https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/13315/walking-and-cycling-index-2023-edinburgh.pdf
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/the-walking-and-cycling-index/edinburgh-walking-and-cycling-index
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
“Walking and Cycling Index 2023” & ‘25
(10 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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There is a photo of a very good dog on page 8 :)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Also mildly interesting that of all the photographs featured in the report, the furthest south in Edinburgh is the canal at Viewforth. South Edinburgh of course not being well known for its comprehensive infrastructure.
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
2025 saw more improvements and investment in active travel in Scotland's capital. The Index offers invaluable insights to build on these efforts to make Edinburgh more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
City transport chiefs have been accused of covering up figures which show a decline in cycling in the Capital.
Tory councillor Jason Rust said the council had spent a lot of money on infrastructure to encourage people to cycle, but at the same time there had been a significant drop in people cycling.
He said: "There's a lot of spin on the council's part, just skirting over that. If there is decline we need to understand why.
…
"Given that budgets across the board are tight and taxpayers are feeling the pinch, we want to ensure money is being allocated in a way that we get the most out of it. And if we want to encourage people to cycle we need to see why current schemes, on the face of it, are just not working."
…
Paul Bailey, who has long campaigned over traffic measures in Morningside’s Braid estate, said: “The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust has produced a glossy booklet saying how wonderful it all is, but it in’t wonderful at all.
“There seems to be a desire to put in as many cycle lanes as possible. But the infrastructure which has been installed over the past six years has not increased overall cycling numbers.”
Posted 1 month ago # -
From link
“
"We have built infrastructure to make cycling more accessible and safer for people who already cycle, but ultimately what we are looking to do is encourage modal shift. The way to do that is make it cheaper and accessible to more people and that's why we introduced the new cycle hire scheme."
“
Don’t think “cheaper” is primary issue.
This is fine - “what we are looking to do is encourage modal shift”
BUT
That’s where disincentives come in (unhelpfully characterised as “sticks”)
Obviously, CEC has a long history of being scared/chickening out/scarred in the face of ‘I want my freedom’
Posted 1 month ago # -
How tiresome. The number of Edinburgh residents who walked (23%) and cycled (10%) to work in 2024 outnumbered those driving (27%) or car passengers (1%). Edinburgh has twice as many cycle commuters as the next best local authorites (Argyll and Bute, East Lothian, South Ayrshire - all 5%).
A similar situation applies to 'main mode of travel' in Edinburgh with walking (36%), cycling (5%), driving, (30%), car passenger (8%).
Data from Transport and Travel in Scotland 2024, Local Authority tables
In Scottish terms, Edinburgh is THE active travel success story.Why has cycling declined between 2023 and 2025? The growth in car traffic between 2023 and 2025 has made it more dangerous, as has the removal of covid-19 cycle lanes. There has been an increase in home working and online lectures. There were also metholdological changes in the survey, but I'm not sure the affects 2023/2025 comparisons.
Also, cycling statistics (including the ones I reference above) are notoriously flaky. Electronic cycle counters are often poorly located or don't work. Surveys can see dramatic year on year variations due to a handful of respondents answering differently to those in previous cohorts. Honestly, I think this is one issue where the 'vibe' is as good an indicator as the official stats.
I do agree with Cllr Jenkinson that the Voi bikes could be a game changer, I see folk on them whenever I am out. Wouldn't suprise me if it hits a million trips in the first year (last report I saw was 310,000 a couple of weeks ago - over winter and the initial roll-out period).
Posted 1 month ago # -
A couple of things from the Edinburgh Walking and Cycling Index launch event (followed the FOTW to Dock St opening), from Walk Wheel Cycle Trust;
- A slight downward trend from Covid's peak could still be in effect
- Their data is more qualitative than cycle counters, being conducted as it is through interviews. So blips expressed through WCI are not the full story
Posted 1 month ago # -
“Why has cycling declined between 2023 and 2025? The growth in car traffic between 2023 and 2025 has made it more dangerous, as has the removal of covid-19 cycle lanes.”
Yep
Any suggestion that CEC (or UK Govs) will do anything to address the imbalance seems fanciful
“
We are in a climate emergency. There is still time to avert disaster if we take bold and immediate action at the speed and scale necessary. Our best window to do this is in the next seven years. We all need to make changes to avoid raising global temperatures by another 1.5ºC. If we don't, we will be at a point of no return. Scientists say we will experience the worst effects on the climate we have ever seen.
“
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/climate-2
Merely performative words
Posted 1 month ago # -
oh yes, the climate "emergency*". Everyone seems to have forgotten about that.
*"Emergency", to my mind, means drop whatever you're doing and deal with the problem in hand
Posted 1 month ago #
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