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.
Those cunning people at Pedal on Parliament have come up with a cunning plan to send a message to our elected leaders, Pedal on Postbox!
So who is up for it? I have 80 or so card, just need people to come with a message to send and a stamp. Meet at the Sir Chris Hoy golden postbox on Hanover Street at 11am, Sunday 16th Sept.
So who is up for it?
Oh and it would be useful to have an address for your elected representatives find it here. We can change the world!
I wasn't in Edinburgh for POP, and I won't be in Edinburgh for this (it is my Dad's birthday, I hope that is a good enough excuse). It is annoying.
(I really should acquire and send a postcard or two anyway, but I don't quite know what I want to say - my obvious cycling infrastructure problem (Gorgie Road) is being fixed as we speak. I guess numbers are good, even if the message is unremarkable.)
Thanks Kim!
Here's the facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/486676878016655/
@fimm - same here: I missed PoP itself and am going to be away for this...
@fimm - re gorgie road: I'd say it's not fixed from my point of view:
- speed restrictions make sense on such a pedestrian-filled road.
- cars can park on the 'bike lanes' any time.
- finding somewhere to lock my bike to go to the shops is often impossible.
@fimm any post box will do and you don't actually need a post card, the most important thing is to make your voice heard. One of the lasting effects of the PoP ride is that it has moved cycling up the political agenda. If we keep of telling elected representatives that we want change we will get it!
Please, everyone use writetothem.com to let you elected representatives that you want them to read and impediment the PoP manifesto.
@fimm - sorry my message seemed a bit negative! I just mean I'm sure you can think of more things to ask for ;)
@Kim - yeah: I need to write to them again. Even if people have written in the last few months, write again! It lets them know it's something you're really passionate about.
I get the feeling things are changing in Edinburgh - a third of the councillors at the bike breakfast, 5% of the transport budget, Leith walk might get a bike lane, 20mph areas are being tested and probably will be extended and cycle use is going up each year. But it's not there yet... the things we need are almost within our grasp, but we need to keep up the pressure! This will take time :)
(PS Love the slip impediment/implement) ;P
Yes, write again, but also for a lot of us, it is even more important to support our friends and colleagues in writing to them -- more voices matter, even if they're just short messages.
So please everyone, send a short message to anyone you know who cycles, asking them to fill in a postcard, or use 'writetothem'.
You could also send a link to the pop page, and remind them about our great successes since april: we are being heard by Parliament and Edinburgh Council but this will only continue if we keep on making our voices heard.
OK, local councillors and MSP(s) (see link). Generic "please support the POP manifesto" message. I have a load of pretty postcards of the Alps from a calendar...
WRT Gorgie Road the unusually bad thing was the road surface. Cars park in the road, you go round them. It is too close to my flat for it to be worth taking the bike - except to Sainsburys, and there is bike parking there. A place for some of those loop on lampost bike parking things, perhaps? The pavement isn't huge.
Actually what will be more interesting is how the bike lane will go back in. Currently it is marked as narrowing at at least one pinch point I can think of, and of course it isn't there at all on the section just past the five-way junction heading out of town. Which was quite good, actually, as it meant I had no reason to be close to the kerb and could quite happily go round all the really horrible pot-holes and bad fills (which are being fixed, hooray!!!!)
The thing about non-mandatory bike lanes is at least they send a "bikes are expected here" signal. I guess it is far too late to influence what will happen on Gorgie Road, anyway.
I guess it is far too late to influence what will happen on Gorgie Road, anyway.
It sometimes feels as though that's how our entire planning process works.
The surface of Gorgie Road was (is) an absolute shocker, but no worse than 'my' main road, which stretches from Fairmilehead crossroads to the Morningside clock and which is also awful for most of its length. The pinch points on Gorgie are what annoy me and are symptomatic of how bicycle infrastructure in Edinburgh is laid out: not to the letter of the guidelines but to a pro-car interpretation of the guidelines. Why taper the cycle lane down to a foot and a half at the narrowest point, at which the risk is highest? Who in the design team actually thought, 'That's excellent. I can't make this any better.'? They might as well put out a notice saying 'Be grateful we let you use the roads at all.'
@SRD: Good idea. I usually just post a message on FB. I'll actually contact all my friends directly and ask them nicely to do it :)
@fimm: You're right about the Gorgie road surface - it was/is(?) actually quite amazing!
@Arelicat: Yeah, I guess the road in general is quite narrow. Maybe just introducing speed control is the main thing we could hope for.
@fimm: I guess the parked car thing isn't a problem for us who move at ~12+ mph, but for children/pootling/'normal' people it just looks/feels incredibly intimidating.
One might argue this is a trunk road which needs speed, but I figure there are enough nearby (Westfield Road, Slateford Road, Corstorphine Road, Morningside...) do they all need to be as fast as they are?
(by fast: I mean anything over 20mph really puts the majority of people off cycling there - if people are driving at <20mph they're much more happy to slow down and wait, rather than force themselves past the annoying cyclist 'getting in their way').
I'm kinda thinking out loud here: Trying to work out how to make the road a bit less nasty... ...any ideas: Or is everyone happy with it once it's been resurfaced?
Could those who would like postcards let me know please? Or just send your own in.
Also any chance of some of photography people coming on Sunday to get some pics for us?
I'll take some post cards, but I can't make it on Sunday morning due to ferrying son to his team's football match. Sorry!
Do hope to get him along to watch the open top bus parade later on.
Today! See you'all at 11? And if you can't be there,please remember towrite your postcard!
Sara
So who got a reply to their postcards? Somewhat to my surprise I have a letter from Marco Biagi MSP, mentioning that he's been working with Jim Eadie (whose name I do recognise from here) and saying that "I am firmly of the view that while there is a role for nationally-funding, the crucial change will happen at local level, where the decisions about our streets and pavements are actually taken."
I'm sure it will just be a stock letter in reply to all the POP postcards, but I'm still impressed that he's taken the time to send one out, given that there isn't really room for much nuanced argument on the back of a postcard!!
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