🚲 edi.bike | issue 50 | 22nd Jul '24
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
🙃 ‘Think bigger, be bolder, and go faster…’ - Vaunted Edinburgh City Centre Transformation plans face delays at Committee in August
‘Capital set to apply brakes to its city centre traffic revolution’ was published on Thursday in local journal ‘The Edinburgh Enquirer’. In this piece, Sarah MacArthur breaks the news that August’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting will hear about further proposed delays to the ‘Edinburgh City Centre Transformation’ plans that were announced - and celebrated, at least in the ‘bloody cyclist’ neck of the woods - as being a big step forward in February of this year.
Unfortunately, the piece is behind a paywall - you’ll need to be an Inquirer subscriber to read it. The response to this news that chimes best with us came in this X thread from Independent councillor Ross Mckenzie, who we linked to back in May when he published ‘Backsliding into the Bushes’ about the delay to the changes announced then:
Now we're hearing that concerns about the impact on city centre businesses and public transport journey times are in play, and that more research is needed.
But we just waited years for the research to be completed. The Circulation Plan was agreed in February to great fanfare, with the Transport Convener, Scott Arthur, issuing a rallying call to "think bigger, be bolder and go faster".
And yet, the opposite is happening. The administration and the officers will come to Committee and make their case for more delay. I'm sure it will convince many and win the day.
But they won't account for the absence of political leadership that I believe is the root cause of the failure to make any meaningful progress on the Council's traffic reduction targets - a failure that makes a mockery of the Council's net zero targets.
You can read the full thread over here.
One would hope that with the exodus of the previous culture-war-stoking Westminster Government, we might start to see more active-travel-friendly policymaking and funding support from central government, and that this might embolden our local politicians to actually be bold, make the changes that in dozens of comparable cities are yielding modal shift and happier, healthier citizens. The trouble with kicking the can further down the road is it’s too choked up with private motor traffic to keep track of.
🌻 Wester Hailes set to gain new ‘Mobility Hub’ in September
Wester Hailes Community Trust have announced they plan to open a mobility hub later this year, featuring bike hires, an Edinburgh Tool Library outpost, and more;
Local Bits
☀️ Porty Community Energy are looking for new volunteers to assist with their Cargo Bike Library, and are running a training session for prospective volunteers on Friday 26 July, 3-5pm - more info on Facebook;
📺 Another lovely new film from cycling explorer, writer and filmmaker Markus Stitz this week, ‘Gateways’, “showcasing accessible routes in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park in Scotland”. Created in collaboration with Trust in the Park, there are also published pre-planned itineraries for many of the routes shown in the film;
🕳️ Martin Lellep got in touch to share a project he built for logging potholes in Edinburgh - you can read more on his blog post or listen to his Edinburgh Tech Meetup talk on the subject;
⚙️ Spokes have been adding to their excellent Cargo Bike grant and advocacy work with new grants for bakery deliveries and a second cargo bike for The Cycling Gardners, as posted on X;
From Last Week:
A book recommendation on X from Critical Mass Edinburgh - ‘Movement: how to take back our streets and transform our lives’;
🐘 Active Travel on the Fediverse
If you have an interest in Active Travel social media, particularly in Edinburgh / Scotland / UK, and encouraging folks to shift to friendlier climes than X - along with experience of Mastodon, Federation in general, or online community - consider sending over your email using our submissions form or pinging @edi.bike@mastodon.scot as there’s been some rumblings and it would be good to connect up folks looking at this…
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
There’s a series of timed full or partial road closures - including High St, St Giles St, Parliament Square(s), Cockburn St, Blair St, Lawnmarket, and Johnston Ter during the Edinburgh Festival;
The Crawford Bridge - between Albion Ter and Bothwell St off Easter Rd - is closed until the 30th of August for refurbishment;
Melville St at Walker St has some partial closures of the CCWEL segregated lanes for major works as part of the public realm improvements that recently commenced and run until December this year.
➕ Nationally
🇬🇧 Following their recent summary of where we might be at with the new UK Government and cycling, presently, Cycling UK have subsequently been calling for a greater active travel portion of overall transport funding - “Cycling campaigners call for end to culture war on active travel: New government urged to make coherent and committed investment in cycling for transport” published in The Guardian yesterday evening;
👏 Glasgow’s ‘South City Way’, a 3km route from the southside into the centre of the city, has been completed - with a few more photos on Facebook, and a lovely story about local folks taking the builders tea, rolls and cake to say thanks;
🌳 /via Laura Laker, the Summer 2024 issue of Landscape, the journal of the Landscape Institute has a transport theme, including what looks to be a rich set of case studies and long form pieces about infrastructure in the UK. It can be read online through Issuu or you can also download it as a PDF from there;
🚲 ”Research finds those who cycle to work associated with a 47 per cent lower risk of death and 24 per cent lower risk of hospital admission for cardiovascular disease, but have twice the risk of being admitted to hospital after a road traffic collision” — over at road.cc
🚆 Data Science for the Public Good - “Transport Performance: A reproducible and reusable toolkit for measuring transport network performances internationally” published at the Office for National Statistics
🌍 Elsewhere
🅿️ Excellent thread by Melissa & Chris Bruntlett about the design principles used in the Netherlands when designing cycle parking at train stations;
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📆 Events and Happenings
✨ New This Week
🚸 The lovely folks at The Bike Station are running some free Kids Skills sessions, along with Dr Bike repairs / maintenance, at the following locations / dates - booking required at this link:
Friday 26th July, Niddrie - Jack Kane Park, 10am - 3pm
Saturday 27th July, Gorgie - Saughton Park
Sunday 28th July, Corstorphine - St. Margaret’s Park
✊ Edinburgh Critical Mass is coming up on Saturday 27th July, 2pm Middle Meadow Walk; a friendly and welcoming mass protest ride, with the route typically published a few days before to their Facebook, Mastodon, X and email list. Ever want to join the ride late, but not sure where it is? You can use Critical Maps - an anonymous location-sharing app for cyclists in critical mass events, aiding coordination through real-time map visualisation. Only one or two people need to use it from the start, so that others can see where the ride is.
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
☕️ Active Travel Cafe is a national, weekly online active travel event; news, talks & discussion via Zoom on Tuesdays at 5pm. They’ve recently published a list of speakers for the next month or so.
🧓 Edinburgh Leisure have added more cycle skills course dates to their Ageing Well Programme, whose goal is to increase the number of older adults who are active and connected in Edinburgh. Check out the wider programme page and the flyer for the next 11 week course [PDF] that started last week (15th July) but happy to still welcome folks at this stage;
✊🏼 🎭 EdFoC | Ongoing - 'Pedal Power', a free exhibition on cycling and activism in Edinburgh, 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.
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
🚵 Every Friday in July and August; All-inclusive social guided bike rides with A Wee Pedal, 2-4pm from Bridgend Farmhouse. Check out their flyer for more;
⚡️ Porty Community Energy are trialling a weekly Wednesday evening advice drop-in [fb];
⚙️ The Wee Spoke Hub host a weekly ‘Bike Cleaning and Oiling’ drop-in session at their shop every Saturday, 2-4pm;
🛠️ 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.
✴️ Other regular events on at The Wee Spoke Hub - follow their schedule here including a Bike DIY Session this Thursday 25th, 5pm - 8pm, and Bike Puncture Repair Session: How to get rolling again on Saturday 27th, 11am - 1pm.
🫂 Help Needed
🔧 The Bike Station are hiring a refurb mechanic for their branch in Perth, deadline 31st July;
🚴🏼♀️ Bikes for Refugees Scotland are hiring a Community Hubs Manager, “responsible for coordinating, monitoring & managing operational activities and service delivery” between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Deadline 28th July, see full details here;
Ongoing:
🚴🏼 Friends of the Skelf bike park and pump track just off Holyrood Park are [raising money currently;
💁 Help Fund a New Specialised Active Chair for Porty Community Energy Activist Roseanne Sinclair at her campaign page;
🚌 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
⚒️ Work commencing 29th July - Lasswade Rd Cycleways
Spokes recently shared [x] the project page for a partial resurfacing of Lasswade Rd that includes a stretch of segregated cycle lane at each side, close to Gracemount High School. Spokes’ response makes mention of various interesting aspects and suggests changes.
🐳 Ends this Week: Connecting Granton Waterfront
A new Granton-focused consultation - responses closed last week. From the project’s Consultation Hub:
This project proposes a network of safe and well-connected routes as part of a walking, wheeling and cycling network for Granton Waterfront. Our ideas have been designed to make walking, wheeling and cycling safer and easier through the new and existing areas of the neighbourhood. The proposals include wider pavements, better cycling provision, placemaking improvements including new and improved landscaping and upgrades to key crossing points and junctions on the following routes:
Forthquarter Park
Waterfront Broadway
Waterfront Park
Waterfront Avenue
West Shore Road
The Promenade
View the Community Engagement Portal and give feedback via the Survey.
✍🏽 ‘Spaces for People’ Lanes in East of Edinburgh - ETRO
This ‘East Area’ Experimental Traffic Order (ETRO/21/28A) covers a number of Covid-era parking suspensions used to facilitate bollarded cycle lanes around London Rd, Willowbrae and Duddingston, including cycle routes used by school pupils, teachers and parents to and from multiple primary and secondary schools. It is currently open for comments until 28th October by emailing TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk quoting ETRO/21/28A.
🌊 Seafield Regeneration
Regeneration plans are afoot in Seafield, including active travel links to Porty, Craigentinny, and Leith. Leith Feeder Ride [x] have a great roundup thread (unrolled) on the scheme; you can also view the masterplan proposals [PDF] and respond to the consultation survey which is open until the 31st July;
🏖️ Brunstane and Portobello
‘Edinburgh roads: 'Radical changes' on way for Portobello High Street and Brighton Place’ in The Evening News;
The ETRO scheme closing Brunstane Rd to motorised traffic has been made permanent.
👣 Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal
⚓️ 'Signs of life' [x] - 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;
🌷 Midlothian’s Active Travel Strategy
🚴🏼♀️ Nearby Midlothian Council have launched ’On the Move Midlothian: Our Active Travel Strategy for Everyone’, consisting of two parallel consultations on Active Travel (one of which has now closed) 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].
Deadline Today, 22nd July for the 'Active Travel Survey'.
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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