impact.
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https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/45103/active-travel-taskforce-delivery-plan-final.pdf
(But not until next year.)
Next year's dialogue.
Sustrans: "Hello, we need to talk about how active travel can be part of the projects you fund."
SFT: "What? Do you seriously expect wealth creators to walk? Ride a bike? You must be joking!"
Sustrans: "Can we talk about opportunities?"
SFT: "What about shift workers? Where will they park? Or deliveries? Loading bays will be required. New start-ups need to be lean and flexible, they can't be hemmed in by well-meaning red tape."
Sustrans: "Let's discuss how to evaluate the impact of active travel infrastructure."
SFT: "Are you really saying retailers will have to sacrifice precious footfall for the sake of a few cyclists? What a ridiculous idea!"
To be continued...
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