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SPOKES may be quoted freely, if the source is acknowledged and our address
given.
Life is just not fair. Here we highlight 3 organisations who have done much to promote cycling and sustainable transport, and who we wholeheartedly praise for many of their efforts. So why then do they put their foot in it??
The Council is a UK pioneer in promoting cycling and alternatives to the car. The Greenways, for example, have succeeded in gaining new bus passengers, and are designed to be as bike friendly as possible...
SO WHY did the Council
build in a new danger point near Orwell Terrace, where a new
cycle lane leads you directly into a new pavement build-out instead of
round it?? Especially as nearby redevelopment gave extra road width!
If you can't understand the reasoning,
write to: Cllr Mark Lazarowicz,
City Chambers, High St, EH1 1YJ.
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Spokes has praised ScotRail highly over the last 18 months, following abolition of the £3 bike-carriage fee, and greatly improved bike space on class-158 and 156 trains. Our members' survey had an astonishing 75% say ScotRail was much better than 2 years ago, and most of the rest said better - an incredible result. For the future, top requests (by far) were yet more on-train bike capacity, then better station parking [NB: that is more Railtrack than ScotRail].
With 95% total approval small
wonder our enthusiastic nomination led to a national CycleMark award
for Scot-Rail as "most improved operator in providing for cyclists".
Our nomination letter/survey can be seen on
this web site.
Anglia Rail has been top bike/rail operator
for some years, but we would now place ScotRail beside them. ScotRail ranks
even higher in that all bike spaces are free, though Anglia does better
on active promotion of bike/rail travel. As another sign of positive management,
ScotRail is top of the train punctuality league - with Anglia too near
the top.
SO WHY is ScotRail risking its CycleMark reputation by reducing bike spaces north and west of Inverness from 6 to only 2 when it replaces class 156 trains by 158s in summer 2000? The 158s are being refurbished, so could include flexible space for 6 bikes, rucksack, etc. Poor capacity will affect bike tourism potential, especially with year 2005 Sustrans NCN routes to John o'Groats and Skye [see stop press b]. ScotRail's decision is under attack from tourist interests, the Friends of the Far North Line [Keith Tyler 01431.831211], Railway Development Society [David Hansen 01383.416319], and others. If you can't understand the reasoning, and it affects you, write to: Alastair McPherson, ScotRail Director, 87 Union St, Glasgow G1 3TA.
Though less serious, the new class-170s on Edinburgh-Glasgow [the most popular route in our members' survey] could have had 4 bike spaces, like Anglia 170s, not just 2. There are many more seats per hour, but bike spaces remain 8 per hour. As has been said, "The average car can carry 4 bikes; the average train only two. Some mistake, surely??"
Stop Press notes:
a. At the latest Scottish Cycle Forum ScotRail's Dave Prescott said they "recognise and will address" north-line bike problems.
b. It has just been
announced that Sustrans's Inverness to John O'Groats
route will open in 2000! - and an excellent interim map is out, cost £8
inc post from 0117.929.0888.
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Edinburgh Chamber, representing local business, gained much credit for promoting Green Transport Plans amongst its members, the first such major private-sector initiative in Scotland. A guidebook [The Way to Work £15, 0131.477.7000 Caryll Paterson] explains the benefits of GTPs and how to set one up. Regular meetings of big local employers are held.
SO WHY did ECoC's Chief Executive Peter Stillwell ruin it by telling the Evening News "Cyclists are a small percent dominated by undergraduates. We mustn't go overboard on facilities" [EEN 26.7.99]. We're not quite sure what is the problem with undergraduates - but in any case less than 5% of Spokes members are students of any type!
Mr Stillwell should perhaps visit Groningen, 6th largest city in the Netherlands, which ripped out inner-city motorways [over 50% of journeys are now by bike] as part of "an economic programme .. boosting jobs and business". A survey in Bern found that the ratio of purchases made to parking space occupied was 7500euro/m2 for cyclists, but only 6625 for motorists [Cycling: the Way Ahead EC 1999]. A study by German Traffic Club VCD found that a shift from car to bike and public transport would bring a net gain of 200,000 jobs and saving of 125km2 parking space, much in prime business locations [CCN News May 99].
Send further useful comments/info to Mr Stillwell at: Chamber of Commerce, 152 Morrison Street EH3 8EB.
Edinburgh Council Cycle budget [see latest survey] continues a steady fall - from £330k in 96/97 to just £187k (cycling and Safe Routes to School combined) - it would be £231k but for overspend last year. £187k is just 1.7% of the transport budget - way below the council 3% target, the 5% election promise [Spokes 72], or Glasgow's 8.4%! The Council's 1999/2000 salvation is a big one-off Sustrans grant, raising total cycle/SRS expenditure per head to 155p, just over the Scottish average. Without a radical priority shift, next year's outlook is poor. Ask your councillor to raise this with Transport Convener, Cllr Lazarowicz.
West Lothian continues its all-Scotland top rating for percentage spend on cycling/SRS, but is less successful in raising outside funds. East Lothian's expenditure is poor. Midlothian is up from last year, and has put in Scotland's sole Public Transport Fund cycle-only bid, for a Sheriffhall cycle bridge - for commuting, leisure, a S.E.Wedge link, and the Sustrans Edinburgh/Newcastle national route. If successful, Midlothian will achieve a top rating next year!
Reopening work is underway on many stretches of the Union and Forth-Clyde Canals, including the M8, Wester Hailes, and towpath sections in W.Lothian. 0141 332 6936.
Edinburgh has seen few new cycle facilities since the 1998 Greenways, but big changes are due - we are assured the massive Millennium cycle project [Spokes 71] will be completed in 2000, though behind schedule now.
Best 1999 local scheme is the splendid
A89 Newbridge- Broxburn path by W.Lothian and Edinburgh
councils, pictured here at the Edinburgh-Glasgow rail viaduct.
However the A89 path continues to the
old A8 path, and shows it up as inadequate and slow - with 2 zig-zag bridge
crossings and no side-road protection. We were astonished to find that
plans for a massive Ingliston redevelopment includes rapid-transit
and road access, but nothing on cycling! If you need to cycle to
Ingliston from Edinburgh or West Lothian, insist on top quality A8 paths,
to match the A89, and without overbridge detours. Write to: John
Inman, Planning Dept, 1 Cockburn St, EH1 1ZJ. Copy to your local councillor
(W. Lothian or Edinburgh - see p1 for name/address), and ask them to investigate
on your behalf.
Edinburgh, Midlothian and W Lothian have installed advanced stop lines at new traffic lights - including at Bonnyrigg, Auchendinny and Linlithgow. Midlothian has refined its innovative cycle lanes at road narrowings, which are designed to make it obvious to motorists that they are encroaching on cycle space. The lanes have been made more obvious, with red surfaces and warning signs. Road narrowings are a difficult and widespread problem [Spokes 69], and this is a useful experiment.
West Lothian's Edinburgh/Glasgow
national route is near completion [map, p2], and an
Uphall-Kirknewton link to it has just opened [G Malcolm
01506.775296]. Midlothian is completing the Dalkeith/Penicuik
path, with Landfill Tax funds, and work by Sustrans [D Kenny
0131.271.3492].
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Various major consultations are underway. Phone as below for details, and send in comments [& copy to Spokes]
Spokes is running a Postcard competition to celebrate and publicise the Sustrans Network June 2000 opening. Entries must be submitted by end April, for a major June exhibition and celebrity prizegiving as part of RideTheNet. Blank cards will be circulated to all members and through bike shops, etc, in February. Entries can be anything fitting on one card - artwork, photo, collage, poem, mathematics, map, etc, on the theme of the Sustrans network in Edinburgh and/or Lothian. Ideas (including celebrities & prizes!) and offers of help to: Mark 229.7190 or Rosemary 553.5819.
Members of Spokes, CTC & others hope to form Edinburgh Cycle Training, to provide basic and advanced cycle training for adults and children [Chris Hill 229.0072, Cathy Scott 667.6740]. Most current school training is playground-based, and no adult training is available. At UK level, the Road Danger Reduction Forum [Ken.Spence@york.gov.uk or tel 01904.551331] is pressing the government to take cycle training more seriously, as a few councils (eg York) are already trying to do with very limited resources.
We are hoping to produce a Spokes 2000 Book, possibly like our Edinburgh for Cyclists of 1980(!), and/or maybe with map centre-pages. Anyone with ideas and/or time to help in an editorial group, contact Mark 334.2653.
Our campaign to reduce the grossly excessive 136 car park planned for the new Parliament, may be on the point of success! The main arguments are well known...
Following these new developments, Spokes wrote to Presiding Officer Sir David Steel asking for a review, aiming to satisfy Edinburgh's normal parking rules. Hints have now appeared in the press [EN 16.9.99] that things may be changing! Please write urgently to your MSP. Ask them to speak to Sir David Steel in support of adopting the normal standards. Copy the reply to Spokes.
If any of these bug you, here is where to report them...
Potholes, glass on cycleroutes, broken
lights, etc anywhere in Lothian (including Edinburgh), or Falkirk District:
Freephone Clarence 0800.232323 - a good way to report exact location is
the number on the nearest lamp-post.
Smoky commercial vehicles:
01506.445216.
Bad taxi-driving:The Inspector,
33 MurrayburnRd EH14 2TF
Drink-driving, speeding, driving
whilst disqualified, and other road crime: Freephone Crimestoppers
0800.555.111.
A new report [CPRE, LTT 9.9.99] predicts a huge surge in rural motor traffic- far above government forecasts. Whilst the research is English, many of the same trends, such as growing long-distance commuting, are true here. Similar Scottish research is urgently needed!! Why does it matter?
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