CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

New bus stop on popular bike lane

(22 posts)

  1. LaidBack
    Member

    Nothing unusual about that but the CEC certainly know how to make sure bikes have even more obstacles to getting into MMW.

      The bike lane in middle of often parked on Bristo Place is one - difficulty for new cyclists 9/10

      Not dropping the kerb at the Forrest Rd junction is next - plus a far too narrow entrance to cope with volume of bike and ped traffic.. difficulty for new cyclists 7/10

      Now we have a new feature in the shape of the 23 et al pulling into and across the bike lane at Teviot Place. I reckon no RA has been carried out. Looks like it's here to stay as has shelter? difficulty for new cyclists 7/10

    Going to have to go back to check it. Means we have bus tops either side of MMW 5 bus lengths apart.. Sure it's useful and responding to demand but this whole layout here now needs re-worked in my view.

    Has anyone else noted this?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I'll have a look on my way home today. If I'm understanding it right, it sounds like it could encourage cyclists to bump* onto the pavement before the bus stop to get to MMW, if a bus is 'in the way'.

    * May not include recumbent riders whose ninja urban skillz are crippled by not being able to bunnyhop.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. wingpig
    Member

    Recumbents could recumberate onto the pavement at the pedestrian crossing at the north-east corner of McEwan hall. That might discourage non-recumbent pavement cyclists from using that bit of footpath.

    I don't often go this way at lunchtime but happened to today and did notice that there was a bit of a logjam heading west, though it seemed to be worsened by a couple of lorries as well as a couple of buses.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    Messy

    More photos later

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. cc
    Member

    Dear god. They've just made that cycle path impossibly dangerous. Is the council trying really really hard to stop people from cycling?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Darkerside
    Member

    I'm sure it's possible to 'recumberate' over almost any obstacle given speed and a sufficiently enthusiastic warcry.

    Landing might be somewhat more challenging.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I too headed out to take a photo on my rounds, but chdot had beaten me to it and was already there. We stopped for 5 minutes and watched the buses having to sit right across the cycle lane to use the stop, and various cyclists finding interesting (and perhaps not strictly legal) ways of navigating the junction.

    The old stop, outside old RIE, has been suspended. AS I cycled past, man with child and pushchair tried to flag down the 23 sitting on my tail but it wasn't for stopping.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. SRD
    Moderator

    Curiousity piqued. will have to go home that way and see what is up.

    That stretch very bad for bus stops changing and bus drivers being inflexible.

    Had some nightmare experiences there on days when weather was bad enough to make me do nursery run by bus and/or had sick child. Not so much a question of not knowing whether to curse or cry but doing both.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I have sent a rather (by which I mean hugely) sarcastic report to Clarence of somebody flytipping a bus stop here, which is causing an unacceptable traffic obstruction...

    It would appear that some thoughtless individual has left a bus stop on Teviot Place, which is causing an unacceptable and dangerous obstruction to cyclists using the cycle lanes as buses cannot actually get into the stop because of the way it has been installed. I say installed, I think it has actually just been dropped from a helicopter hovering over Edinburgh, such is the downright lunacy of the positioning. The stop forces buses to stop in the middle of the cycle lane, right before one of the busiest cycle routes in Edinburgh.

    I stood and watched for 10 minutes as buses struggled to get into the stop, as they have to pull across a lane of cycle traffic after exiting Bristo Place, meaning they sit at the stop at an angle across the road. It appears to be nearly impossible for the buses to use the stop properly (i.e. sitting parallel to the pavement) without infringing on the cycle lane. This forces cyclists to take an unacceptable risk to pass a bus sitting at a stop, particularly if they want to take a left turn down Middle Meadow Walk immediately after.

    Did nobody do some sort of road flow survey or a risk assessment of the location prior to installing this stop? The only words I can think to describe it are ones like "thoughless", "idiotic" and "stupid".

    The mind really does boggle

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. cb
    Member

    Interesting 2nd photo of chdot's showing a Land Rover cutting over the central bike lane. Hope they checked their blind spot.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. ruggtomcat
    Member

    I recumbent that junction regularly and always take primary from the lights, or wait in the moving que if they are green. Thats a cosmetic cycle path and should be ignored.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. Dave
    Member

    How are the buses going to service that stop without entering the solid-boundary hashed zone, which is an offence?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Good spot, Dave! Like cycle reservoirs with solid-white-lined access routes.

    There's an on-road cycle lane in York that allows you to legally ride through a red light because the white stop line only extends across the width of the bus lane, so you gain an extra 20 yards to the next set of lights. It's here, for what it's worth, but the red taxi has obscured the 'fault'.

    I had a look at the new infrastructure (if it's really good, do we call it 'ultrastructure'?) but was dismayed to find no buses within manoeuvering distance, so hung a left and cycled over to the laid back bicycle emporium.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. cc
    Member

    It's idiocy like this which tempts me to get rid of my bike and stop cycling altogether. Either that or emigrate to a civilised country.

    Anyway:

    Dear Clarence,

    Please immediately remove the dangerous bus stop which has recently appeared on Teviot Place.
    Its position makes the Teviot Place cycle lane so dangerous as to be entirely unusable.
    This is an appalling development for a city which supposedly encourages cycling.
    If the bus stop stays, I will be forced to stop cycling to and from work.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. chdot
    Admin

    Some more photos

    I'm sure 'something' will be done to improve this mess as part of the Quality Bike Corridor - though I have just read a Spokes submission on this -

    "

    Low Points

    • Failure to commit to red surfacing for all cycle lanes

    • No real consideration of ambitious proposals for Teviot Row/Forrest Road/
    Bristo Place gyratory or alternative route to Potterrow

    "

    MAY have been addressed since.

    The detailed documents are no longer on line

    "Quality Bike Corridor Sorry, this document is no longer available" as the consultation is over.

    The leaflet is here, but it just shows the existing lane (though not the one in the middle of the road!)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    "Interesting 2nd photo of chdot's showing a Land Rover cutting over the central bike lane. Hope they checked their blind spot."

    That is a normal everyday manoeuvre for vehicles going from Potterow to Forrest Road. Most vehicles wait at the Give Way - helped by the existence of the red surfaced bike lane.

    Cycle safety will now rely very much on the professionalism of the Lothian Bus drivers, though many cyclists are likely to have uncomfortable times wondering if a bus at the stop is about to move off .

    I hope drivers have been trained to expect cyclists to turn sharp left and not to move off if they see one approach from behind.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. Dave
    Member

    A careful reading of the code suggests that it's OK to enter these areas as they are not marked with chevrons (despite having solid borders), so that's not much good, alas.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin


    Bus nostop

    (Yesterday)

    Curious. Maybe the Council didn't give itself permission??

    Ps spot the cycle lane.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Ha! Maybe they took my "flytipped bus stop" clarence report more seriously than I expected :)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. LaidBack
    Member

    Looks like they have... need to sort out main entrance to park while there at it.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. mgj
    Member

    Entrance at top of MMW is the wrong side of the traffic lights; often the lights will be red and technically you shouldnt pass them to turn left, but who will wait? Lampposts also in poor position, unless they are designed to slow bikes down.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  22. Dave
    Member

    There used to be a drop kerb where it's now raised. I can't understand why it hasn't been fixed, since it means everybody is shooting the light when pedestros are trying to cross. Very odd.

    Sometimes I stop for the red light just to annoy my fellow cyclists (after all, we all should stop at red, right?)

    Posted 12 years ago #

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