Edinburgh's 'car wars' - your views online

Edinburgh transport convener Lesley Macinnes denies she is waging a 'war on car'

Gary McLean

The transport committee have forced their views on the residents of Edinburgh over a number of years making the city more congested with vehicles and raising emission levels higher than ever before. I agree that the levels of traffic in Edinburgh are high and we need to tackle the issue, however by railroading this through and forcing a congestion zone on the city, expanding parking zones and raising parking charges to ridiculously high levels, they are punishing the people they work on behalf of. Not everyone works regular hours and can take buses to and from work. There is also a safety aspect.

Elizabeth Summerfield

"But Cllr Macinnes said the council, under a previous administration, had committed to a ‘transport hierarchy’ that put pedestrians and wheelchair-users top of the priorities, followed by cyclists, then public transport, then freight and then the private car." Surely public transport should be prioritised above cyclists? After all, if the buses can't get through, you're inconveniencing literally hundreds of people on each route. And, given Edinburgh's topography and climate, what percentage of those citizens who are actually fit enough to cycle would be willing to commute regularly to work and arrive drookit and sweating, needing to shower and change before they start work?

Steven Robertson

Yet, they continue to build houses and housing estates where the only option to get around them is to use cars.

Diarmid Martin

I hope at the next local elections this administration is out and one with a more balanced view is in.

John Mcnicoll

She always remarks that they are following examples from the rest of Europe. But the council forgets that Edinburgh is the 11th least polluted city in the world. All examples they quote, apart from Zurich, are much lower on the list than Edinburgh and some don’t even make the top 25 least polluted. Why aspire to be like a city that’s higher on the list than Edinburgh. If cycling is so great why are these cities she quotes not on the list?

John Gillan

Goodness, what would she be like if she did “wage war on car”?

Smith C Karen

Hits out! Maybe try being honest and taking responsibility for her unscrupulous decisions. Her indiscriminate wasting of public money and shamless patronising of the people of Edinburgh will not be easily brushed aside by attempting to tell us she is not anti car/driver.

Tony Ward

Surely ignoring the views of the vast majority of council tax-paying residents who want these ‘temporary’ bollards removed is clearly undemocratic?

Steven Oliver

Edinburgh has been waging war on cars ever since the mid-1990s. I don't know what planet Lesley Macinnes lives on, but it surely isn't this one.

Claire A A Eadie

What Edinburgh currently has is crumbling, pot holes galore, wobbly cobbles/flagstones and weeds growing through the cracks of the botched slurry tarring they did to pavements. This isn’t safe for pedestrians, cyclists or road users. Why isn't the money being spent on making safe existing problems and issues instead of changing and titivating? In time the new projects too will fall into disrepair, why not make the status quo right?

Kevin Wright

Of course she is hitting out at motorists. The Spaces for People and cyclists are ridiculous and cause huge problems on the roads. And with Waverley bridge closing and more going down the Mound, buses struggle to pass each other on the bends due to the cycle lane.

Julie Starr

I wonder if the council staff car park in East Market Street will go and they will all be forced to lead by example and cycle or bus it…..answers on a postcard!

Wendy Bell

How can she say wheelchair users are top of her list as she never seems to consider disabled people?

Jeff Little

My dad isn't a car driver and never has been. I also cycled the city many years myself prior to the so- called cycle lanes we now have and the conclusion from both of us is . . . yup, they’re trying to put cars out of the city.

Michael Burns

Edinburgh is shut to motorists, thanks to this woman and her like. Just wait until Monday when the North Bridge is closed northbound for nine months, the city will face carnage on the roads. Get them voted out in May.