Edinburgh's pedestrians need a champion as city council messes things up for both them and cyclists – Susan Dalgety

Criticising Edinburgh’s transport chiefs is a popular pastime. Taxi drivers excel at it, blaming the council for the congested state of the roads even before passengers have buckled up. But we all do it.
The cycle lanes on Leith Walk don't work for cyclists or pedestriansThe cycle lanes on Leith Walk don't work for cyclists or pedestrians
The cycle lanes on Leith Walk don't work for cyclists or pedestrians

How many times this month have you moaned about gridlock on the bypass, gaping pot-holes in suburban side streets, and the endless roadworks which seem to have been in place since 1985 and are nowhere near being finished? Quite a few, I imagine.

The new pavement layout in Leith Walk is the latest bête noir. It’s still under construction, according to the city council, but the plan is for pedestrians and cyclists to use the same space, with only a shallow kerb separating people on bikes from those of us on foot.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

One cyclist, John Kerr, has already landed on his head after his front tire made contact with the kerb. “It doesn’t seem to me to have any effective purpose other than to unseat cyclists. It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he told the Evening News.

The National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK), a membership organisation that campaigns on behalf of blind and partially sighted people, took to social media last week to complain that the new layout is “not safe or accessible for blind and visually impaired people”. “Cycle lanes should not be put behind pedestrian crossings, it’s a dangerous design,” the charity stated.

Well done, city council. Coming up with a design that doesn’t work for either cyclists or pedestrians takes a special kind of genius. It’s all very well for Councillor Scott Arthur, the transport and environment convener, to tell us that the layout complies with Edinburgh’s street design guidance, but what works on paper doesn’t necessarily translate into real life.

I sympathise, up to a point, with the people in charge of our city’s roads. Edinburgh was not designed for tens of thousands of cars rumbling through its historic streets every day. Finding a sustainable solution that suits everyone, from the city’s cabbies to food delivery bikers, is tough.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But it seems to me, a humble pedestrian, that it is our needs that always come last, especially when there is a need to share space with cyclists. Many pedestrians, from parents with small children in tow to elderly folk who may be a bit deaf or unsteady on their feet, fear cyclists, and with good reason. And imagine for one minute trying to navigate Leith Walk if you are in a wheelchair.

A grown man riding a heavy mountain bike as fast as he can seems as dangerous to a pedestrian as a car driven at 20 miles per hour. And at least the car is not on the pavement.

Dedicated cyclists will offer Amsterdam or Copenhagen as examples of cities where bikes and people co-exist happily, but neither Edinburgh’s road layout nor its culture is the same as those European cities where bikes have been the preferred mode of transport for generations.

Campaign group Spokes does a great job fighting for better conditions for “everyday journeys by bike” in the Lothian area. The transport convener is an enthusiastic cyclist. But who speaks up for those of us who want to use our city’s pavements for what they were intended – walking?

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.