Spokes

Postponed: SpokesMtg on new Edinburgh transport policy documents

Our planned Feb 24 meeting has been postponed – new date likely in May. The forthcoming public consultation is promised to contain a lot more detail on specific options than in the policy documents, and so it feels more productive to hold the public meeting once the consultation is underway.

Meanwhile you can see our initial thoughts on the policy documents, particularly the Active Travel Action Plan, and links to all the documents, here. Tweet.

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Edinburgh Cycling: what will we see in ’23?

What can we expect locally for bike use and wider sustainable transport under Edinburgh’s new minority council? What will Spokes – and you! – need to support, to oppose, to provide, to improve or to highlight in order to encourage and speed up the move towards more sustainable and healthy places to live and get about? This article outlines some topics which we expect to matter locally in 2023 and beyond.

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Scottish Budget 23/24 & Active Travel

The Scottish Budget 23/24 brings a rise of nearly £40m for active travel [AT], up from 4.3% to 5.3% of the total transport budget.

At first sight this is very encouraging, especially at a time of austerity. However in the context of the SNP/Green ‘Bute House’ agreement, and of the UK Climate Change Committee’s recent excoriating report on Scotland’s lack of progress towards its legally binding emissions targets, the level of the rise is perhaps more questionable.

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City centre traffic count: post-covid bike growth continues

The biannual Spokes traffic count, on November 8, found a further substantial rise in bike traffic, whilst private and commercial motor traffic was fairly static (pun intended!) as compared to both November 2021 and May 2022. As a result, totalled at our 4 count points, northbound and southbound on Lothian Road and Forrest Road, bikes rose to 14.5% of all vehicles, from 11.0% last November and 12.7% in May this year.

A top takeaway point is that bikes totalled 20.2% of all citybound vehicles between 8-9am at our two northbound count points, 18.5% on Lothian Road and 22.5% on Forrest Road.

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#SpokesComp 2022: Shopping by Bike

Shopping by Bike – our competition showed just how versatile it is! You can shop by bike with or without a trailer or cargobike, with or without kids, to transport small or remarkably large purchases, and at any age (within reason!) Whatever your shopping needs, our competition entries should give you endless ideas and handy hints!

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#SpokesMtg report: Cycling & Transport Policy in the new Edinburgh Council

The Climate Crisis and, within transport, the Council’s 30% car-km reduction target – Transport Convener Cllr Scott Arthur told the meeting that these are top issues for the new Council. To meet them, he said, will need big changes in parking management and bus priorities, together with a congestion charge, regional cooperation and faster implementation of active travel infrastructure. The Q&A then covered many topics, but a consistent theme was the slowness of previous councils to translate great ambition on active travel and on wider transport into action and to do so timeously – and will the new Council be different??

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#SpokesMtg, Fri 23 Sept: Cycling & Transport Policy in the new Edinburgh Council

New Transport Convener Cllr Scott Arthur will speak and answer questions at our first in-person public meeting since the covid restrictions ended.

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#SpokesComp 2022: Shopping by Bike … closes 4 Sept … don’t miss out!!

If you love nipping down to the corner shop by bike for milk or a paper, or if you’ve transported your new bed by cargo bike, or if you use your trailer as a supermarket shopping trolley – as long as it’s Shopping by Bike – send us your experiences, ideas or handy hints – and you could win a great prize plus some modest fame.

Continue reading #SpokesComp 2022: Shopping by Bike … closes 4 Sept … don’t miss out!!

A tribute to Sandy Scotland

We are very sad to hear of Sandy Scotland’s recent death, following illness. Sandy joined Spokes in the 1980s and was pivotal in our work for several decades, up to the present, being central to many projects and campaigns to achieve better conditions for getting about by bike in Edinburgh and the Lothians. He was a long-standing active member of Spokes Planning Group, eventually becoming its coordinator until stepping down in 2020.

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Zhi Min Soh & tramline safety

May 31st marked 5 years exactly since the tragic death of student Zhi Min Soh, run over by a Rabbie’s bus after falling on the tramlines at the West End. @Infrasisters marked the event with a moving tribute attended by over 100 people, at the site of Zhi Min’s ghost bike.

It was also an opportunity to summarise what the Council has done to try and mitigate tramline dangers – and what still needs doing if tramline safety is to play its part in the Council’s Vision Zero ambition.

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