CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years 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.
“
But despite its accessibility, the study found that Edinburgh’s transport system is the most under-utilised in the UK. The Capital would also benefit from offering more active transport solutions, for example by improving cycling infrastructure and increasing the provision of pedestrian areas.
“
Full report here: https://www.arcadis.com/assets/images/sustainable-cities-mobility-index_spreads.pdf
"Among the best" according to a strange set of criteria.
To me, "best" means best for getting around.
The report points out that Edinburgh is one of the most congested cities in UK.
Yet its praise for Edinburgh is based on:
(A) Queensferry Crossing and M8 improvements - both of which will do nothing to solve congestion/pollution.
(B) A future utopia where the tram line extension will somehow reduce congestion.
I'm baffled.
Having lived in Paris, I'm amazed when I hear people praising Edinburgh's public transport.
You stand at a bus stop in a freezing wind in October (bus stop not designed to keep wind out)...
... Next to someone who is smoking because the non-smoking signs have been taken down.
... Then you get on a crowded bus that's going 7mph because it's stuck in traffic, because cars/vans are parked in the bus lane, and because it's stuck behind other buses...
Yeah, world class.
To be fair, Paris is much further up the rankings at No. 3, than Edinburgh, which sits at No. 17.
Strange report - it counts the number of airport passengers and maximum speed limit (the higher the better - claiming that there is no correlation between this and traffic fatalities) as positive factors.
To be fair, Paris is much further up the rankings at No. 3, than Edinburgh, which sits at No. 17.
It does.
(A) You could argue that, in order to create a top 20, you have to include the 20th best - even if it sucks. But, in that case, "among the best" is incorrect. It's a much lower tier.
(B) Edinburgh is above Berlin. I don't know what it's like to drive in Berlin, but Berlin has far superior public transport and active travel infrastructure.
"the study found that Edinburgh’s transport system is the most under-utilised in the UK"
I suspect that is one of the reasons it is 2nd best behind London. Being a nominally non profit organisation it will run services where there is lower demand and hence is likely to be under utilised. If it was a private profit making enterprise then it would stop services far earlier in the evening and stop serving areas where fewer people catch the bus.
Yes it would be nice if more people caught the bus but it would be catastrophic if LB started chasing occupancy rates as a target.
Adding doubt to if or when services will run, particularly off peak, is how to kill your bus ridership 101
I can be confident that, with a few niche exceptions, Sunday service in Edinburgh is no worse than every 30 minutes, and always regularly spaced.
@gibbo Not forgetting the Lothian Mobile Saunas - where they have the heating on full-blast all summer (and claim the drivers have no control over the system to turn it off / down), and then they blow freezing cold air in during the winter.
I dread being on a bus in summer - I sweat very easily (I suspect I'm slightly hyperhydrotic) so I often get off looking like I've just taken a dip in a swimming pool fully-dressed. The new 22s have only a few tiny windows, and the chances of getting a seat a few rows behind an open one, in order to sit in the spot that the breeze from the window hits, are almost nil.
@threefromleith
Whenever I'm on buses, I find myself understanding why people love their cars.
The stifling heat, the BO, the people shouting into their mobile phones...
Fortunately, I also find myself realising how great it is to cycle when I see cyclists filtering past the bus when it's stuck in a huge tailback.
This is Fake News.
The stifling heat, the BO, the people shouting into their mobile phones...
Sounds dreadful. L'enfer c'est les autres and all that.
"they have the heating on full-blast all summer"
You mean those four days of sunshine we had in July? The rest of the "summer" was a bit of a damp squib.
"The stifling heat, the BO, the people shouting into their mobile phones..."
It's really not *that* bad on the bus. Granted, a peak time 26 or similar will be a bit claustrophobic. Rest of the time the buses are fine.
Still prefer to cycle or walk most of the time, but when I do take the bus, it's usually pretty good these days.
Edinburgh. Buss very good value. I am not surprised they are 17th in the world. Same in fact as Edinburgh university.
Given how easy it is to get around Edinburgh on foot, by bike, Bus, tram and train we should be aiming for top ten
The stifling heat, the BO, the people shouting into their mobile phones...
Only really noticed the first 2 when getting caught in spectators heading Tyneside way.
The buses are pretty good, I'd say. They could make the fares easier with credit card contact.
A bus driver told me the 22 is the most profitable bus route in Europe. The 22 is like the underground - you don't bother checking for times as they are so frequent.
Edinburgh's buses are terrific - modern, clean, comfortable.
They do suffer from a few issues:
Failure to offer transfer tickets;
No contactless card payments;
Far too many routes going through Princes Street;
Heating the cabin for the benefit of the driver in shirtsleeves rather than their passengers wrapped up in winter clothing;
etc
But these things are all relatively solvable with a bit of management vision.
“But these things are all relatively solvable with a bit of management vision“
True...
Issues with Lothian Buses-
No separate exit door (though admittedly would need more than management vision to fix this).
The stifling heat, the BO, the people shouting into their mobile phones...
Was on a bus this morning..Things were fine for the first mile and a half until a guy got on who absolutely reeked of stale smoke.
The a woman started playing loud music on her phone. Not a kid. A woman. 50ish.
And when I say "on her phone", I mean, no headphones, just playing music.
@gibbo For smells, it's hard to beat the passengers who sit behind you, exhaling breath so putridly sour that it's melting the rubber seals around the windows and encouraging your breakfast to make a sudden reappearance.
*boak*
@threefromleith
I was lucky. It was mid-morning and a double decker. After realising the woman wasn't going to turn off Elvis, I went upstairs.
(Which was pleasant, and gave a nice view of the tailback we were stuck in on Ferry Rd.)
"No contactless card payments;"
You can purchase a smart card (citysmart) which can be topped up with a prepaid amount: bit like the Oyster card idea. Effectively this replaces the adult carnet of pre-paid tickets and is pretty convenient. Can be topped up at the TravelShop, park and ride kiosks, or on the bus (with cash) if need be. Only snag is the prepaid tickets expire after 180 days...
Partner and I share one and it works fine so far.
@crowriver
I had an American woman staying and she was taking an early bus to the airport. Not enough change and she would have to spend a certain amount before being able to get the thingme on her phone. So not good for a one-off payment. She went to a shop to get some change. She obviously found that primitive - "Come on Scotland" she said.
I've used contactless in a small Swedish city though it looked like you'd have to have a credit card before you could travel.
I really like Edinburgh buses. A cheap treat for my New Zealand guests is to take them about in the top of double deckers on a day ticket - the double decker bit is thrill enough.
Also, if you have a couple of hours to kill in the city, it's too cold to sit outside (ie most days) and you don't want to go to a café, you buy a newspaper and climb to the top of a bus, while it takes you to the terminus. I did that last year with a friend to Straiton - the driver thought we were eccentric to get off that bus and take the next one back, but we had been somewhere clean, comfortable and warm that we didn't have to pay for.
@Rosie, would have thought the mobile app would work for a lot of folk. Don't use it myself, prefer the pre-paid card as it's transferable. Day tickets are great too if making more than two journeys, but you need cash...
I was recently in Tallinn and while you can't pay directly with contactless for public transport there, you can buy a similar pre-paid smart card that works on buses, trams. Only difference is you can buy them at any news kiosk, and if you don't use up all the journeys you can take the card to a kiosk (say at the airport) and get the balance refunded. Oh the other thing that was good was a single journey lasted an hour, so you could swap from bus to bus or tram within that period on one fare.
A system like that, say with card purchasable at post offices, newsagents or supermarkets could work well. I mean, you buy lottery tickets in plenty of places, why not a citysmart card? I suppose the answer is primarily the investment needed in network and retailer hardware...
the prepaid tickets expire after 180 days...
Swore off m-tickets for the same reason. Paying upfront then stealing them back off me isn't my idea of customer friendly.
Doesn't "convert" to a day ticket if you make 3 trips either.
Oyster had all this worked out a decade ago.
"I suppose the answer is primarily the investment needed in network and retailer hardware..."
Not the retailer end so much.
TfL still has Oyster but people can now just use bank cards.
I'm sure SG could offer suitable incentives to bus companies (and ScotRail) to get this sorted.
The other issue with LB is that everyone is trying to get in and out of one door.
Which takes forever as everyone waits for everyone to get off, then gets on, paying their £1-60s one by one...
So slow.
In the continent, they have 2 or 3 doors, you stamp your pre-bought ticket when you get on. Takes seconds to load/unload an entire bus.
TfL still has Oyster but people can now just use bank cards.
...and their phones, but don't expect me to know how that works.
Also tfl discounts oyster and contactless fares to incentivise cashless payments.
Just been on one of Transport for Edinburgh's aka Lothian new all-electric buses.
Quite rapid acceleration. Very busy as smaller than the Volvo hybrid single deckers.
Fan noise inside bus quite loud. (?)
Running on route 1/6 and 36 from what I can see.
Was looking for the Meanwhile on Lothian Buses thread ...
Curious to know how a bus compares with other EVs.
From Wikipeia - "At an investment of over £2.7m, the new Wrightbus StreetAir single-deckers began operation on Lothian Buses Service 1 from Monday, October 2. The service runs through Edinburgh’s central air quality management area.
"The vehicles can carry up to 70 passengers and are fitted with WiFi, high-back seats, USB charging points and LED spotlights. They operate on a pure electric powertrain, including an all-electric heating and cooling system, with 300kWh of total battery energy."
Range is 130 miles so you might just make Aviemore on the A9.
In comparison a Nissan Leaf model has a 30 kWh or 24kw battery and will do 107 miles (or around 90 miles) on a full battery charge.
Your A9 journey would maybe have a break at Blair Atholl or Pitlochry.
The bus moves 70 people at 300kw or a mere 4kw per passenger as opposed to four in a car at maybe 7.5kw each. An e-bike can move one person with 0.5kw or 0.4kw.
A Tesla probably has a 150kw pack.
Maybe on wrong thread now but will let admin decide!
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts