🚲 edi.bike | issue 65 | 4th Nov ‘24
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
🪧 The Long Way Round: When Will the Council Insist on Cycle-through Access During Utility Works?
Struck by a common theme across a handful of items from our Route Closures & Issues section this week:
🧭 “CCWEL Cycle Path Closed at Haymarket between Rosebery Crescent and Coates Place in both directions for emergency sewer repair works. However, there's room to cycle through and it's been asked if the closure can be amended.” — edi.bike Reader Robbie
⛏️ The busy Western Meadows link Valleyfield St has been closed [x] at the Leven St end for a Scottish Water repair, again with no planned-in provision for continuing cycle access;
🚦 Disruption to Leith Walk / Elm Row cycle lane access when crossing London Road due to works to reinstate the left-hand turn for motor vehicles [x] - though it still looks feasible to cross with pedestrian traffic and negotiate around;
There’s also been recent works at the north-east corner of St. Andrew Square where CCWEL picks up again - just dug up, with a ‘Cycle Lane Closed’ sign and not even a cursory attempt at a diversion or protected way round. For a family on a cargo bike, or others similarly unwieldy cycles or without the confidence to negotiate, these blockers to a journey really do jeopardise the safety and convenience of cycleway and quiet route users in Edinburgh, and the Council could really do with applying pressure for continued cycle access to be mandatory in all but the most challenging contexts, and enforce these on works with fines for offending contractors.
See our 🛣 Route Closures and Issues section below for other blockages, and let us know of any you come across ⬇️
🚗 Why Not Edinburgh?
News of a new Parisian ‘Limited Traffic Zone’ to reduce through-traffic in the centre of the French Capital prompted active travel proponent, Sustrans’ Angus Calder to take to X with a provocation for Edinburgh’s politicians. Tagging Transport & Environment Committee Councillors Jenkinson, Aston and O’Neill (Labour, SNP and Greens respectively), Angus posted:
“Other cities are cracking on with removing through traffic from their city centres.
Giving a HUGE boost to public transport, active travel, economic vitality & liveability.
Time to implement Edinburgh's city centre Circulation Plan”
— Angus Calder on X
Hear, Hear! The plans for the city on paper - ‘Edinburgh City Centre Transformation’, ‘Our Future Streets’ and the ‘City Mobility Plan’ - all purport to do just this. But only time will tell if Edinburgh can answer the call - city after city elsewhere in the world are getting on with it, while we wring our hands and ruminate…
📣 Local Bike Campaigning: Spokes Public Meeting, 21st November
I’m privileged to have been asked to speak about edi.bike at the next Spokes public meeting on 21st November, in excellent company: Accessible and Sustainable transport expert Derek Halden, speakers from Infrasisters, Edinburgh Critical Mass, and Jarlath Flynn [x] — who does a huge amount for Edinburgh’s school bike buses.
The five short talks are then followed by a panel Q & A hosted by Helen Todd, chair of Planning Democracy and former Ramblers Scotland policy manager.
Tea and coffee served from 18:45 for coffee and stalls, start 19:30 for 21:30 finish.
📅 Save the Date - Infrasisters Ride Again
”The first InfraSisters Edinburgh ride of this winter is planned for the evening of 29th November, starting at 7:30pm, meeting at Middle Meadow Walk, for a slow circular ride around Edinburgh city centre lasting about an hour…
The theme, following UN Women UK is #NoExcuse - no excuse for unsafe cycle infrastructure, no excuse for inaction, no excuse for standing by.”
🏰 Local Bits
👏 BANZAI — Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative’snew Cargo Bike Library is now taking bookings. The library is initially offering a Tern Quick Haul and a Riese & Müller Packster, you can see availability and book via their website;
⏰ After more than a year of the north / south cycle lanes on Elm Row being open to the public (still not officially, but useable), Leith Feeder Ride shared [x] the incorrect ‘No Entry’ marking outside the Edinburgh Playhouse has finally been removed. It’s wild that it took so long and so many reports, in the meantime redirecting folk less familiar with the route to cross and navigate by road down from Picardy Place instead - as had been necessary when Elm Row was closed;
🔧 Ever get stuck needing a roadside repair for your Cargo bike? Hart’s Cyclery has your back:
”Did you know we have a cargo bike call out?!
If you get stuck with a puncture or other drama, give us a holler and we'll come to the rescue. Price [£54] includes travel time by bike and 30 mins labour.
You can book on bike book or call the shop - 01313341441” — Hart’s Cyclery on X
This is a great idea - I’ve on more than one occasion ended up stuck with a rear puncture and heaving a heavy bakfiets into the back of a car club van hire, wish I’d known!
🍏 Recent Spokes competition prizewinners in Haddington are continuing their excellent Dutch Apple Cake tempting [x] of anyone who wants to ditch the car and cycle into town instead - first Saturday of the month, 9.30am to 10am;
📺 Really lovely Edinburgh to North Berwick route review vlog from Glasgow Cyclist Charles McGibbon;
➕ Nationally
💸 A lukewarm response this week to the UK Budget, after all the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh’s talk of an ‘unprecedented level of funding’ for Active Travel:
So to recap…
Bus fare cap ⬆️ 50%
Rail fares ⬆️ 4.6%
Rail cards ⬆️ by £5
Fuel duty… still frozen.Gov talks of delivering on the environment yet undermines itself by failing to adequately tax our most polluting forms of transport & support the most sustainable. #Budget2024 — Campaign for Better Transport on X
“Budget provides additional £100 mn for cycling and walking infrastructure in 2025-26. This is NOT the "unprecedented level of funding" that transport secretary @LouHaigh told @laura_laker was coming. Meanwhile, motorists get yet another fuel duty freeze. Climate change anyone?” — Carlton Reid on X
🚲 “A complete guide to bike hire and share in the UK with the main players ridden and rated, as well as costed” — CyclingElectric;
🚳 “In a rare outing for our opinion site, I’ve written about why councils seeking to ban bikes from city centres due to delivery bikes are treating it as a “cycling problem” when it’s actually a law enforcement problem - these are mainly electric mopeds.” — Peter Walker in The Guardian;
🌍 Elsewhere
👍 Milan cargo bike pilot scheme ‘resulted in a 23% decrease in delivery times and a 40% decrease in living running costs of transport’;
📦 Reflections on an ‘impactful’ 2024 edition of the International Cargo Bike Festival;
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
🚳 As per our headline item this week, if you use Valleyfield St to link to and from the Meadows, David from Laid Back Bikes has shared that it’s been closed [x] at the Leven St end for a Scottish Water repair - routing via the next street south, Glengyle Terrace is advisable in the meantime (one way, but has contraflow cycling marked out and in a handful of places, protected);
📥 From reader Robbie: “CCWEL Cycle Path Closed at Haymarket between Rosebery Crescent and Coates Place in both directions for emergency sewer repair works. However, there's room to cycle through and it's been asked if the closure can be amended”;
🚦 Disruption to Leith Walk / Elm Row cycle lane access when crossing London Road due to works to reinstate the left-hand turn for motor vehicles [x] - still looks feasible to cross with pedestrian traffic and negotiate around;
⚡ Ongoing: The questionable Network Rail ban on ebike parking at Waverley Station - best to make alternative parking plans if travelling from this station at present;
Part of Quiet Route 8 - Roseburn to Edinburgh Park is currently blocked as reported on X by John Robson;
🏹 Lawnmarket and Upper Bow: Road improvements are ongoing until July ‘25; be sure to read the Council’s page about the closures, which managed to completely omit arrangements for a certain human-powered transport mode so mind how you go;;
🚶 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 runs until December this year;
🛤️ Spokes shared the ongoing partial closure of NCN 196, on the Auchendinny-Rosewell railway path for resurfacing with ‘flexipave’ - an ongoing 6-8 week closure from mid-September, so hopefully around 1 week remaining. Details from Midlothian Council »
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🎉 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🚺 Score Scotland — on a “ mission to empower women through cycling, foster community connections, and promote sustainable, active lifestyles in Wester Hailes and beyond” - have released their November events calendar including cycle training and led rides;
🧒 Started recently - Balance Bike classes for Under 6s; choose from a 10am or 11am class over the next five weeks with A Wee Pedal, run from Bridgend Farmhouse. Booking via admin@bridgendfarmhouse.org.uk;
🔁 Weekly Events
🍃 Mon, 12-2.30pm: Free, fun group ride on paths from Bridgend Farmhouse;
🌅 Tues, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol - Meet St. Andrew Square, same route each time - contact Markus [x];
☕️Tues, 5pm: [National] Active Travel Cafe on Zoom
🛠️ Weds, 3pm: Bike Kitchen at Edinburgh Tool Library
🌅 Thurs, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol (same as Tues, details above);
✴️ Thurs, 5-8pm: Bike DIY Session at The Wee Spoke Hub
⚙️ Sat, 2-4pm: ‘Bike Cleaning and Oiling’ drop-in session at The Wee Spoke Hub
🔁 Monthly Events
🚲 First Friday of the month: Inclusive social bike rides with A Wee Pedal, 1-3pm, from Bridgend Farmhouse;
✊ Last Saturday of the month: Critical Mass Edinburgh, Protest Group Ride, 2pm, Middle Meadow Walk;
🫂 Help Needed
✏️ Jobs and Voluntary Roles
⭕ The Bike Station — Board Members and Shop Floor volunteers for their Causewayside branch [x] »
💚 Cargo Bike Movement — Freelance Communication and Marketing Lead »
🛠️ SW20 & Edinburgh Tool Library — Project Volunteers:
✴️ The Wee Spoke Hub — Administration Volunteer:
ℹ️ Also: office / studio space to sublet;
🛠️ Update - with over 500 responses, halfway there! Scottish Cargo Bike maker Ariel Bikes are looking to get 1,000 responses to their e-cargo bike market survey, and if they do they’ll give away a bike:
“Win an Ariel e-cargo bike worth £5600, with ZF 112Nm motor system, plus Magura, Shimano, Halo, Schwalbe, Suntour and Spinner parts and components. All on a hand built 4130 chromoly steel frame fabricated in our Scottish workshop. Finished in glorious orange metallic fleck powder coat.
We want to understand the UK e-cargo bike market better. So we’ve created a short survey. Fill in the survey and if we can get to over 1000 responses, we will give away the bike.”
Ongoing: 🚌 Marshal for School Bike Buses | 🙋 Help with school programme ‘I Bike’ | 🗨️Join Spokes’ Planning or Resources group | 🤝 Support SW20 via Co-op shopping | 🆘 Donate money or bikes to Bikes for Refugees
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
📋 Travelling Safely Schemes (Various)
ETROs for these schemes have various end dates (barring ‘South’, which is not yet published) and can be found for comment at the Council’s Travelling Safely Commonplace microsite; also by emailing TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk quoting the relevant scheme.
🌊 Musselburgh Active Toun Consultation
Updated plans over on Musselburgh Active Toun with further consultation in the coming weeks, including two drop-in sessions about the updated plans: these may be of particular interest to Edinburgh residents as they cover the East Lothian section of Edinburgh Road that would eventually facilitate the long-held ambition of a tie-in to Joppa and Portobello prom, as well as the rest of the North Edinburgh network.
📅 Drop-in sessions for the project are on:
This Thurs 7th November, 6pm – 8pm at Wallyford Learning Campus, Rosehill High School, Masons Wy, EH21 8BF
Comments on the consultation can also be emailed to musselburgh.uki@aecom.com
🚢 Leith Connections - Consultation for ‘Hawthornvale to Seafield’ Open
⚓ Leith Connections Phase 3 - Hawthornvale to Seafield
Consultation currently open - running until 17th November.
View the:
Consultation Hub Page (link at the bottom to fill out the survey before the deadline);
Detailed Design drawings (PDF) »
🦶Foot of the Walk to ‘Ocean Terminal’ (actually Commercial St)
⚓️ As spotted by Harry Williams [x], 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' - construction start date has been updated to ‘start of November 2024’ (for ten months) - 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. Confusingly, a closer look at the project reveals that it doesn’t go to Ocean Terminal (shades of Roseburn to Union Canal here) and instead gives up at Commercial St, with the Commercial St to Ocean Terminal leg covered by the third phase of Leith Connections (above).
⚒️ Work ongoing, August to November - Lasswade Rd Cycleways
Spokes 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.
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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