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resolvedHello CCE,
I live in Glasgow, just started a new job in Edinburgh and I will be commuting on the train. The walk from Haymarket to work is just long enough to be annoying so I'm wondering if it would be better to cycle, but there isn't an obvious route. My work is in Argyle House on Lady Lawson St, but the bike store is round the back, off Kings Stables Road by the building site. Can anyone recommend a good route?
Thanks
Lizzie
I think that the most direct route is Shandick Place -> Torphichen Street -> Morrison St -> Bread Street -> West Port
But you probably want to avoid the tram crossing I might be inclined to go a little bit down Dalry Road, then Dalry Place, Morrison Crescent across to Fountainbridge, and Semple Street back to Bread Street - https://cycle.travel/map/journey/88803
You could expand this further - https://cycle.travel/map/journey/88804 and avoid busier roads altogether.
Yes, come out of Haymarket, turn right pedal 100meters turn left up the lane next to Sweary Jim's barber follow the track right left right takes you nearly to The ped crossing on the western approach then you have a slalom style ramp to cycle up and then traffic free up to the next ped crossing then up the lane to the canal. YOu can then cross the leamiongton lift bridge, cycle other side of canal rejoin the basin then take back lanes towards lothian road. Tricky to cross lothian road SO ACTUALLY MAYBE DITCH canal just get to the second ped crossing turn left cycle to semple st cross lothian road go up to Grass market and come in to kings stables road from the other side. Sounds complicated but once you figure the route 15 mins tops.
It’s a sad indictment of the state of cycle infrastructure in Edinburgh that all these routes for what should be a really straighforward trip are pretty horrible. I would go with @chrisfl’s first one (except I'd take the Scottish Widows cut-through rather than Semple Street) just to avoid pointless up-and-downs around Lauriston Pl and also the King's junction.
Pity there's no a cycle path through the Haymarket tunnel - that comes out right at King's Stable Road.
I think I would go straight along Shandwick Place to Lothian Road. The majority of that is pretty reasonable, excluding lorries and private cars. I'm a big advocate of ad hoc modal switching (also known as getting off to push your bike) so would probably dismount and pedestrianise the Lothian Road junction -- then it's only a few yards to turn left onto KSR around the back of the Castle Terrace parking garage.
Is getting off at Waverley an option? Then you only have a 5 min walk through Princes St gardens to get to Argyle House.
@earthowned, that would be the way to go if you wanted to walk, but longer than 5 minutes surely? Unless you are power-walking. But still closer and more pleasant walk than from Haymarket. I don't think any/many trains terminate at Haymarket so you can always travel through the Waverley for the same price.
But it takes an extra 5 minutes at least to get to Waverley and then it takes much longer to get out of Waverley station than Haymarket.
I think I'd try paulmilne's route first and see how I found walking the right turn onto Lothian Road before going for the back street routes suggested.
This thread is a mortifying embarrassment for Edinburgh.
I'd go straight there on main roads for what it's worth. Damn the torpedoes.
I used to do that journey to Argyle House week in week out, at the end of my commute from Fife, and none of the options is ideal - to put it mildly. I used to go straight there via Torphichen Street, Morrison Street, Bread Street and West Port (E Fountainbridge, Semple St in reverse direction). Anything else just seemed convoluted and no better. As @IWRATS says, it's an embarrassment for Edinburgh that its second busiest station and its largest high-tech hub are so poorly connected for active travellers.
I'd just get a folding kick-scooter instead - less hassle to get it on the train, easier to park and you can use a more direct route.
I'd cycle right along shandwick place, hop off, hop back on again on Lothian Road, or at the top of Kings stables road if you don't like LR.
Very easy and straightforward.
@panyagua "Edinburgh's largest high-tech hub"?
I know that the University of Edinburgh's Information Services department is based in Argyle House, but I'm curious as to what else is there? (I'm vaguely aware that Amazon and Microsoft are in the old GPO, but I wasn't aware that there was any sort of Edinburgh silicon volcano as such…?)
(Oh, and my route suggestion would be: Shandwick Place, disregard the unnecessary-for-bikes one-way on Canning Street, and then, either: West Approach Road, Lothian Road (southbound), kerb-hop to Usher Hall plaza and onwards (there really should be a cycle access point there), or, probably less traumatic at peak times: Rutland Square, overbridge, unFestival Square (ditto cycle access point required on this side as well).
Actually, if Festival Square really wants to live up to its name, and be a place for people, there should be an additional crossing on the north side of the square (to mirror that near the Filmhouse), and Lothian Road should be swerved westwards in a gentle semicircle, to both slow the traffic and greatly expand the (probably more useful for festive purposes) plaza outside the Usher Hall in place of the mediocre "military parade ground" outside the Sheraton Hotel.)
@davecykl
You've not come across Codebase then? They have the main entrance on Castle Terrace and several floors of the building.
https://www.thisiscodebase.com/edinburgh-1/
Tried your alternative routes early in my stint at Arglye House, but not really to my taste.
Thankyou so much for all these suggestions!
The consensus seems to be this is much harder than it should be. In fact it sounds barely worth worth the time saving, once I factor in the hassle of bringing a bike on the train and getting in and out of stations, risk of storing a bike semi-permanently at a station, or getting a hire bike unlocked and stowed.
I am planning (now that I have the code to access the showers) to cycle from home to Queen St - that will save me at least 10 minutes compared with my little train from the Southside. If I'm cycling at one end it would seem to make sense to do the other end too, but I'll try a few of your routes and see whether it's worth it.
It's almost exactly the same walking time from Waverley or Haymarket (about 16 minutes from train arrival to work's front door - walking is incredibly slow and boring!) so although the walk from Haymarket is nastier, it's quicker overall. And going home from Haymarket, it's much easier to be on the right platform quickly. Plus it seems the Gardens close at 5.15 at least some of the time (they did tonight), so not always available for the homeward journey.
It's less than a mile. Frankly, for that short distance, given the lack of pleasant or safe cycle routes, if I were you I'd just walk. Not worth the hassle of cycling, getting the bike on the train, etc.
In an ideal world - bleh in a city with sensible cycling provision - you'd go along Shandwick Place in a cycle lane, turn right via a cycle lane onto Lothian Road, which would have a cycle lane and then peel off to King Stables Road.
Or you would have a contra flow up Morrison Street and then drop to the left on the Lothian Road cycle lane, with an easy turn right on to King Stables Road.
Or you would go along Shandwick Place and turn a hard right on a toucan to a contra flow along Canning Street then exit out of Rutland Street on a contra flow and then get on to the cycle lanes of Lothian Road.
But this is Edinburgh and cycling infrastructure in the inner city is pants. So I'm with crowriver - you may as well walk. There isn't much time difference.
I'm with the walking brigade. Only caveat is if you want your bike for lunchtime forays. Plenty of people tied their bikes up along the front railings of Argyle House when I worked there a few years ago (UoE), but more serious types use the basement lockup.
The main issue is that this area is the centre of the hellish one-way system created by the tram works. I'm wondering if you might be better taking the long way round i.e. go back along Dalry Rd for a bit and turn up either along the Telfer subway and along towards Fountainbridge or along the canal then towards Gilmore Place. In either case you will eventually have to deal with Tollcross and Lothian Rd though.
I'll keep an eye out for any new bikes appearing in the ArgH lockup :-)
What happened to Morrison Street going two-way? The council seemed really keen on it for a while.
@jonty - it has been mooted recently though don't know the details.
Morrison Street's biggest need is to widen the pavements and install a controlled crossing at Gardener's Crescent. It's an appalling pedestrian link from the Haymarket to busy bits of Edinburgh.
As for cycling from the Haymarket to other points in Edinburgh - the cycle on the train wouldn't work if we got the cyclists in reasonable numbers. In Belgium and Holland people seem to leave bikes at stations (presumably bangers)to pick up. In Ghent by the station I saw a massive building with cycles in tiers.
Bicycle parking at Haymarket is at capacity already - once I had to cycle on to Waverly because all the racks by the station were full, the Sheffield racks out on the corner of the street were full, and there was no space at any of the railings that go round the street corner.
They need to clear out the unused Bike and Go bikes and put some extra racks in that vestibule. Apart from that, I'm not sure where else they could go.
If I'm heading from Haymarket to Lyceum I often go along Shandwick place then down Lothian Road but absolutely wouldn't recommend it for a daily commute.
Twice a week I cycle from Haymarket to King's Theatre junction and I follow @gembo's route through the Dalry colonies and across the W Approach Road and canal.
When I used to regularly visit Tollcross primary (opp Evans) I'd do half that route, rejoining the carriageway between WAR and canal.
In short you pick at the bits and pieces of quiet route and shared path like a magpie. But I think it's clear from all the other responses now there is no recommended route. It's a mess, a solid mess.
I'd say it was a hot mess.
"In Belgium and Holland people seem to leave bikes at stations (presumably bangers)to pick up."
That's because it's around 7 euros for a ticket to take your bike on the train...
I'm afraid I'd be with crowriver on this: it's less than a mile. It might not be a pleasant walk but apart from the Gardener's Crescent junction (which does, as Rosie says, need a properly controlled crossing - although to be fair most drivers seem to be prepared to give way there if they find a pedestrian ) the only real drawback of the direct walking route is that you have to keep your wits about you on the narrow pavement along Morrison Street.
For various reasons, I've walked from the Lauriston Building on Lauriston Place, via Lady Lawson Street, West Port, Bread Street and Morrison Street to the south end of Magdala Crescent a number of times recently. That's pretty much bang on a mile, and it's never taken me more than 20 minutes. On a good day with the crossing lights and other pedestrians in my favour I can do it in 15 or less. (I find that dodging glaikit pedestrians adds to the interest of the walk, if not to the enjoyment.)
Thanks. I agree it's not a long walk, but I'm impatient. And (at risk of going all "when I were a lass...") I used to ride half a mile between lectures at university because the folk on bikes got there on time, and the pedestrians were late. Those were friendlier streets though!
On the icy days I've been walking in from Roseburn to Exchange Crescent. It's about 2 miles and takes about half an hour. I can go directly up Morrison Street, instead of the more convoluted route I take on the cycle, up Magdala Crescent, along Palmerston Place, and then Torphicen Street and then either a steep little hill to Morrison Street or onto Canning Street and across the WAR to the car park under Exchange Crescent.
It's about 20 minutes to cycle, with the added faff of cycle out of shed, high-viz Sam Brown belt, not to mention the general unpleasantness at the Roseburn Terrace intersection and the inevitable hazard flasher on Palmerston Place. I'll still cycle as it's more convenient for doing messages eg library, shopping, and come the longer evenings, I'll go for an after work work-out, but there's a stunning lack of a direct route. The proposed CCWEL will help with some of that but even so this is inner-city cycling on streets with plenty of space for seg lanes and it should be (physically not politically) straightforward to make some decent routes.
Get off the train at Falkirk and cycle over the bathgate alps to access the canal, along the canal to fountainbridge and then connect to the routes above.
Much longer overall but will reduce the % of your total ride that is a total disaster.
It might save you up to £2 a trip on the train ticket too!
#outsidetheboxthinking
@ARobComp then why get the train at all? Canal all the way from Glasgow. Might need shorter working day though...
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