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.
sticky“
Transport convener Scott Arthur said the introduction of the ban on January 29 meant vehicles were no longer covering large parts of the pavements in some parts of the city, and the poor condition of pavements had been exposed to public view.
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He said: “Now that people can actually see the pavement on their street, quite often they're finding it has been utterly destroyed by cars having parked on it. So we've had a rise in complaints about footways because of this.
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Pavement parking has more or less returned to form in Currie. There's a van stored fully on the pavement on the A70 by the village sign most nights. They've figured out that the wardens' don't come outside the bypass ;-)
They don't come inside they bypass at night, either.
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Mr Arthur admitted that retaining a cycle and walking path on either route was “probably the most challenging aspect”.
However, he pledged: "If the tram does go down the Roseburn Path, as part of the consultation we have committed to having good-quality walking and cycling alongside the tram. It’s not that the walking and cycling route here has been lost, it’s just that we are going to put a tram alongside it. But that will come at a cost, of course.”
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The nice professor sent me an update e-mail the other day, which included a list of roads in his ward which are scheduled for resurfacing per the "Roads and Infrastructure Investment – Capital Delivery Priorities for 2024/25 report" (due to be considered by the Transport and Environment Cttee today, apparently).
It came as no surprise to me to see Caiystane Crescent and Caiystane Terrace on the list (out of nine roads in his ward in total). Whoever they contracted to 'do' Caiystane Crescent last time out made a <rule 2> poor job of it: there was grit detaching from the surface and collecting in/blocking the gutters within just a few weeks, and wide linear cracks the depth of the new surface* forming along the seams in the pre-existing surface** within a month.
The real cause of the lack of surprise, though, is that those two roads are the primary ones used by drivers rat-running between Comiston Road and Oxgangs Road, avoiding the right turn at the Fairmilehead Head traffic lights. If they put down a surface designed to handle normal residential traffic loads i.e. people going to and from their homes then it's not that surprising if regular, significantly greater quantities of through traffic end wearing the surface out quicker. Is it?
I have several times pondered how the area could be made a LTN but I think having two access points on Comiston Road and three on Oxgangs Road (more if you count through traffic bouncing over the sleeping policemen on Oxgangs Bank and Oxgangs Brae to get to Oxgangs Road North) makes it a bit tricky. But then I am not a traffic planner and I know little of the cunning ideas that they can come up with. On reflection I suppose it's not actually that different to the "Braids Estate" (as Cllr Arthur likes to call it) in terms of entry & exit points - but we all know how that's looking likely to turn out...
* Especially unfriendly to two-wheeled vehicles. I actually find them scarier on my motorbike than on my bicycle.
** Which didn't seem to have been planed or otherwise levelled before the new surface was plonked on top of it.
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Edinburgh transport convener Scott Arthur said he felt "quite ashamed" as he listened to the problems disabled people and others faced in coping with the revamped Leith Walk.
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I think I know what he probably means, and the 3 minute video will make it all clear.
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Bus Station update - Council Officers are currently preparing an option appraisal that will benchmark other central Edinburgh options against a new lease.
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Transport convener Scott Arthur said the firm was "open to renewing the lease," although it is understood that their proposed terms would likely not be acceptable to the council.
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https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-bus-station-owners-enter-29080207?
Critical infrastructure. Compulsory purchase it!
A bus station is the kind of thing you generally want to have in the middle of a city, and you want buildings on top of it because it's a bit of a waste of a large space otherwise. There aren't many suitable sites in the city centre, probably only either the car park to the south-east of Waverley station, or the former HMRC site at Haymarket Yards. Or they could demolish the Kings Stables Road multi-storey or maybe demolish Argyle House.
Was there ever consideration of a new bus station underneath St James?
“Was there ever consideration of a new bus station underneath St James?”
Probably, but not by the ‘right’ people!
Similarly, did ‘transport planners’ think it was a good idea to remove the bus exit onto St. A Sq?
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COAL PENSION PROPERTIES LIMITED Company number 00465783
Company type
Private company limited by guarantee without share capita
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https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00465783
Owned by 2 people.
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It was good to spend some time at the big bus garage today:
1 I heard from @on_lothianbuses’ apprentices about how they have been working with
@poweringfutures to save Lothian Buses money and carbon.
2 also discussed the bus tracker upgrade with the MD, and she confirmed that 550 of the 700+ fleet has now been upgraded to the new system (and that CEC is working on testing).
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https://x.com/CllrScottArthur/status/1783837552773922893
Plus 2 min vid.
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Really informative footfall stats. The bus station serves more than double the number of passengers of Haymarket Station. Imagine the furore if Haymarket were to be closed.
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Apparently
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It's not owned by two people. CPPL is a nominee company set up to manage the properties of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme. The two people shown are the investment team management.
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Stewardship
The Trustees of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme believe that having engaged asset owners who are clear about their expectations will help companies produce sustainable value and that their long-term financial returns are connected to their strategic, environmental, social and governance performance.
British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (the “Scheme”) has been a long-term signatory to the UK Stewardship Code. The stewardship reports below set out how Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme Trustees Limited has ensured the Scheme has fulfilled its stewardship responsibilities through 2020 and 2021, and the outcomes of this activity.
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https://www.bcsss-pension.org.uk/about-your-scheme/responsible-investing/
Really informative footfall stats.
It's passenger numbers, not "footfall" which is a measure of people coming in to a shop or business, whether or not they actually buy anything. Subtle difference.
I note, though, that the passenger numbers for the bus station are shown as "TBC". For a properly fair comparison one would need to know how that figure was arrived at, and how accurate is. Haymarket passenger numbers are fairly easy to get since every passenger has to pass through a ticket barrier. At the bus station you can just stroll on to a bus and buy a ticket from the driver (or get one one FoC if you have a National Entitlement Card) or show the driver a pre-purchased e-ticket. I imagine they could gather ticket sales/journey logs from the bus companies' ticket machines as well as those sold in the ticket office in the bus station, but it would still be a rather more cumbersome process than simply totting up the entries and exits through the ticket barriers at a railway station.
CPPL is a nominee company set up to manage the properties of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.
If you notice that a building is named Hobart House, that very often means that it is a CPPL property. I'm pretty sure that 80 Hanover Street is one of them. Of course it would be a bit inconvenient to have multiple Hobart Houses in one town or city so they do use other names, or sometimes not bother with a name. ISTR noticing that CPPL also have a property on Lothian Road (though I can't recall exactly how I became aware of that).
The 4th appointed Trustee of the BCSSS Alan Rubinstein is apparently an avid watcher of Ski Sunday and wishes he could learn to ski like that.
Their real estate manager prior to 2022 gets quite a kicking in their Stewrdship Report of 2022 though not named.
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Amazing confidence in Edinburgh - £80m twin waterfront tower block plans approved.
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https://twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1790851232136835332
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I agree that it's disappointing, but we can't do it without funding. This is coming from Council Officers, not me.
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https://x.com/CllrScottArthur/status/1791565931476406493
Anyone concerned that they are missing the context, ‘because Twitter’, can get the bigger picture here -
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburgh-city-centre-traffic-ban-29193017
SA is from the ‘everything is costed and funded’ party.
No doubt when his boss takes over at Westminster in a few months, the SG will be able to reverse the cuts to housing, education, health etc.
Might even put some more money into “active travel”.
That’s “might” as in ‘might cancel the A9 dualling’.
It’s a mess. Has been for a long time. No real prospect of it changing.
Politicians are deluded in thinking they are in control of many/any things.
Lettuce Truss “crashed the economy”, apparently, and would, apparently, try the same policies again.
None of them dare say “the Markets” crashed the economy - and took the profits and hid them somewhere - probably not in ordinary people’s’ pension funds that they claim to be working for…
Even assuming climate change is a) not real b) nothing to worry about c) can be fixed with a few minor changes d) will be sorted with some technofix (I believe none of those), there are no plans/policies/politicians fit to do it.
None able to deliver ‘business as usual’ - even if that was a good idea - and certainly no chance of ‘ eliminating child poverty’ or health inequalities or waiting lists, etc.
So
Keep cycling.
It’s good for YOU.
And everyone else (the stats are there but there are those who choose not to examine them).
The same (sort of) people who want to save vast sums of money by expecting (almost) unpaid carers to overwork themselves AND pay back absurd amounts of money when they accidentally stray over an arbitrary line that they should have been told that the had crossed.
Nice cyclepaths ain’t happening.
A few modal filters (cheap) might help AND help CEC/SG to meet the target/plan/boast/rule/law/policy/dream (can’t remember which) of reducing traffic mileage by 30% by (can’t remember. Has it been kicked further into the future yet?)
Postponing the filtering of the Cowgate to through traffic cannot be down to cost. Existing staff will process the ETRO and the council could recycle planters and barriers they have removed from other schemes (Braids, Leith Walk etc.) Additional costs would be buttons.
If the Council doesn't have the nerve to filter one minor city centre street then it is clear their plans for the whole city centre are meaningless. Citing the impact on traffic flow as a factor in the rethink is laughable. That is the whole point - it will re-route traffic, there may well be more congestion for a time, until things settle down. This is a "I wished to make an omelette, unfortunately it transpires this would require me to breach my policy of not breaking any eggs" situation.
A bus-gate on Bank St is a complete no-brainer - there’s nowhere else for cars to re-route to, so no other “complex” designs needed for side streets, etc. It could be implemented tomorrow with an ANPR camera, the initial fines from the camera paying for itself within the first two weeks.
I suspect this “delay” is more about Arthur thinking about himself and not wanting to upset the apple cart before his election campaign to be MP
The transport committee Business Bulletin (page 13 - "Circulation Plan – Our Future Streets") has the (limited) detail on this. It includes:
"Complete removal of through traffic from the Cowgate
would require further technical work and careful
consideration of the operation of Blair Street, Niddrie
Street, Blackfriars Street, Guthrie Street, High School
Wynd, Infirmary Street, High Street and Chambers Street."
It's not immediately obvious to me that closing the Cowgate to through traffic is more disruptive to the streets listed than making the Cowgate one-way. What might I be missing?
Also from the Business Bulletin on the Cowgate:
It is considered that certain premises and facilities on/accessed from the Cowgate (including a mortuary, operational access and car parking) mean that a full closure is best considered as part of the wider City Centre Implementation Plan, giving significantly more time for appropriate engagement to take place and then the development of workable operational proposals.
Looking at where the possible 'parking' could be, there seems to be a pend connecting to a private car park for Parliament House, here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5k4GNV6Eqk7NJgKBA
So the solicitors and advocates of Edinburgh have not only helped themselves to Parliament Square and West Parliament Square for parking, but to an enclave of land within the block itself as well!
Talk about colonialism and holding the city to ransom... Par for the course, innit...
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Labour hopes to deliver the change the country needs at the General Election.
If you want change, you have to vote for it on July 4th.
If you really want change, you can also help fund my election campaign:
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He's in with a decent chance to be honest, very close to SNP in the polls. I wonder what the TEC Convenro succession plan is...
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This data from @SustransScot is a reminder that we need to do more to make it easier for children to walk, wheel, scoot and cycle to school.
The long term trends appear to be positive compared to other cities across Scotland. Specifically:
Walking to school has decreased by 0.4pp from 49.6% in 2014 to 49.2% in 2023.
Cycling to school has increased by 0.6pp from 4.7% in 2014 to 5.3% in 2023.
Scootering or skating to school has increased by 1pp from 5.4% in 2014 to 6.4% in 2023.
Using park and stride to travel to school has increased by 0.4pp from 7.8% in 2014 to 8.2% in 2023.
Being driven to school has decreased by 2.7pp from 19% in 2014 to 16.3% in 2023.
Travelling by bus to school has increased by 1.5pp from 11.4% in 2014 to 12.9% in 2023.
Travelling by taxi to school has decreased by 0.3pp from 0.8% in 2014 to 0.5% in 2023.
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He thinks that fractions of a percentage point over the course of a decade is a “positive”?
It’s completely stagnant, basically because CEC have done nothing meaningful to limit car use
Wait til next Saturday when the smallest LEZ in the world opens. Game changer Tiiny LEZer a LEZer for money as Elton will sing at the opening
Blink and ye miss it.
Critical mass should post sentries at each portal
I am in two minds whether I want the weaselly Cllr-Dr-Prof to win and consequently weasel off to Westminster where he will be less of a direct problem or for him to lose. His seethe+cope on Twitter would be delicious but we'd still have him being a wet blanket on TEC.
Even if I prefer a victorious Prof I doubt I can bring myself to vote for him. Polling seems to indicate an SNP/Lab ultra-marginal and I suspect Joanna Cherry will pick up a few anti-Woke types who aren't natural SNP supporters so all to play for.
*sigh*
Maybe I'll vote Green. Always assuming they field a candidate who is at least moderately sane...
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