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.
If Boris delivers even a tenth of what's just been announced, this will be huge
http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/game-change-for-cycling-boris-johnson.html
- and apparently it was the bloggers wot done it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21692087
Impressive announcements and excellent blog..
If only there were political leaders in Scotland/Edinburgh willing to make the same statements. Someone who would even talk in the language of 'Cycling will be treated not as niche, marginal, or an afterthought, but as what it is: an integral part of the transport network, with the capital spending, road space and traffic planners’ attention befitting that role' example being Leith Walk.
From BBC piece.
"
The buzzword will be "step-change".
"
Lets hope so.
The word in Edinburgh is "incremental" - as in 'the QBC is an incremental improvement'.
It's Edinburgh that needs a step-change...
"example being Leith Walk"
Leith Walk could be the example!!
Edinburgh has a cycling step change I tell yah!!
One stepped kerb change a year, this year's was Harrison Park.
@DaveC
TOO true...
Here's the link to the Mayor's plan:
http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Cycling%20Vision%20GLA%20template%20FINAL.pdf
Spending on cycling over the next ten years equivalent to £18 per head per year. I've only had a chance to skim the document, but there are some truly epic proposals in there. Someone tell Cycling Scotland, Transport Scotland and the rest that this is what the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland should look like.
Edinburgh gets a mention in the Transport Commissioner's intoduction.
They've changed the Waverley Steps. Half of it's now escalators, and they put a roof on. Jeezo, what more do youse guys want?
I'm no Boris fan, but his foreword is worth reading too.
From Boris report -
"
In urban transport, cycling is now at the cutting edge. Across
the western world, from Paris to New York, from Edinburgh
to Dublin, forward-thinking cities are investing hundreds of
millions of pounds in the bicycle, knowing that well-designed schemes can deliver benefits far greater than their relatively modest costs. Because transport is not just how you get around. It is part of what shapes a city, for good and for ill. Cycling shapes a city – for all its people, cyclists or not – in ways that are almost always good.
"
Check out the image on page 13, from Barcelona. This is what I had thought might work well on the bottom half of Leith walk if full segregation not possible?
page 31
We will take steps to improve people’s perceptions of cyclists. We recognise the real problem of
antisocial cycling, though we also believe that it can be overstated. Most people cycle responsibly.
Cyclists cause only about three per cent of injuries to pedestrians in London, roughly in proportion
with their share of overall road traffic. The injuries they do cause are also, as you might expect,
disproportionately at the lower, less serious end of the scale. Most cyclists are also motorists and
pedestrians; we reject attempts to set groups of road users against each other.
With a population of 500,000 we'd need to be spending £17.5m per annum to match the Dutch, £9m per annum to match these London proposals.
Actually we spend £1.5m per annum, so we're only managing about 15% of London levels of investment. That said, the council has committed to raise funding by an extra 1% a year, so we will only need to wait 30 years before we're matching Boris in real terms.
I'm hopeful (but not realistically expecting) something like this for the new Leith Walk. Note how it copes nicely with the London Rd roundabout equivalent...
Reaction from people I know in London
"
That's quite a big deal. Good!
"
"
Yeah, CS5 is coming our way, the proposals for camberwell green/camberwell church street are pretty impressive, 20mph all the way.
http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/8270/camberwell_streets_option_2_a1
"
Would you say the same if someone sent you a link to the QBC or Leith Walk proposals?
QBC: "why are we paying to resurface the parking bays?"
Leith Walk: "which bits are different to now?"
"
- Bike plan hailed as 'most ambitious in the UK in living memory, perhaps ever'
- 10-year vision aims to double number of cyclists in London
"
So -
With all that money and effort, they hope/expect to double cycling numbers in 10 years.
What was that Scottish target/aspiration for 2020?
And the money promised??
In view of today's announcment maybe instead of encouraging the Scottish Government to 'Go Dutch', we could instead aspire to 'Go English'.
That would be interesting.
I wonder if that wouldn't be more powerful in terms of getting any sort of commitment from the SNP anyway.
Giant POP banners: "Love Scotland: Go English" with the subtext "Londoners get £18 per person per year"?
"Oh, they're pushing at an open door..."
@Dave: Ahhh, but don't you know, if only Scotland became independent, the SNP would be able to provide every conceivable luxury for cycling. A network of cycle paths, downhill both ways, stretching to every corner of the nation and world-class cycling facilities on every street in every town. But right now, there's just no money for The Cyclists because The English take it all. Never mind that the budget for lovely new motorways is up by more than would be required to match Dutch levels of cycling investment, because motorways are essential for Economic Growth.
Ahhh, but don't you know, if only Scotland became independent, the SNP would be able to provide every conceivable luxury for cycling.
Well the Union hasn't given you that so perhaps it's time to try something different rather than flogging the same old same old.
BBC London News
Should be here soon -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r28bt
First item, WELL worth watching.
Really!!
Two days a week.
"
GB Cycling Embassy (@GBCycleEmbassy)
07/03/2013 12:18
Gilligan also pays tribute to LCC, bloggers, campaigners and the Times for changing the agenda and creating political space
"
Lots of good quotes here from Gilligan and Boardman from press conference
"Motorist group brands London cycling plan 'bonkers' "
And just who TF are the Alliance of British Drivers? Do you think we could set up an Alliance of British People and say that these sound like excellent proposals?
"
The Alliance of British Drivers is a British motorists' advocacy group, formed in November 2012 with the merger of two previous campaign groups – the Association of British Drivers (founded in 1992) and the Drivers' Alliance (founded in 2008, primarily to oppose road pricing in the UK)
"
Aka the association of bampot drivers
Freight Transport spokesman, on the other hand welcomed the move.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts