Elm Row uphill bike path shut today - they're reducing the parking to parallel parking, to make room to move the downhill lane to behind the trees. Also adding a bollarded bike passthrough to Mongomery St. Great! I got a wee fright cos I first read Cllr Arthur's solution from a year ago - it really takes you back - lot of talk about having to listen to retailers, to shut the bike lanes to add more vehicle parking and loading bays. Was going to make people on bikes cross back and forth to pedal on the Gayfield Place side. So much energy to communicate how balanced this was. Just really glad he got into westminster.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Elm Row Current Works
(31 posts)-
Posted 11 months ago #
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Good news!
Perhaps one of SA’s (former) students could do a thesis on the cost of his time ‘in charge’.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I'm not sure the current incumbent is any better than SA.
Seems very corporate with little imagination, vision or leadership
Someone that only uses "one form" of transport, aka status quo monoculture. At least SA used the bus (best seat) and cycled, albeit not fully "getting it" on the issues
Posted 11 months ago # -
albeit not fully "getting it" on the issues
This is arguably too kind. He was quite capable of "getting it" when it suited him.
Posted 11 months ago # -
yes, too kind. But within "getting it", I also include "showing leadership and doing the right thing, per council policy, in the face of a vocal minority"
Posted 11 months ago # -
New convener lives in my neck of the woods and said at the Spokes meeting that he primarily takes the bus. At a guess that makes him a bus user and driver, which is better than being uni-modal in a city experiencing modal conflict issues.
It was telling, however, how much more politically careful his 'answers' were at said meeting. SA was a lot balshier and direct in such scenarios, which at least felt authentic even when it was still maneuvering.
Posted 11 months ago # -
“they're reducing the parking to parallel parking”
Posted 3 months ago # -
Obviously still not enough parking
Something must be done…
Posted 3 months ago # -
From memory, parking change going through a TRO. Cllr Caldwell continues to say this should all be sorted by end of March, at least as far as finishing the planned works - will need more enforcement after that point for the more egregious pavement parking.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Notably plans reduce and rotate parking spaces, and place bollards between it and the cycleway. Would be interesting to dig into why it was only half done - my assumption would be prioritising shifting cycle movement to behind bus stops, but in the knowledge that they couldn’t fully finish it without TRO for parking going through? And maybe even RSO to hand the pavement in front of the bus stops back to pedestrian use.
Posted 3 months ago # -
“Would be interesting to dig into why it was only half done”
One for the TRO Sub…
Posted 3 months ago # -
Sorted!
(Well not really, just a day when parking better than previous time I was there)
Posted 2 months ago # -
That Caldwell update is heartening. End of March, cool! I imagine the next error they'll make is placing the bollards right by the bike lane which will make the bike lane also the door(ing) zone.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Has anyone ever seen a parking warden on Elm Row, let alone one giving a ticket?
Posted 2 months ago # -
If you're really keen, you can submit an FOI request. They'll tell you the number of times the site was visited, how many vehicles were logged and how many tickets were issued (and what specific offences those tickets were for). You'll need to specify which time periods you're interested in.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Bollards in now, about a foot from the bike lane which does mean angled parking continues but has been pushed a foot back so just the corners of cars poking in now. Angled parking leads to dangerous pavement reversing & driving. Will be interesting to see if they eventually add double yellows and parallel parking enforcement.
Posted 1 month ago # -
It's frankly unbelievable they design angled parking anywhere now. It's so dangerous to pedestrians because of the high entry and exit speeds. I thought it had been outlawed, but no...
Posted 1 month ago # -
(There's also a secondary aspect there - interventions that will be needed to prevent further Special Boi Parking™ that aren't addressed on existing plans. The pavement spaces adjacent to the newly parallel bays in the plans naïvely don't feature bollards to prevent parking, for example)
Posted 1 month ago # -
Cars overcomplicate everything. Just pedestrianise the damn thing and be done with it
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
Sally Pattle, for the Lib Dems, said that 20 years ago she was living in Seville in the south of Spain, then one of the most polluted city centres in Europe. But the council there had pursued a radical plan.
“They banned traffic from the city centre, pedestrianised it, put in a tram system and the most fabulous network of cycle lanes - and they did it within three years. The opposition to that plan in 2005 was unbelievable, but by 2009 everyone loved their lovely new clean city and the tram system and they totally adopted cycle paths. That is what we need here.”
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
Sally Pattle impressive at Spokes hustings, in energy and fun if nothing else - but as chair of SESTrans, I once again found myself puzzling over another cycling advocate managing to end up representing a party — who locally at least — seem far from advocates.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Ah, hadn’t caught up with that!
“
Cllr Pattle, one of the first women to become Chair of a regional transport partnership board in Scotland, will be leading at an important time for the region.
Immediate priorities for SEStran include developing a region-wide bus strategy to transform and extend the bus service in the region, and developing a People and Place plan to help increase walking, wheeling and cycling across the region – active travel.
“
https://sestran.gov.uk/councillor-sally-pattle-welcomed-as-new-chair/
I have had various dealings with SEStran in the past (not least the fabulous Commuter Challenge - bikes usually won…), but don’t really know what it’s for.
Well perhaps I do and it just doesn’t have the authority/resources to do the things it ought to(?)
Posted 1 month ago # -
“
developing a People and Place plan to help increase walking, wheeling and cycling across the region – active travel“
Which of course is the real problem -
ANOTHER plan!!!!
Posted 1 month ago # -
My understanding is Regional Transport Partnerships like SESTrans became the avenue through which certain types of funding were to be managed and applied for? So if nothing else, they’re the banker.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Sally Pattle is excellent. Have met her many times through the cross-RTP group on integrated transport.
Posted 1 month ago # -
I imagine it's great for the party / policy at large to have folks that are properly good on this stuff involved, it must steer them in a particular direction eventually.
Just haven't been able to square the way the majority of anti-LTN / anti-cycle infra campaigns in Edinburgh seem to be Lib Dem backed or instigated, with the idea that they're progressive on active travel.
Posted 1 month ago # -
In my experience, Lib Dems are always in favour of active travel, public transport, people-centred development etc. in the abstract. Present them with a concrete proposal to implement such a policy in their patch and they will, reluctantly, have to explain why they cannot support it in this case.
Singing the praises of decisions made by a local authority in another country is easy, forgetting that these decisions were probably made in the face of pretty active opposition. Also easy to make a general statement that you would like to see what happened there, happen here.
Unfotunately, Edinburgh isn't Seville...
Posted 1 month ago # -
It might all sound rather Yes, Minster! but surely it's the duty of every public servant to be thorough and proactive in engaging with stakeholders and performing the relevant consultations, taking account of all the factors in the round, considering barriers to progress and suitable mitigations...that to all intents and purposes is valuable business, while skilfully avoiding Actually Doing The Thing.
Posted 1 month ago # -
A fine example of libdemmery is Kevin Lang and his desire to see schools roads made safe, other than. Maybury Primary where he has publicly sided with the motoring lobby.
Posted 1 month ago #
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