🚲 edi.bike | issue 84 | 17th Mar ‘25
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
📊 Edinburgh by Numbers: Council 2023-2024 Statistics
Uncovered via Living Streets, the Edinburgh Bus Users Group, and SW20 - a fascinating and statistically rich ‘Edinburgh By Numbers 2024’ [PDF] report from the City of Edinburgh Council, which includes among many other stats:
Almost 70% of the short trips made by people in Edinburgh in 2023 were either cycling or walking. A large proportion of residents (61%) walk between 3 and 5 days every week, just over half of them walk as a method of transport but the rest (27%) do it for pleasure. The percentage walking for pleasure increases to 31% for people who walk almost every day of the week. Nearly 40% of the households in Edinburgh own at least one bike, which sits just over the Scottish average.
As you’d expect, high satisfaction with our better-than-average public transport network:
In 2023, over 60% of Edinburgh's travel involved walking or public transport, with leisure activities as the primary purpose in 44% of the trips. Public transport satisfaction stood at 86%, more than 20% over the Scottish average. Despite this good use of sustainable travel, 63% of households owned at least one car.
This updates, among other things, the known percentage of carless households — long drawn on by campaigners from 2011 census data as around 40% — still at 37%. While stats don’t necessarily win hearts and minds, over a third of households depending on the city challenging motornormativity by providing more than adequate provision for cycling, walking and wheeling - as well as prioritising public transport - is a pretty strong mandate when trying to manage a city that works for everyone.
📣 Heriot-Watt Students Call For Publicly-Owned Edinburgh Bike Hire Scheme
Student cyclists in Edinburgh are calling for the creation of a publicly-owned bike hire scheme in the city and are developing a computer simulation to help design it.
Five students studying civil engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are behind the proposal and say their idea is inspired by successful publicly-owned bike hire schemes in cities including London, Glasgow, Brighton, Barcelona in Spain, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Paris in France.
The students are launching an online public petition to gauge support for their proposal, before presenting the details to the City of Edinburgh Council.
Interesting to see — following the recent Tram-train student campaign for the South Suburban Line — another student campaign from Heriot-Watt aimed at transport improvement looking to petition the Council.
“Privately-owned bike hire schemes tend to be driven by the bottom line, with price per minute charges that can cost you more than the bus for a five-minute journey,” said Jay. “This doesn’t seem very inclusive to us. So one of our key requirements is that the bike hire scheme is publicly-owned. This means it would be available to everybody in the city, and would be funded partly by the local authority, partly by sponsorships and partly revenues from cyclists hiring the bikes.”
🎤 Full Press Release » | 📋 Petition on Change.org »
👋🏼 The Bike Station’s Last Day in Causewayside
The end of an era this weekend, as The Bike Station team held their final day of pre-move sales in their oldest branch - after twenty four years in operation, and more than a decade in their fantastic space in the yards, set quietly back from bustling Causewayside.
Having recently taken on board the mission and purpose of Cargo Bike Movement, as well as their own schemes of cycle refurbishment, bike maintenance training and social programmes, the Gorgie branch will continue to serve as the organisation’s hub in Edinburgh while a new space is prepared for relocation.
The end of somewhere special, and the start of something new - looking forward to see how TBS take on the world with a fresh place to call home.
🩺 Another Shan Ebike Policy Plagues Key Edinburgh Facilities as NHS Lothian Improvise New Reasons to Make Life Difficult
In case you’ve forgotten, all ebikes are inherently dangerous things - for example, Waverley Station has a current ban on parking your electric bicycle under the station’s covered areas, in spite of a Freedom of Information request seen by edi.bike revealing that there has not been a single ebike fire or battery incident in the station, between 2020 and the time of the request in late 2024.
Not content with only joined-up sustainable journeys being hindered at stations by such a policy, NHS Lothian — having set aside the famously evidence-led approach to decision making they use in practicing medicine — went ahead and set a very similar policy for the parking of electric bikes on NHS Lothian properties, including the Royal Infirmary at Little France. Members of staff from RIE have pointed out that the sole parking shelter identified for ebike use is one that is already typically oversubscribed.
If we were to pop a wee FOI over to them, I wonder what we’d uncover. Probably that this is yet more worry and fear-mongering over a minimal risk — primarily cause for concern while charging batteries (something neither NHS Lothian nor Waverley Station offer the public), and even then only generally manifesting in cheap, poorly sourced (hello, eBay / Amazon) or modified ebikes, which don’t represent the mass market, safe cycles generally being sold to consumers trying to make a greener transport choice in our hilly city.
🏰 Local Bits
🛄 Closes Tomorrow: ‘Travel Agents of Change’ [IG] exhibition by Porty Community Energy and BANZAI; currently pinned up along the Union Canal between the 📍 Leamington Lift Bridge and Viewforth, closing tomorrow. Pop down if you haven’t taken a look yet!
🌅 Some lovely sunrise photos from Markus Stitz on Bluesky this week:
🚴♂️ We started Edinburgh Dawn Patrol in Sept 24, inspired by the ride in Oslo at 5:40 AM each Tue & Thu. 6 months in, we've seen incredible sunrises & welcomed new riders.
You can find more info about Edinburgh Dawn Patrol, including starting location and route, on their Instagram »
💡 Great to see path lighting being installed in Baronscourt Park, Northfield - helping make another Active Travel route safer after dark for residents and passers-through;
🛠️ Bikes for Refugees are on the move - posting some volunteer thanks for help getting their new community hub ready, and about having won some new Park Tool equipment [IG] for their vital work getting refurbished bikes into the hands of new Scots;
💚 News from Cargo Bike Movement:
As we approach big changes in the way we operate, we want to take time to remember and celebrate the last four years of Cargo Bike Movement…
We are gathering stories from members of our community about their interactions with us - perhaps it's the first time you rode a cargo bike, starting out wobbly but gaining confidence. Maybe it's seeing your kids together in the bike, having the time of their lives. Maybe you were inspired to set up a community hub in your own area. Whatever it is, we'd love to hear from you! We're always amazed by the ripple effects that can be made by getting on a cargo bike for the first time, and have so much gratitude for the community around us.
💎 Treasure Hunt, Friday 21st March
On Friday the 21st of March Cargo Bike Movement are hosting a TREASURE HUNT by bike! The event is family-friendly with a circuit around the Meadows completing challenges, and clues taking teams across Edinburgh. All wheels are welcome. Form a team or come to 📍 the Hub on the day to be paired with fellow hunters. We thank our sponsors for their support for this event and can't wait to celebrate CBM with our community. See you there! Bluesky post »
👕 Clothing Fundraiser for Zero Waste Food Runs
Cargo Bike Movement have launched an Everpress clothing campaign to raise money for the continuation of the food collections by cargo bike, picking up surplus food and distributing it to people who need it in Edinburgh.
You can pre-order merchandise now until 24th March on Everpress. Garments are made after the orders have closed to reduce waste.
This fundraiser is aimed at covering future costs that may include cargo bike maintenance, insurance, and storage. While we don't know exactly what these runs will look like, we hope funds from this campaign will help guarantee the continued distribution of food to the community.
📆 Upcoming Training Sessions
“Cargo bike training, providing in-depth instruction. The course will give you Cycling Scotland accredited training for cargo bike use, and we’ll have loads of fun!”
Email jamie@cargobikemovement.org to sign up to the remaining March training session from 1-4pm on Wednesday March 26th.
🌷 Cycling and Community Hub Bridgend Farmhouse are hosting a Spring Fair this weekend:
Be sure to book ahead for the ebike led ride, kids balance bike session or talk, and look out for Spokes maps and buffs at special stall prices;
🛹 The Edinburgh Wheels Project - in partnership with the Water of Leith Conservation Trust - are fundraising to build a seating and skating area in Coalie Park near the end of the Water of Leith walkway;
💸 Thanks to Michael for sending in - closes this Wednesday, 19th March:
People and Place Community Grant Fund opens for applications: The national “Smarter Choices Smarter Places (SCSP)” funding pots that so many cycling organisations have been supported by over the years closed last year, and now Transport Scotland gives that cash to Regional Transport Partnerships (for Edinburgh that’s SEStran) for them to dish out regionally. SEStran’s fund just opened for applications for the year ahead for “community groups, community interest companies and charities” for “active travel or sustainable transport interventions”.
🇬🇧 National
📈 From Glasgow City Council:
The @GlasgowCityRgn #GovanPartickBridge opened six months ago and has been a great success ever since, with well over 600,000 crossings - more than 500,000 by pedestrians and over 100,000 by cyclists.
💸 An interesting piece on Laura Laker’s new Substack, about Active Travel Funding, particularly for multi-year projects;
📰 From Bloomberg UK - How Britain’s Most Bike-Friendly New Town Got Built:
You could be forgiven for thinking you were in the Netherlands when you enter Waterbeach. A 716-acre lakeside development being built on a former RAF base outside the UK city of Cambridge, the new town is rising on wetlands that were reclaimed by Dutch engineers in the 1600s. And like many places in Holland, Waterbeach’s design and planning puts people before cars.
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
🦋 On Bluesky? We’ve made an 🚧 experimental cycle travel issues ‘Feed’ you can subscribe to in order to follow any route issues posted by fellow cycle users in the city - anyone can use the #EdTravCyc hashtag already used by WingPig and others and it will show up in the feed.
📪 The week’s road closure info - many thanks to regular contributor Robbie for sending these in
ℹ️ Encountered unexpected road issues? Find out how to report them with this guide from Spokes. The team at Edinburgh Travel News are also keen to hear about cycle path alerts and can be contacted on Threads or Facebook
🌳 Wester Hailes Road: closed at Lanark Rd for resurfacing from today (the 17th) for two weeks. It doesn’t seem like access via Viewfield Rd will be possible, however the offroad paths at Woodhall Millbrae and opposite Hailes Gardens are marked as cycle paths on the council’s cycling map, and may provide alternate routes.
🏫 Canaan Lane: closed at Morningside Rd for Scottish Water repairs from the 9th of April for two weeks. Be aware the one-way order on Canaan Lane will likely be suspended for local access, resulting in vehicles driving in the contraflow cycle lane. Update 17th March – delayed until 9th April
⛰️ Duddingston Low Road in Holyrood Park: Ongoing inspection works have identified a risk of rockfall, resulting in a closure until further notice. The innocent cycle path is currently unaffected; however, this may change.
⚡ Eyre Place: closed at Cannonmills until further notice for Scottish Power emergency repairs. Fortunately, the nearby path in King George V Park has now reopened and may provide an alternate route.
💧 Shandon Place: closed southbound until further notice due to emergency Scottish Water repair works. With the adjacent closures at Harrison Road, this cuts off eastbound access to Shandon and Polwarth. It may be possible to go around via Ivy Terrace, or by dismounting.
🌉 Harrison Road: two bridges closed due to structural concerns with micro-cracking in the original cast iron beams. Until works begin, a pleasant temporary low traffic area has been created; however, access to cycles is being restricted as works begin.
The west bridge over a small path is having its deck rebuilt until September 2025. The roadway is closed to cycles, though the footway remains open for now. A closure of the path underneath is also expected, which may include a signed diversion.
The east bridge over the Union Canal has been inspected and may also require repair works. Friend of the digest Oli posted a photo of the impressive inspection vehicle on Bluesky
🧭 CCWEL at Rosebery Crescent - Re-opened to cycles! – A temporary cycle path has been incorporated into the current phase of Scottish Water sewer repair works, following concerns raised by Spokes. Thanks also to Antonia for sending these additional photos of the provided cycle space;
⛔️ North Bridge: closed to northbound traffic until April. It is possible to pass via Cockburn St and Waverley Bridge or on the footway by dismounting. Update 15th March – Signage has been adjusted to allow two-way cycling on part of the bridge and warn vehicles of overtaking in narrow lanes.
🚧 Redford Road: closed at Colinton Road for resurfacing from the 31st March for one week.
🚂 Waverley Bridge - concrete barriers have been placed across the southbound lane with no gap. Council officers are planning to replace them with temporary barriers with a southbound cycle lane. Be aware a suspected faulty sensor is causing airport buses to enter the ‘bike box’, further restricting access.
🧱 Ellen’s Glen Rd, a quiet link in Liberton, closed at the modal filter to repair flooding damage until late May ‘25. Closure includes pedestrians and a diversion is signed via Malbet Wynd;
💧 Union Canal: Towpath improvement works are ongoing from Leamington Lift Bridge to Edinburgh Quay until May ‘25. A section of towpath is closed with diversion across the lift bridge and along the southern side of the canal - more info at Scottish Canals;
⚡ 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;
🏹 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;
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🎉 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🎊 Festival Of Movement — Saturday 29th March, Linlithgow
Organised by Move For Good, Linlithgow Community Development Trust’s active and sustainable travel project:
"Scotland’s first Festival of Movement is coming to Linlithgow on Saturday 29th March for a packed day of fun filled activities for all ages and abilities to explore movement in our everyday lives. The festival is free to attend, all welcome! Follow along as we share more about the programme for the day, which includes workshops, taster sessions, discussions, led walks & cycles and more."
🚴🏼♀️ Ongoing SCORE Scotland weekend cycling training over the remainder of March:
‘Advanced Cycle Training with Safety Advice and Route Planning’ at 📍 Rannoch Community Centre — 6 Rannoch Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 7ES
🗓️ Saturdays 22nd and 29th March, from 3pm to 5pm
🗓️ Sundays 23rd and 30th March, from 11am to 1pm
Booking is essential: Call / text Madhavi on 07496190752
⚙️ Spokes, the Lothians Cycle Campaign, latest ‘Action Update’ [PDF] includes details of their next public meeting, featuring Transport Convenor Cllr Stephen Jenkinson and Deborah Paton, the Council’s Head of Transport, Strategy and Partnerships:
This will be our first public meeting with Transport Convener Cllr Stephen Jenkinson, who took over when Cllr Scott Arthur was elected as an MP... He will speak on the place of cycling within Edinburgh’s overall transport policies, and what we can expect to see happening this year. Also speaking will be Deborah Paton, Head of Transport, Strategy and Partnership at the Council. As a senior officer, whose remit includes active travel, she is knowledgeable both on detailed active travel issues and on how individual projects fit into overall council transport plans. Deborah previously worked at Glasgow City, drawing up their new Local Transport Strategy, and before that preparing West Lothian Council’s Active Travel Action Plan, thus rising rapidly through the ranks!
Wednesday 30th April, 📍 Augustine United Church. 7.30pm - 9.30pm, with doors open from 6.45pm for coffee, stalls and chat, including a special stall to join Spokes or renew your membership
💯 Reader Alastair shared with us a new campaign by cycling club Edinburgh RC celebrating its hundredth year:
As part of the celebration of our Centenary year, we are launching our 100x100x100 women's challenge. This aims to get 100 women of all cycling abilities to ride 100k. If you are an experienced rider, why not encourage some of your family or friends to take part in the challenge? If you are nervous about rising to the challenge fear not, ERC is ready to help.
More info at Edinburgh RC »
👺 From Edinburgh Bicycle Coop on their Instagram:
We supplied S2 and S3 pupils of James Gillespie's High School with non-recyclable bike packaging and they created some incredible artwork on the theme of 'faces'. On display in our Bruntsfield branch of what is hopefully the first of many exhibitions.
🖼️ The Spokes, Infrasisters, Bike Buses and Edinburgh Critical Mass co-curated campaigning exhibition ‘Pedal Power’ is open at its new venue [IG] of Duncan Place in Leith - well worth a visit.
🔁 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 - more info on their Instagram;
☕️ 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, Family-friendly mass protest / group ride, 2pm, Middle Meadow Walk;
🫂 Help Needed
🚐 Could you shift a bike donation into Edinburgh on behalf of Bikes for Refugees? “Milnathort, Cairneyhill or Troon 💪HELP needed! Can you collect/drop a bike donation on your commute to Glasgow or Edinburgh hubs?” — bikedonations@bikesforrefugees.scot
Ongoing: 🚌 Marshal for School Bike Buses | 🙋 Help with school programme ‘I Bike’ | 🗨️Join Spokes’ Planning or Resources group | 🆘 Donate money or bikes to Bikes for Refugees | 📦⚡️ Hire Community Cargobikes, E-bikes or Trailers from SW20, Porty Community Energy or Banzai | ♻️ Donate old bikes to The Bike Station, The Wee Spoke Hub or ‘Brake the Cycle’.
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
✨ This section of the digest will receive a revamp in the coming months to move long-running, detailed consultation information onto web pages, and instead publish a list of links for open and recent consultations (along with summaries for anything actually new). In the meantime, anything new or changed is found near the top. ✨
In Previous Updates:
📋 Consultation: Edinburgh BioQuarter Active Travel Gaps - Sheriffhall Park & Ride to BioQuarter Campus Route
Now closed (2nd March at 23:59): Consultation spotted by Spokes this week; seeking to connect up both some missing internal links in the active travel pathways around the Edinburgh BioQuarter site at Little France, and also deliver protected cycleways and quiet routes between the site and the Midlothian Council park and ride facility at Sheriffhall:
“Edinburgh BioQuarter partners (City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and The University of Edinburgh) are in the process of improving active travel routes and facilities in and around the campus…
The improvements being looked at within this project will see the development of a new active travel route to Edinburgh BioQuarter from Midlothian in the south to plug a 'gap' in the infrastructure. Eliminating the 'gap' will improve accessibility for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists during everyday journeys.”
Detailed Plans and Rationale on the project’s StoryMap »
🗺️ East Lothian Council are carrying out consultations on proposed improvements between Prestonpans and Levenhall; there is of course some local resistance, and it would be great to see folks who feel able to comment responding to the consultation.
Download the (muckle!) combined plan [PDF] or browse the list
🍃 Spokes recently highlighted a new consultation from Midlothian Council to create Active Travel provisions along the A7:
The aim of the project is to improve active travel connections within the study area making it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for their everyday journeys and to connect to public transport services more easily. Currently, there is no or limited provision for walking, wheeling and cycling along the majority of the A7 corridor.
The consultation has a deadline of 30th March for comments and input;
📋 Following the recent deadline for the ETRO (Experimental Traffic Regulation Order) consultation for the Northern ‘Travelling Safely’ areas, Spokes shared their final response [PDF] to the various areas and schemes covered - as always, thoughtful input on taking the schemes forward and potential improvements;
📃 From lurking in Community Council mailing lists, I spotted this rather handy document listing upcoming City of Edinburgh Council consultations and their approximate launch dates for the coming year;
🏞️ Via Spokes - in an update from Friends of Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park the start of a new project to improve the valley is ongoing:
Burdiehouse Burn Restoration - Concept Design
“For the Burdiehouse Burn to become a successful and notable blue-green regeneration project, restoring approximately 5 km of the burn and surrounding habitats”
Core project objectives:
Sustainable river restoration
Habitat restoration in the surrounding landscape ✨ 3. Active travel connections
Placemaking & access improvements
Education & engagement of people and organisations local to the burn
Net zero gains
Improve the resilience of the site to climate change.
More in their newsletter »
🏚️ New plans for 21 flats on the site of the derelict Longstone Inn - damaged due to local flooding - have been published, featuring a ramp and alley access to the Burnside path; in addition, the council have now progressed with identifying who owns which bits of land and wall where the Burnside path sinkhole is situated, so discussions with the landowner will be ongoing to come up with a plan for remedial works here to fix not only the sinkhole, but hopefully the underlying cause too.
⚒️ Merchiston Community Council are back on the campaign trail to improve Polwarth’s worst junction. News of the Council commencing a redesign, and more background on the project, can be found on their website;
📋 Dalry ‘Living Well Locally’: the council have published an Initial local resident feedback Report on the Dalry Town Centre proposals [PDF]. There is a summary on the main Consultation page.
🕳️ Photos shared by Longstone Community Council show recent works have provided “Some improvements to the diversion path surface and the gradient made on the Burnside path. Barriers also secured more robustly stopping access to the sinkhole.”;
⬆️ The statutory process for a handful of one-way street cycle exemptions have been published by the Council - available here as a list and more detailed plans: ‘TRO/24/27 - One-way street exemptions for cyclists - Various Roads - Ending on 31 January 2025’. Just one part of a city-wide project over the next 18 months or so to make more one way streets legal for contraflow cycling.
🚧 Works on the West Edinburgh Link project look to be starting at the end of May according to the listings on the Scottish Road Works Commissioner web portal spotted by Longstone Community Council;
🚢 Leith Connections: Foot of the Walk to Dock St Construction Underway, Schedule Shared
🦶Foot of the Walk to ‘Ocean Terminal’ (actually Commercial St)
⚓️ 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' - construction is underway on the Great Junction St cycleway, with work on Henderson St recently started too, for around ten months - a 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.
This Leith Connections works leaflet [PDF] outlines the rough timeline for construction of the route.
Confusingly, the project 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 (below);
⚓ Leith Connections Phase 3 - Hawthornvale to Seafield
View the:
Consultation Hub Page (now closed to responses);
Detailed Design drawings (PDF) »
🌳 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route
Some recent movement on the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, in an update from Blackford Safe Routes and this update from Cllr Ben Parker;
📋 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 ongoing: 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.
Comments on the consultation can be emailed to musselburgh.uki@aecom.com
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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