CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years 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.
It's not a proper cycle lane unless it has a car parked in it...
https://twitter.com/Wisob1/status/1269674184646578177
I also felt that the lane was too narrow to overtake a slower cyclist - so I just used one of the gaps to pop out of the lane and go round them. I can imagine getting a whole load of grief from a driver for doing that, but fortunately this was on Sunday and the road was quiet enough.
Despite the wands, the ODR cycle lane is largely still an advisory lane. This means drivers can legitimately park there, as long as they do so in line with any parking requirements (single/double yellow lines etc). Until it is made mandatory and there is a continuous white line painted on the road then there is little that can be done for cars parked legally.
I checked the Council's list of Covid-19 related TTROs and can find no metion of ODR.
That's what I expected. There are no wands where the car is parked, and I assume the owner lives in one of the houses there.
The lanes are not perfect by a long way, but they are the longest thing of their kind in Edinburgh and I am in general supportive of them.
Just so long as everyone understands that they are imperfect...
@Morningsider Is there not a technicality in Scotland that allows you to park on mandatory cycle lanes? I remember a CyclingUK petition doing the rounds not too long ago.
@CycleAlex - Yes. A proposed amendment to the Transport Bill in October would have fixed that, but it was opposed by SNP MSPs. When I asked my SNP MSP why, they said it was because it was "considered unsuitable for primary legislation", although this was not one of the reasons given in the actual parliamentary debate by Michael Matheson. Instead (if I remember correctly) he talked about how such a change would prevent folk from parking in front of their houses, and such changes should be consulted upon by local authorities.
@CycleAlex - yes, well remembered! That completely slipped my mind. Blog from Cycling UK on the mind-bending background to this. The Council could have chosen to use a TTRO to make the cycle lane a red route - where parking and waiting is effectively always an offence. Isn't that what all the time spent on planning and developing these schemes was meant to be about?
"Isn't that what all the time spent on planning and developing these schemes was meant to be about?"
No.
The time was to be used to develop an "innovative" web site to enable local residents to suggest improvements to the roads network in their area, which can then be roundly ignored if they inconvenience motorists in the slightest subjected to rigorous feasibility testing (make sure you don't put the deletions in the press release (Ed.) ).
This will then waste so much of everyone's time that those pesky cyclists will not have the energy to take up cudgels after lockdown allow for a truly participatory consultation process, which though time consuming is very democratic (as long as you have internet access (Ed.) )
I'm sure we can all see the beneficent wisdom of council roads department officials in this matter.
Consultation fine if permanent. Personally after they have been temp for a year
NOT NOW just crack on
Work has started at Crewe Road:
https://twitter.com/halosler/status/1269947443057229835?s=21
Mandatory line being painted.
Consultation in Edinburgh has included consultation with groups like RNIB and the Mobility and Access Committee. Blind and partially sighted people are going to have one hell of a difficult time getting around in a world where nobody can legally take hold of an arm to guide someone, and touching things is fraught with danger. I don't think delaying some cycling measures by a couple of weeks to make sure they don't make things worse for them, and for wheelchair users, is such a terrible thing.
To be clear, I don't think many of these measures actually will make things worse, but it is important that vulnerable people are involved in decisions that will have an impact on already difficult lives - and indeed make sure they are designed so that they could actually make them better (especially for wheelchair users and those who need an adapted cycle).
Finally, the cycling infrastructure that the wonderful NHS staff at the Western General Hospital have been crying out for...(Click on Cllr Brown's photo)
Too bad once they arrive at Costa they will be denied service for failing to wrap themselves in steel.
It's not an actual Costa, it's the local hydrocarbon and confectionery emporium. So exactly the kind of place where a left hook is likely.
Yes, I considered posting a tweet about Bradley Wiggins but decided it might be taken in poor taste.
Great to see Glasgow taking decisive action to reallocate road space for, *checks notes*, McDonalds. https://twitter.com/StephaniMok/status/1269945379572899842?s=20
£1.5m on “immediate” changes:
“ Hi, I don't have that specific detail just now but can confirm the total cost of materials to implement the immediate #SpacesforPeople is est. £1m to £1.5m. This will be met with £5m @scotgov / @SustransScot Spaces for People funding. More here: democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s243… - thanks”
https://twitter.com/edinburgh_cc/status/1270008283970109440?s=21
I'm scared to go and see if the cars are still parked in the Old Dalkeith Road cycle facility.
They're going to be there aren't they?
Took a tootle up ODR at around 9pm yesterday. Only one car parked in the lane. There were about a dozen dead wands, mainly at the start/end of the long runs - presumably picked off by turning vehicles. This shows that:
a. Some drivers can't see a stationary object that is 100% hi-vis.
b. The general standard of driving is terrible.
On the way back, I took the chance to use the cycle lane on the island of lost souls! It has been done - surely a CCE first.
People continue to move the “Road Closed” barriers at Warrington Road so they can drive through.
https://twitter.com/lizinedi/status/1270260688561332225?s=21
I took the chance to use the cycle lane on the island of lost souls!
Video or it didn't happen.
If by "island of lost souls" you mean the bit in the middle of Cameron Toll, I actually saw a cyclist use it on Sunday.
I assume that the car parked not long after you leave Cameron Toll heading south belongs to someone who lives in one of the houses there, and the reason there are no wands on that bit is that parking in front of the houses takes priority over a cycle lane...
I thought the Island of Lost Souls was the Picardy Place Hellscape, but I could be wrong. Cameron Toll gyratoroundaboutory is rubbish at the best of times.
The 'Island of Lost Souls' is a context-specific phrase that refers to the nearest gyratory to the speaker with an orphan cycle facility.
Police out enforcing 20mph on Myreside last night. Not ticketing AFAICS, just 'words of advice'.
I don't know if I am feeling angry or despondent but south Maybury is currently operating a contraflow. The cones go all they way up the road until almost Craigs Road. There are literally hundreds of cones on the road but not one of them has made crossing the road even slightly easier.
I realise the cones are utilities work which someone has deemed essential but it still hammers home just how easy it would be for the council to make a safe crossing space inthe middle of the road.
One I calm down a little I might head out and take some pictures.
I took a ride along ODR yesterday at around 5pm, presumably the same car parked that @Morningsider saw around 9.
I made a short video, recommend double speed on youtube.
Report from the hood that 19 wands are down on the oDR
Whilst I think the wands are generally a good thing, does it not stop you being able to social distance from folk on the pavement?
@chrisfl - I enjoyed your video at normal speed. It took me a while to notice the gentle music playing in the background, and it was very smoooth.
However those wands are totally useless, aren't they? Not only do they give out whenever anything difficult happens, but they restrict you to the actual lane width. I never ride down the middle of bike lanes, but always pretty much on the white line. It's another disappointing token gesture, a bit like the Crewe Toll END sign.
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