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.
stickyImportant things first -
“
I'm all about transparency & meaningful engagement. For example, I have a meeting to decide where Edinburgh's Tour Bus Stance ends up. I've asked that Ward Cllrs feedback on the proposals before any decision is made.
“
https://mobile.twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1532678211708018689
Re the committee membership - I just looked it up on the council website, I wasn't aware it may not be final yet so possibly my bad. Hopefully it isn't then, if we go by voteshare there should be two greens and one more labour? Or is the selection process more byzantine than that? If it is 2 green/1 lab then so long as we get a properly pro-active travel labour bod - and/or if Sanne Dijkstra-Downie lives up to her net zero spokesperson/vote for me I'm Dutch positioning - that's a much more positive outcome than I'd thought.
He’s now pinned a graph of
"Percentage of people taking the three most common methods of travel to work by household income"
to the top of his feed
https://mobile.twitter.com/CllrScottArthur/status/1532695148076978176
Scotland figures not Edinburgh
No idea what his point is
Congestion charge and free buses?
A few days in, Scott Arthur has already sunk below my rock bottom expectations of him.
Yes. I am disappointed in myself for not being pessimistic enough.
“
“Since the implementation of the bus lane it has been kept under review and a process of data collection has been ongoing. It was always indicated that the bus lane could be suspended during the Highland Show. The data collected during the bus lane operation as well as the monitoring of traffic once this temporary lane is removed will help inform the wider permanent transport interventions being worked up through the West Edinburgh Transport Improvement Programme.
“I am absolutely committed to improving public transport in Edinburgh, so I hope we can learn from this and I look forward to working in partnership with Edinburgh Airport to assist them in their efforts to become more sustainable.”
He added: “I want to thank Councillor Lang for raising awareness of this problem. I am absolutely committed to working with Ward Councillors to resolve issues like this.”
“
So
Get you your local, non Labour, Cllr to raise an issue and he’ll get something done to prove he’s working with other parties…
”Over the last five years there has been a lot of bandwidth consumed about the war between cyclists and motorists and I'm keen we move on from that”
Did he stop to think who was consuming that bandwidth and who was driving (deliberate choice of word) that story?
I can think of exactly one way the council can get the EEN to "move on" from a "war between cyclists and motorists".
And it doesn't involve building more active travel infrastructure...
Yeah but we've tried sacking all the writers at the EEN its still limping on as some weird zombie.
“
Scott Arthur, Edinburgh City Council's transport convener, said: “It was always indicated that this particular section of bus lane would be removed as traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels and that this would be likely before the Highland Show.
“
It is Council policy to reduce traffic by 30% from pre-pandemic levels. Facilitating a return to pre-pandemic traffic levels is the opposite of Council policy.
Yes, this is a temporary bus lane, with a limited lifespan of 18 months. It has a few more months left to go. Cllr Arthur says that data is being collected - what are the Council doing with this? Can a case be made for a permanent lane? Is a TRO being progressed, or will the lane simply disappear?
Ah - so when the data shows that overall journey times for cars barely drops while the same for buses plummets, he'll bring the bus lane back, and the critics will be silenced in the face of his incontrovertible data.
He is a sheep in sheep’s clothing
“
Edinburgh's ETRO engagement process for the remaining Spaces for People schemes should go live tomorrow.
“
Thread -
https://mobile.twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1534988953752944662
“
The city’s new transport convener Scott Arthur says he wants to listen to people’s views on the proposals before the final decisions are made.
…
Councillor Arthur said people had expected the ETRO process to have been under way long before now, but designs had taken longer than anticipated and he wanted to use the extra time to give people a further say on the plans.
He said: “There can be no doubt that Spaces for People, now Travelling Safely, remains a hot topic in Edinburgh. I’m keen that the new administration rebuilds trust on this issue and works collaboratively with residents to consider the future of these schemes.
…
“These remaining schemes all have the potential to help Edinburgh on its journey to become a more sustainable and liveable European capital city. Within that context, I am determined to work with residents and businesses to ensure that these schemes are safe and that they help encourage people to walk, wheel, cycle and use the bus more often.
“
Complete with photo of Lanark Road event!
“
This is what CEC say on the PT impacts of the LDPAP schemes. Make sure you give your feedback!
“
https://mobile.twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1535672394265804802?s
are we supposed to understand that?
PT = public transport
LDPAP = Local Development Plan Action Programme
The LDPAP is the list of improvement projects the council thinks should go along with any developments in the Local Development Plan. Some of these are for developers to do, and others are for the council. The most recent version is here.
Good question
‘We’ might
EDIT Frenchy does!
VERY useful link.
Don’t know where SA’s highlighted quotes come from in his Tweet.
CEC has published a VAST amount of words.
TINY selection here -
https://twitter.com/CyclingEdin/status/1535681262370816000
Hard to imagine many people have read them all or properly checked against previous documents some of which sometimes contain actual POLICIES - agreed after councillors have voted…
They don’t evaporate because a new administration arrives.
SA is certainly not the first politician with an agenda, some have the desire/authority to make it happen.
David Begg comes to mind.
He had the advantage of, somehow, installing a department boss of his choice - George Hazel - to make things happen.
Begg’s most visible legacy is Greenways - though the green is less visible now!
The whole idea of bus priority seems under threat.
Begg also worked hard to get support, and his proposals weren’t always popular. Subsequent councillors in charge of transport pushed the ideas of bigger budgets for cycling, many more streets with 20mph and SfP.
SA has the disadvantage of managing to appear contradictory, seemingly wanting to have even more consultations and pay more attention to very local concerns.
Fortunately he is willing to implement the Labour manifesto pledge of 15% of transport budget for ‘active travel’, used to be ‘10% for cycling’
But will the amount in the budget change?
He has already indicated commitment to existing plans in progress but vague about anything else.
So “Make sure you give your feedback!“ may fall on jaded ears.
Change happens, good and bad.
Individuals CAN make a difference - some are more effective than others…
SA’s most interesting (to me) pronouncement is “One of things I hope to do is accelerate the work on improving the active travel routes to schools”.
To me that has two strands - improving walking infrastructure throughout catchment areas and Bike Buses.
Be inspired by this - https://twitter.com/coachbalto/status/1533094940988715008
Thanks Frenchy. I just wish we didn't need translation!
There’s a stunning amount of info/detail in that 100 page doc.
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/30304/december-2021
“LDPAP Transport Actions project” mentioned 32 times - more AT than PT -
No idea how the volunteers of the Spokes Planning Group or CEC staff or Cllr A keep all this in their heads/spreadsheets AND keeps it all on track in conjunction with POLICIES for encouraging walking, cycling and PT use while reducing car mileage 20% by 2030 - without ‘upsetting’ motorists.
Then again…
Okay I'll admit to being a bit confused now. Firstly, are they soliciting comments on the actual ETROs, or the process they've chosen for the engagement itself? Then, this "engagement" process to do with the SfP measures, is this in place of a consultation in the traditional sense? And either way, how extensive are our "comments" supposed to be, are they after hyper-local opinion, or specialist knowledge, or general support/opposition, or what? Would I be better sending on big email, or an email regarding each scheme?
@Yodhrin - I'm taking a punt on the simple "I support all these ETROs in principle". If they are approved then the first six months of operation are a kind of rolling consultation, when more detailed submissions can be made. This is a new approach to ETROs.
That said, I could be completely wrong and we are meant to make detailed comments - in three weeks. Meaningful...
It just seems designed to overwhelm and discourage. There are what, 70 items? And not even a hint what they actually expect us to comment on beyond "hey, these things exist, send us an email". Maybe I'm overthinking it because I don't really trust the Prof. and you've got the right idea.
EDIT Oh and make sure to put in an exception for TEMP/21/77, he's snuck the A8 bus lane closure ETRO onto the list.
TEMP/21/77
Direct link please
It's on the list of ETROs Cllr Arthur linked to on his twitter.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts