There is a very worried-sounding letter in today's Evening News:
Concerned about safety on bike ride
"I AM desperately concerned to have read that TIE are now planning for there to be NO separate cycle lanes on Leith Walk or Princes Street, after promises from the council that current cycle provision would be either maintained or bettered and would be integrated into the future plans."
Is this true?
It doesn't look terribly good. From the EdinburghTrams website, the latest schematics are available in a single (huge 40MB, but useful) PDF in their story-so-far statement of October 12th 2009. In particular, the correspondent above might easily have been concerned about the proliferation of 'TRAMS ONLY' sections on Leith Walk, and to a brief scan through the schematics, it's clear that cyclists will have to share a single uphill lane with all motorised traffic; trams and buses will have the other lane. Going downhill it gets better, with even the buses sharing the single lane. It's also obvious that there is a very generous central reservation on some sections of Leith Walk. It appears to be designed more to separate uphill and downhill, rather than for pedestrians to alight or board.
On each drawing is also the important note:
"Cycleways do not form part of this (traffic regulation) order and are shown for information only. They will be the subject of a separate consultation process where necessary."
Part of me thinks that this gives tie the right to completely ignore all cyclist requirements until the grand opening, and then it'll be Transdev's problem. It certainly doesn't look like CEC -- which, I thought owns tie -- is making much of an effort to include us.
However, tie's October statement does also say:
"...everyone will have the opportunity to comment on or object to the draft traffic regulation orders at the advertised public deposit stage, early next year."
Whether this actually means anything at all is another question.
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