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It is thought a 75 per cent cut in traffic on the roads may have encouraged more cyclists to venture out.
“
https://www.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/scots-cycling-more-lockdown-walking-less-2532034
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
“Scots cycling more since lockdown but walking less“
(30 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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meanwhile, for most of us, it's the exact opposite?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Last night there was a lot of cyclists on my regular route, which even last week so still very quiet. Both lycra and casual* cyclists. Also several groups of dog walkers and a runners on back roads. These roads are usually used as rat runs, so I am glad to see them being used by non-motorised people more.
This morning again plenty of (in morning standards) cyclists. Both casual and lycra.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Running has been banned in Paris during the day. Can still run at night and early morning.
We are very lucky not to be getting banned. Most cyclists i have seen have been singletons or possibly cohabitees.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I've noticed parent and child on normal hellholes like Roseburn Terrace.
Also family groups who I would guess aren't habitual cyclists.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Went for a walk last night, despite more pedestrians than cars one was still expected to dodge out of the way when crossing the road.
Seen quite a few riders who I would say were not normally active road users and quite a few roadies.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I'm definitely cycling less and walking more. Although I enjoy cycling it definitely feels like something I do to get somewhere, not just for the enjoyment. Also the other half isn't as keen to cycle as me so we walk together. Today is looking glorious though so I think we'll be tempted out
Posted 5 years ago # -
Mr fimm and I do our exercise separately. We live in a 1-bedroom flat and are getting on just fine, but exercise is our chance to get space from one another.
(The other day I was heading out for my run and met him on his way back from his. So of course we stopped less than 2 metres away from one another for a chat...)
Posted 5 years ago # -
I'll go for a pleasure ride on the roads this evening. It will be most strange. Normally my pleasure rides are as off-road as I can make them.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@chdot, quite interesting. Both "value" retailers*, which seems to indicate these are budget conscious erstwhile motorists dipping toes into the world of bicycles...
* - Have to say Parkers Of Bolton sometimes have fantastic deals on touring bikes.
Posted 5 years ago # -
“quite interesting. Both "value" retailers”
Yep
“erstwhile motorists dipping toes into the world of bicycles”
Probably
The thing now is, will it become a passing fad for most of them in a couple of months - or not.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Raleigh sales = good news for Accell Group BV
https://www.accell-group.com/en/about-us/profile/profile.htm
Well-known bicycle brands in our portfolio include Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Koga, Lapierre, Raleigh, Sparta, Babboe and Carqon.
Interesting they have got Babboe bakfiets brand now too.
Carqon are a new one - box has a 'car' door in it!
https://www.accell-group.com/files/6/5/5/3/Carqon.jpgPosted 5 years ago # -
"will it become a passing fad for most of them"
I suspect that depends.
OTOH petrol now down to £1/litre or less, so "keen motorists" will be able to drive more and further once they can do so legally.
OTOH many current drivers may have, or will soon lose their jobs/businesses. May decide running a car no longer affordable on Universal Credit. So cycling from necessity to those fortnightly signing on appointments and job interviews, once it is legal to do so.
OTOOH a few may decide they enjoy cycling and leave the car at home, running the gauntlet of cheap petrol crazed motorists and enduring the opprobrium of neighbours (1% of a small number?).
Posted 5 years ago # -
Heaven help us from three handed economists! :D
If my company (a large utility provider) is anything to go by a lot of the call centre staff are now wfh and I think are quite enjoying it and will be looking to keep this up once what ever the new normal is arrives. The director my function has been quite open about his reluctance to return to BAU for environmental reasons (and cost) on travel.
We might find the traffic levels reduced by an increase in wfh, OTOH (!!!) if the traffic levels reduce then people who currently use public transport or even active travel might be tempted to just take the car as its faster!
Posted 5 years ago # -
I think you meant OTOOOH...
"a lot of the call centre staff are now wfh and I think are quite enjoying it and will be looking to keep this up once what ever the new normal is arrives"
Yes, this would be A Good Thing for so many reasons: environmental, cost, work/life balance, etc. However beyond the current emergency organisations may need to provide employees with IT equipment, broadband connections, ergonomic chairs, etc. Some already provide some of this (my employer gives staff a nice laptop for example), many don't.
Posted 5 years ago # -
We've been asked if we'd want to continue WFH if the old normal ever resurfaces - I think most are saying they'd do a few days in, a few days out etc.
Just seen more Just Eat bikes in use over the past forty minutes' child drag/walk than in any other forty minutes' walk since the scheme launched. Hope people are wiping the handgrips etc.Posted 5 years ago # -
Definitely noticing more (S Gyle area) - the majority of which look like people who've dragged their bikes out of the garage after a number of years - and long may it continue and tempt them into becoming regular cyclists. As an aside, I'm enjoying riding out west on the A8 without being funnelled through underpasses and over bridges, usually having to cross the A8 three times between Gyle and Lochend Road (Gateway Tunnel, RBS Bridge then Ratho Overpass)..
Posted 5 years ago # -
https://www.carqon.com/en_gb/bike
Steering is by cable! Yikes!
Posted 5 years ago # -
@neddie - cable steering seems like a step too far. Imagine it would need more adjustment than normal. @leecraigie had cable steering on a Danish cargo bike she had on loan.
Posted 5 years ago # -
@wingpig - I've seen loads of docks that are half or almost empty.
The road surfaces though are in an appalling condition. They are certainly way more cyclable now, but so pot-holey and bumpy that that in itself would put newbies/returnees off.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Just Eat group doing the Castle downhill roll. 4 bikes and two elected to use pavement. Partly surface, partly fear of roads.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Went out to East Lothian with the kids yesterday. Routes were all really busy (even for a warm Easter Sunday) as far as The Esk with families on bikes.
It quietened down a bit after the Esk Path, a lot fewer families but still more adults than normal, mostly in pairs.
Pencaitland path was very quiet, probably because the car park was closed. Normal levels of roadies around Elphinstone. We skipped the Carberry trails and took the road down which the kids loved, wouldn't normally cycle that with them.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I cycled along the A8 and accidentally cycled along Turnhouse Road which runs beside the airport. It is in terrible condition with a patched and bumpy surface. Just before it gets to a big gate to the airport there is a rather nice little hilly country road(Lemmymuir) that came out on Cammo Road. Oh, this is a discovery I thought, I must go on this again. Then spoke to a friend who plays at Turnhouse Golf Course which is on Turnhouse Road, and she said, it's usually thundering with lorries, and that's why the surface is so bad.
Posted 5 years ago # -
We need something like this https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120970386/how-coronavirus-will-change-the-face-of-the-cbd
Posted 5 years ago # -
@Rosie I too have cycled the Cammo Estate recently, having never been there before. It is very pleasant (at the moment...)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Cross-postin' from CV thread as probs more approp. here:
"Cycling Scotland, funded by Transport Scotland, has been monitoring cycle use since 2017, using a variety of methods including automatic counters such as "piezo-electric sensors" buried in the road surface."
Presume CS staff are WFH: (functioning) counter data still coming in via interwebnut.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52269964
Also, 215% increase for Dunfy sounds great but how many cyclists were there before? 215% of 23 cyclists is only 49.45 cyclists (.45 was a tagalong).
(EDIT - Cannot find any references to Dunfermline in Cycling Scotland reports in 2017/8. That perhaps tells us something about cycling levels, or the lack of, in the area).
Posted 5 years ago # -
Link to Cycling Scotland article.
Scroll towards the bottom and you can find the numbers as well as locations of the counters. Indeed the Dunfermline counter, which is on an obscure and cycling-unfriendly road outside of Dunfermline, increased from ~10 per day to more recently 50-60+.
I think 215% is an underestimate (actually all the % figures are underestimates) as they've used some sort of linear regression over the whole month rather than the most recent figures.
Posted 5 years ago # -
c. 10 per day! Even worse than I thought.
Right enough Kingseat Road looks like a death trap normally: long straight sections on single carriageway, semi-rural road. Speeding drivist territory.
Posted 5 years ago #
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