🚲 edi.bike | issue 42 | 27th May '24
your bumper edition edinburgh cycle chatfest
📰 News this Week
Busy edition of the ol’ “digest” this week - between the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling kicking off, a lot of notable wee news stories and our usual roundup of the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting last week, a bit of a bumper issue. Strap in!
🔧 EdFoC Partner ‘Fettle’ Cycle Repairs coming to Edinburgh
Image: Fettle (@fettlebike) on X
As posted by EdFoC to their Instagram, looks like festival sponsor Fettle will be operating in Edinburgh before long:
Combining old school expertise with tech innovation, cyclists simply book in their bike or e-bike online or through the easy-to-use app. Users have the choice to drop their bike off at one of six convenient bike workshops or otherwise, fettle will pick up, service, and deliver the bike back to their owners – simple! Fettle is here to keep the UK's riders, riding.
Love a bike carrying bike-fixing tools, towing a bike trailer by bike, carrying bikes.
💪🏽 ‘What’s Missing is Political Will’ - Campaigners Respond to Funding Delays for the Edinburgh City Centre Transformation Project
‘Backsliding into the Bushes’ by independent Councillor Ross McKenzie on Bella Caledonia — published the day before the Transport and Environment Committee met — is a solid criticism of the gaping void between the noises made at committee about the city’s ‘transformation’ and climate targets, and the realities:
What is clearly absent, is the bold leadership required to implement these policies in the face of increasingly vocal opposition from people who insist that they must be allowed to drive wherever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the consequences.
It’s not even really a question of funding, by and large:
Cheap filters could deliver most of the city centre transformation plans. What’s missing is political will. — @SW20Edx
🔄 Edinburgh’s New Traffic-free (almost!), 14km Circular Cycle Route
Designer and Active Travel campaigner Gordon Carmichael shared a great route map and photos this week from a nearly traffic-free loop around Edinburgh “Taking in the CCWEL, the NEPN & the Leith Walk cycle lanes” - with photos on X _(or hosted elsewhere) _. Indeed, both of the sections of this map that require road riding - George St and Foot of the Walk to the Shore - should hopefully have segregated cycleways on the horizon via various projects in the next few years.
🚲 Help Fund a New Specialised Active Chair for Porty Community Energy Activist Roseanne Sinclair
Rosie has previously volunteered with Porty Community Energy’s Bikefest and Accessible Porty events, and is raising funds for a new specialised active chair and physiotherapy. If you can help, head on over to her campaign page!
🚍 Edinburgh Bike Bus Features in BBC Radio Programme
As posted by Bike Bus organiser Jarlath Flynnx, the BBC radio programme Out of Doors’ episode ‘Flax, a Bike Bus, and Dandelions’ features a ride along with this great way for kids communally getting to school by bike - at 36m and 1h 18m into the show.
🌆 Local Bits
🎭 Starts this Friday: The 2024 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling starts on Friday 31st of May. Check out the calendar of events, see our weekly event highlights below, or find where you can pick up a lovely printed programme.
☀️ Great photos and videos by John Robson of a sunny Critical Mass Edinburgh passing First Minister John Swinney’s new abode during their protest ride at the weekend. Want to head out on the next one? Get 2pm, 29th June, Middle Meadow Walk in your diary.
🚧 The team at Spokes have shared a photo of the recently installed cycle segregation on London Rd. These are notable as a low-cost measure, similar to the installations on Holyrood Rd, that have been completed through the Council’s Capital Maintenance processes, rather than an over-wrought process of localised hand-wringing and general whingery prior to implementation. Harry Williams put it best on X:
💬 Just do this with every road resurface for the next decade and we’d have a pretty nice network — @Harryjwilliamss
Yes please.
From Last Week:
The Council are nearing a deal to acquire Powderhall Railway Line;
City Centre Transformation project delayed amid funding concerns.
➕ Nationally
🧒🏼 From Sustrans: “Pupils cycling to school in Scotland at highest ever recorded levels”:
The number of pupils cycling to nursery, primary and secondary school is at the highest level ever recorded by the Hands Up Scotland Survey. The 2023 results, published today, also show that the proportion of pupils being driven to school has reached its lowest level since 2016.
“DfT (Department for Transport) sat on this report for years and only released it on the final day of the Parliament” - Jim Denshamx
🏭 A newly available document shows that the Department for Transport knew it was not investing enough in active travel to hit its targets - more on road.cc
♿️ ‘Milestone accessible cycling loan scheme arriving in London’
📖 In terms of the language we use to describe the different parts of our routes and public realm, Wheels for Wellbeing recently released their excellent Guide to Paths, Pavements and Roads covering various terms and differences.
🌍 Elsewhere
🇪🇸 As shared by Nigel Bagshawx:
Seville removed 5,000 parking spaces and built an 80-km protected cycling network in just 18 months for €32 million.
Result: 70,000 trips/day
Not pictured, Edinburgh’s only missing ingredient: political willpower.
🚙 Older article, but great: “Spreading the Gospel of Induced Demand: Induced demand is commonly misunderstood, and planners need to help” — Transfers Magazine
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🗣️ City of Edinburgh Council Transport and Environment Committee Meeting, 23rd May ’24 - Roundup by Ben Seven
🗓️ Meeting Page | 📄 Business Bulletin [PDF] | 🎤 Deputations | 📑 Agenda Reports pack [PDF]
On the agenda this time round (at least, the cycling-adjacent bits):
Results from public engagement on the topic of a Workplace Parking Levy;
A progress update on Secure on-street Cycle Parking (the Cyclehoop ‘hangars’ that you may have seen, particularly outside tenements and flats);
Project updates on the central George Street and First New Town plans;
A Motion by Cllr McKenzie on the Roseburn to Union Canal active travel link project;
A Motion on the Trams to Granton project calling for the consultation to be postponed;
An Emergency Motion by Cllr Jule Bandel on behalf of our friends at Cargo Bike Movement, who have faced a massive cut in council funding and are facing an uncertain future as a result.
🗄️ Business Bulletin
A couple of bits from the ‘general’ bucket known as the TEC Business Bulletin:
’Travelling Safely’ Schemes
The COVID-era Travelling safely schemes will have their (proper and corrected) Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) advertised in the next month or so, and allowing for six months data collection on them, it will be around January next year for an initial consolidated report that TEC could take action on - for example, converting schemes to a full Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for permanent retention at that stage.
Our Future Streets
Our Future Streets - including the Edinburgh City Centre Transformation (ECCT) plan - is at too early a stage in planning to meet the funding criteria set by the most recent Scottish Government budget.
Questions were asked regarding why funding is an issue if the physical interventions discussed at February TEC were identified as relatively low cost. In Officers’ answers, while the physical interventions required are fairly cheap, the main cost centre for ECCT delivery remains the planning, permits and traffic modeling work required, all of which are ‘earlier stage’ than ScotGov are funding under the current budget.
🚗 Workplace Parking Levy
The committee voted to down tools on a potential Workplace Parking Levy, over concerns around the displacement of parking and disproportionately affecting lower wage, shift-based workers. Critics of this decision – against a significant opportunity to strongly discourage private motor traffic ingress into city centre workplaces — feel that rather than continuing to work with affected groups on the issues created by the levy, the conversation has been halted abruptly before really establishing if the could be made to work in Edinburgh.
Indeed, in the same meeting where other schemes such as Our Future Streets are meeting with delays due to lack of available funding, it seems ridiculous to be compromising not only on the Council’s goal of a 30% reduction in car kilometres by 2030, but also on the funding that could have been raised by such a measure.
In response, campaign group SW20 posted that “there is now no credible path for 30% traffic reduction in Edinburgh”x, further highlighting their thread from Septemberx (or read elsewhere) of last year detailing why the policy could be instrumental in achieving the 30% reduction. Be sure to also check out their Workplace Parking Levy ‘myth buster’ thread.
The director of Transform Scotland postedx:
Disappointing to see Edinburgh decide to drop plans for #WorkplaceParkingLevy.
@Edinburgh_CC has spent decades talking a good game about reducing car use -- yet continues to take precisely no action as a result.
So what exactly is the plan to cut car traffic by 30% by 2030?
Bold to assume there’s still a plan.
🔒 Secure On-Street Cycling Parking
The Council is in the second phase of providing on-street ‘cycle hangar’ parking by Cyclehoop as a secure means of flat and tenement residents storing their bikes.
This report was ‘moved’ (approved’) by the committee without much contention — casting aside, as we tend to round here, the pearl-clutching Tory protestations about residents who don’t want these hangers on ‘their streets’ — but there were a few interesting bits of information that came up during the course of the conversation:
The council are looking into longer term ‘in-sourcing’ of the delivery and maintenance of cycle parking hangars;
There is a ‘Very significant’ waiting list for hangar space - ‘well into the hundreds, if not thousands’;
Hangars already installed are seeing over 95% utilisation.
This second phase of implementation consists of two hundred hangers - and there is likely to be a third phase based on current levels of demand.
🏩 George Street and First New Town Plans
The George Street and First New Town project is now at the detailed design stage, and is already funded up to the conclusion of those designs.
The discussion at TEC largely centred around rising costs, with the costing of the project coming in £7.5m higher since the last costing presented to TEC in 2022;
New information on utilities work required has lead to a lot of the increase in cost; other enhancements to the plans including street trees have also contributed;
Value engineering scope - essentially, where cost vs. fanciness of e.g. materials can be optimised - will be assessed at the end of this stage of development and design;
A point was also made during the discussion that the costing for this project doesn’t exist in a vacuum - money will need to be spent on George St regardless: ‘Doing nothing on George St isn’t really an option’;
SNP Councillor Danny Aston made some excellent points regarding this project becoming more and more of a ‘placemaking’ piece rather than transport project, and yet is seeing budget come from Active Travel streams at the possible detriment or delay of other possible projects. In addition, as the project wears on there is an increase in the amount of coach and hire car access proposed to be allowed into the area, diluting the safety of the environment for pedestrians and cyclists. This dilution concern was also voiced by Green party Councillors present.
What was agreed for this project was that Officers will complete the detailed design phase, prepare Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) but not yet promote them, and report back on the best value for residents, details on funding sources, and where this project sits in terms of priority in City Mobility Plan in a Report to TEC in ‘two cycles’, which one can only assume is a bike metaphor because the Evil Cycling Lobby controls the Council’s every move.
↩️ London Rd and Picardy Pl
When the Picardy Place gyratory and Trams to Newhaven projects were delivered, a southbound left turn from Elm Row to London Rd was banned, in part to allow for a ‘single phase’ cyclist and pedestrian crossing of the mouth of London Rd;
There have been concerns about the volume of traffic at Picardy Pl being negatively affected by this ban, in particular the effect on public transport;
As such, the Administration sought to reopen the left turn, with an adjustment to the phasing where a ten second left turn phase will allow 5-6 cars through with only a small reduction in crossing time for the single phase crossing, which will still be operating ‘above minimum’ crossing times.
SNP and Green Councillors wanted to have a report undertaken on the possible effects on walkers and wheelers at this crossing prior to making the decision, but were narrowly outvoted 6 to 5 - so the left turn will return shortly. I’m sure the trades van I saw making the turn illegally on Friday morning was just doing so because he’d watched TEC too...
So a slight reduction in crossing time for cycle lane and pedestrian crossing users, which of course is consistent with the unsustainable transport hierarchy the Labour Administration generally works to these days 🙃
🏞️ Roseburn to Union Canal
A very short discussion at TEC; essentially, Cllr Mckenzie requested an update on the completion of the link from the Roseburn path to Union Canal, and proposes temporary infrastructure for cyclists on Dundee St so that the route does actually ‘link to the canal’;
Originally, another project would be responsible for delivering the Dundee St section of the route as part of wider Active Travel improvements in Fountainbridge, but that project still looks to be years away;
Since the motion was tabled, the website for the project was updated to correct the completion date to August 2024;
With this in mind, it was proposed that an update on the feasibility of temporary infrastructure to tie in before the opening of the route come to the next Transport & Environment Committee’s ‘Business Bulletin’ for further consideration.
🚊 Trams to Granton Motion
Recent news on funding has the Scottish Government no longer providing the £44m required to develop the business case for the North-South Tram extension in the city;
In light of this, the Liberal Democrats tabled a motion at TEC to halt all work on the project - including the preparation of the public consultation slated for later this year;
The administration instead tabled an Amendment to specify that a report on possible funding sources should be delivered ‘no later than September’, i.e. before the public consultation would start, so that a decision could be taken at that point;
The Lib Dem motion was defeated 7 votes to 4, so a report including how to fund the business case for the extension will come to committee after the summer.
💚 Cargo Bike Movement Emergency Motion
Following significant cuts to their funding, the fine folks at Cargo Bike Movement will receive some support from council Officersx in terms of options to continue operations. We want to take this opportunity to wish the team at CBM the very best in this difficult climate, and really hope things work out in their favour.
As always with TEC meetings, Spokes had a great near-real-time thread of the discussions on X (or read elsewhere) as they unfolded.
📆 Events and Happenings
✨ New This Week
🎭 Edinburgh Festival of Cycling (EdFoC) 2024 Kicks off this week!
It’s not perfect, but the city has ambitious plans for cycling, and the Festival of Cycling offers a chance to celebrate progress... now in its sixth year. A mix of talks, organised rides and workshops, it tries to focus on cycling as everyday transport, as well as sport, a leisure activity and a cultural entity.
— EdFoC director Kim Harding, in his recent Guardian piece.
EDFOC Highlights this Week:
🎭 EdFoC | Tues 28th May - Sat 1st Jun:
‘Affordable Bike Event’ at The Bike Station, Gorgie
The Bike Station Gorgie Branch will have various styles of refurbished bikes (Road Bikes, MTB, Single Speed, Hybrids and more) for sale at more affordable prices.
🎭 EdFoC | Fri 31st Jun - Sun 9th Jun (runs throughout the festival):
Bikes for Refugees (Scotland) BIG Charity Auction
Bid on Bikes for Refugees’ BIG charity auction for the opportunity to win some great prizes, including a bamboo bike, signed books, fun experiences, unique cycle themed pieces of art, and lots, lots more!
🎭 EdFoC | Fri 31st May, 18:30 - 20:30 at Projektride:
Talk: Building a Cycling Community with Queens of Pain CC
Over the past three years, Adna and Ruby have been successfully growing one of Edinburgh’s most popular cycling communities. On a mission to increase diversity within cycling, Queens of Pain are a community that creates space for people to meet, build confidence, grow and go off on their own adventures.
🎭 EdFoC | Sun 2nd Jun, 20:30 - 21:30 at Biketrax:
Talk: What can psychology tell us about creating healthy, happy places? - a double-bill with How to break the trans-Europe cycling world record in 10 easy steps which starts at 19:00;
Professor Ian Walker of Swansea University explores why it can be so difficult to help the public move towards healthier, or greener, lifestyles.
➕ There’s much more - various tours, maintenance sessions, led rides and film screenings. Head over to the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling Events page to see what’s on this week and beyond »
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
📦 Ever considered volunteering with Cargo Bike Movement? They have two training sessions at the end of May, this Wednesday 29th 10am to 12:30pm and Friday 31st May from 2pm to 4:30pm. If you’re interested, email jamie@cargobikemovement.org
💜 SCOREscotland’s “Wester Hailes, Walk, Pedal and Thrive project” are starting a new cycle training beginners group on Saturdays during May and June - more details on their Facebook post.
🗓️ 🎭 EdFoC | Wednesday 5th June, 2pm - As part of the ongoing 'Pedal Power' exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh - Can cycling make transport sustainable? by Dr Brendan Hill;
⚙️ 🎭 EdFoC | Wednesday 5th June (from 18:45 for coffee, stalls and chat, 19:30 - 21:30 meeting) - Spokes, the Lothian Cycle Campaign, will be hosting a public meeting about the Trams to Granton project, tabled as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling:
Controversy rages over whether the proposed north-south tramline should use the Roseburn path or an onroad route via Orchard Brae and Dean Bridge. The speakers at our June 5th public meeting will present the two cases, then the pros and cons of each option for cycling and walking, and for wider public health. Followed by our always-stimulating one-hour QA and panel discussion.
With Speakers:
For Roseburn, not Road: Lesley Hinds - Former Councillor, Lord Provost, Council Leader and Convener of the Transport & Environment Committee
For Road, not Roseburn: Euan Baxter - representing 'Save the Roseburn Path'
On Cycling aspects: Alex from Spokes;
On Public Health aspects: Adrian Davis, European public health & transport planning specialist
Q&A chair: Johanna Boyd, Chief Executive of Planning Aid Scotland (PAS)
This promises to be somewhat lively on account of the strength of feeling involved from those who regularly use the path, but also has a great lineup of speakers and a careful balance of folks to cover all sides of the debate. Well worth attending if you're able to.
🗓️ 🎭 EdFoC | Saturday 8 June, 2pm - Also part of the ongoing 'Pedal Power' exhibition at the Museum of Edinburgh - Pedal On: Cycle Campaigning in Edinburgh (two talks):
Hop on The Bike Bus - When a city lacks safe cycling infrastructure there is no better way to get your kids to school than by taking part in a bike bus. Bike bus champion, Jarlath Flynn talks about how you can go about setting up a bike bus for your school and how it can help nurture healthier, happier, more resilient kids and adults.
City Centre West East Link - Hear from Henry Whaley, Chair of the Roseburn Route Support Group who will explain how the campaign for the City Centre West East Link was run.
✊🏼 🎭 EdFoC | Ongoing - 'Pedal Power', a free exhibition co-curated by Critical Mass Edinburgh, Infrasisters, Spokes and folks running Bike Buses across the city at the Museum of Edinburgh running until the 22nd September - including some upcoming talks and events you’ll find highlighted above.
News this week - Edinburgh Council archives — who recently launched the ‘Edinburgh 900’ project to celebrate 900 years since Edinburgh became a royal burgh — have also asked ‘Pedal Power’ to be part of the programme and will tour the exhibition around communities in Edinburgh after it finishes at the Museum of Edinburgh in September.
🔁 Weekly Events
⚡️ Porty Community Energy are trialling a Wednesday evening advice drop-in fb starting this week;
🛠️ Edinburgh Tool Library host a weekly Bike Kitchen providing 'tools, spare parts, and expertise' to 'learn, grow, and connect with others'; Open every Wednesday from 3pm.
✴️ Regular events on at The Wee Spoke Hub - follow their schedule here including a Bike DIY Session this Thursday 30th, 4pm - 8pm;
🫂 Help Needed
Ongoing:
📦 Help distribute Edinburgh Festival of Cycling programmes to Cafés, Bike shops, Independent retailers, Libraries and beyond by joining their Volunteer programme distributors;
🌊 Porty Community Energy crowdfunding their Sea Rising Festival;
🚴🏼 Friends of the Skelf bike park and pump track just off Holyrood Park are [raising money currently;
👩🏻⚖️ THE BIG 'Bikes for Refugees Scotland' FUNDRAISING AUCTION 2024
Bikes for Refugees are looking for the donation of experiences, cycling-themed items, artworks, event tickets, signed memorabilia, gift baskets, and other ideas to auction off in their fundraiser: get in touch with bfrscotland@gmail.com. The auction will go live at the start of this year's Edinburgh Festival of Cycling this Friday 31st May.
As always:
New Scots refugees and asylum seekers need your bikes now. Providing essential mobility and freedom of movement. Please complete the bike donation form on our website, thank you https://www.bikesforrefugees.scot
Ongoing:
🚌 Volunteer to help marshal a local school Bike Bus - see the Bike Bus Hub Directory;
🙋 Sustrans seek volunteers for their ‘I Bike’ school programme: teaching kids, maintaining a bike fleet or marshalling rides with pupils;
🗨️ Spokes are in need of new members for their Planning and Resources groups;
🤝 SW20 are a Co-op Local Community Fund Cause - support them via this page;
🆘 Support Bikes for Refugees with an SMS donation 🐦or on EasyDonate;
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
🌳 Meadows to George Street
The Meadows to George Street team recently announced the Publication of the detailed design proposals and advertisement of the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) and Redetermination Order (RSO) for this vital gap-joining project, tackling one of the city centre's nastier cycling gauntlets:
✍🏽 Detailed Design Documents:
The associated orders (TRO/21/32 and RSO/21/08) are now closed for comments as of 17th May.
⚓️ 'Leith Feeder Ride' on X shared there were 'signs of lifex' for a proper finish / end to the northbound Leith Walk cycle lane - namely 241 days of planned cycleway construction works starting some time between late Summer and Autumn this year - on the 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' protected cycle route as part of Leith Connections, which promises to be a great continuation of the segregated routes slowly taking root in the city centre;
🚴🏼♀️ Nearby Midlothian Council have launched ‘On the Move Midlothian: Our Active Travel Strategy for Everyone’, consisting of two parallel consultations on Active Travel and also wider transport concerns across their council area:
The active travel draft strategy, which includes measurable and achievable targets, focuses on making Midlothian a place where getting around in a way that makes you physically active, such as walking and wheeling, will be an easy, convenient, cheap and realistic option for all.
📄 You can view the draft strategy online [PDF].
Deadlines for responses:
10th June for 'Midlothian Local Transport Strategy';
22nd July for the 'Active Travel Survey'.
👁️🗨️ The Dalry Living Well Locally consultation runs until 26th June:
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
The Water of Leith path at Coalie Park, closed for the last 6 months or so, has now reopenedx.
Melville St at Walker St has some partial closures of the CCWEL segregated lanes for major works, assumedly as part of the public realm improvements that recently commenced and run until December this year;
With works at the Western General Hospital completed, the Council has confirmed that the segregated lane along Crewe Road South will shortly return.
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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