'Show a bit more courage' - Campaigners call for more segregated cycle lanes in Edinburgh along arterial roads to help create 'proper network' which is safe for all

Safety calls have been sparked by a recent spate of collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists in the Capital, including two fatalities...
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Campaigners are calling on the council to “show a bit more courage” and urgently bring in segregated cycle lanes along more arterial roads in Edinburgh to create a "proper network" which makes cycling safe for everyone in the city.

Edinburgh road safety campaigner Anthony Robson says the Capital must seize the opportunity now to invest in better cycling infrastructure and strive to model other European cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen and similar sized places like Oslo where pedestrian and cyclist fatalities fell to zero last year.

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He also believes the local authority should start trialling more proposed cycle safety measures for several weeks at a time to see if they negatively impact businesses - then include the findings in public consultations to help aid decisions.

Campaigners are calling for more to be done to create a network of cycle routes across Edinburgh, to make cycling safe for everyone.Campaigners are calling for more to be done to create a network of cycle routes across Edinburgh, to make cycling safe for everyone.
Campaigners are calling for more to be done to create a network of cycle routes across Edinburgh, to make cycling safe for everyone.

David French, spokesperson for Spokes, The Lothian Cycle Campaign, says a "proper network of cycle routes" is needed which makes it "safe for anyone" to get from outlying areas like Gilmerton, where he lives, to the city centre or across to places like Fairmilehead – and he says there is a general lack of infrastructure south of Newington.

Mr French said: "A competent 12-year-old should be able to cycle into the city centre on a weekend and get back home without their parents or guardians worrying about their safety.

"Everyone knows how they would get to another point in the city if they were driving or taking the bus, but I hear so many conversations where someone asks how to get, say, from Gilmerton to Dalry, and then you need to dig out the map."

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Just Eat Cycles has seen an uptake in bike hire in Edinburgh in 2020.Just Eat Cycles has seen an uptake in bike hire in Edinburgh in 2020.
Just Eat Cycles has seen an uptake in bike hire in Edinburgh in 2020.

Recent collisions in Edinburgh

Mr Robson, who commutes nine miles from his home in Duddingston to work in Edinburgh Park, says: "Now is the most unsafe I've felt on a bike in years."

He suspects this is partly down to a perfect storm of drivers still travelling too fast after a period of quieter roads in lockdown and more traffic returning to the roads as restrictions ease.

Anthony Robson photographed this scene in Gilmore Place.Anthony Robson photographed this scene in Gilmore Place.
Anthony Robson photographed this scene in Gilmore Place.
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Mr Robson, who previously ran the online magazine CityCycling, continued: "The Edinburgh cycle network is all a bit fractured. Certain situations are absolutely fantastic but then you are spat out to a road and there's no protection on it.

"You need these direct spokes coming into the city centre as one of the problems is that the infrastructure just wiggles all over the place."

Mr Robson says more segregated cycle paths are needed in combination with stronger enforcement, to encourage those people who are thinking about cycling to actually feel safe doing it.

Cycle hire uptake

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Edinburgh's bike hire scheme, Just Eat Cycles, has seen double the amount of bike hires every month this year compared to last, with 100,000 bikes hired in 2020 up to the end of June - 80 per cent as many as the whole of 2019.

The Covid-19 lockdown and good weather are likely to have contributed to the boom, along with several streets being closed to other traffic as part of the council's temporary measures to encourage safe, active travel around the city including segregated cycle links to the two main hospitals.

Alex Macdonald, general manager of the Edinburgh Just Eat cycle hire scheme, says it's clear from their usage figures there has been more of an uptake of cycling and a "cultural step change" during the pandemic, with the council showing ambition to invest in safer cycling infrastructure to encourage a “new breed” of cyclists.

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He also stressed the scheme’s 100 hire points are positioned at spots around Edinburgh which connect to cycle paths and roads with good cycling infrastructure.

Options for change

Mr Robson believes the public desire is there for switching to bikes, noting that he saw several families cycling along the normally busy St John's Road earlier in lockdown. He feels this is one route which could be seriously looked at for segregated cycle lanes, as well as the West Approach Road because there is "plenty of space" around it - and it would then link up to the cycle path at Balgreen.

On his own commute, he has concerns about a lack of infrastructure and enforcement along Gorgie Road where he sees lots of vehicles parked in cycle lanes as people stop off for a coffee or bacon roll.

He says another problem area is around the King's Theatre which links the Meadows to the Union Canal. One example is Gilmore Place where cars often park in cycle lanes on one side, and cars parked at guest houses backing onto the pavement on the other means pedestrians often have to move onto the road, causing cyclists to swerve.

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He says: "I would ask the council to have a little bit more courage about everything they do.

"My view is that you start with pedestrians and cyclists and work from there. Make things better for people to walk and stop, and for people to cycle across the city and have better access to shops. If more people do these things and fewer people are driving then buses can get across the city quicker, then people who don’t need the car don't need to take the car, and we have less traffic."

Mr Robson recently started a Twitter campaign, 'E for enough,' encouraging people to change their profile picture to a circular logo with a red background and the letter E, in support of more action to put pedestrians and cyclists first amid growing anger and frustration over recent fatalities.

In the south of the city, Mr French also made reference to Liberton Gardens and Gilmerton Road as two examples of routes which should have segregated cycleways, along with Old Dalkeith Road which is already subject to plans for two-way cycle lanes from Cameron Toll to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

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The council has stressed plans for cycling and footpath improvements between the Meadows and Union Canal are at the design stage, including segregated two-way cycle lanes on Home Street, a ban on 'through traffic' on Tarvit Street except for cycles and deliveries and contraflow cycling on Valleyfield Street.

Other key projects in the pipeline include the City Centre West to East Link, which aims to link the Roseburn Path to Leith Walk via the city centre and would be separate from traffic and take in key routes like West Coates and Melville Street and link to Haymarket train station.

The West Edinburgh Link is another scheme being considered which would connect South Gyle and Edinburgh Park with surrounding communities to the north and south – such as East Craigs and Sighthill – within a cycle distance of about 1.5km.

‘We share the desire to improve’

Green transport spokesperson Claire Miller said: “The tragedies of the last two weeks have brought home how urgent is the need to make the city safer for people walking, wheeling and cycling.

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"I’ve been hearing from people who are fed up with patiently and politely asking for basic road safety measures to be implemented, and who want to ensure that nobody else dies on our roads because of a lack of safe, segregated cycling infrastructure or a failure of our citizens to obey the rules of the road.

"I understand the anger of everyone who says that they are fed up hearing warm words and future promises. There must be urgent prioritisation of wider footways, segregated cycleways, and slower and safer driving from everyone who needs to get around the city in a vehicle. Let’s make these the very last road traffic deaths that we mourn.”

Transport and Environment convener, councillor Lesley Macinnes, said: “We share the desire to improve and build upon our existing cycling infrastructure, and we’re still committed to delivering a range of projects that will expand the city’s network of cycling routes. Today at Policy and Sustainability Committee we’ll be discussing the next steps for the Cameron Toll to Edinburgh BioQuarter Active Travel Route, which will include a bi-directional segregated cycle lane on Old Dalkeith Road. This will add to several ambitious, forthcoming schemes to provide protected cycleways such as the City Centre West to East Cycle Link, West Edinburgh Link and Meadows to Union Canal.

“Of course we want to make our roads safer for everyone as quickly as possible, particularly for people following physical distancing guidance, and emergency measures as part of our Spaces for People programme are helping to achieve that. Importantly, interventions like pop-up cycle lanes, widened pavements and temporary road closures give people more space to walk, cycle and wheel but they are also helping us to assess how these changes work and impact on communities, businesses and residents as we consider longer-term changes for the city.”

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