Since 2006 Spokes has been counting cyclists and other vehicles during the morning rush hour, in May and in November, on Lothian Road and at Forrest Road [very occasionally also on other routes or other types of survey]. All the data, together with a file of trends, is downloadable below.
What our counts tell you
- Numbers of cyclists, private cars and ‘commercial’ vehicles (van, bus, taxi, etc) in both directions on 2 important roads into the city centre during morning rush hour, in May and November each year
- Trends in the above over the years
What our counts don’t tell you
- Total numbers of cyclists (or other vehicles) entering the city centre
- Changes over the years as between different approaches to the city centre (e.g. are there more cyclists from X direction but no change from Y direction)
Other data sources
- The Council does regular ‘cordon counts’ of all traffic entering the city centre [CEPATS], whichcould help answer the above questions – and the counts include some major path locations such as Middle Meadow Walk centre junction. They have promised for years that the data will be on the web, publicly accessible, but this has not yet happened – although some count data can be found in the excellent Streets Ahead Cycle Incident Analysis Report 2004-2010.
Public bike counter, Malmo, Sweden
- There is also government cycle-use data for A-roads – however note that sample sizes are small at council level, so big fluctuations are expected; and ofcourse A-roads are not representative of everyday bike trips on the ordinary local road and path networks. Nonetheless the data ties in with our results of rising bike use and slowly declining car use over the last few years
- Sustrans has over 1000 automatic counters on offroad paths in the UK, including several in Edinburgh area. Sustrans publishes national annual reports [e.g. The Real Cycling Revolution, 2012 (pdf 2.3MB). News release] based on data from the counters and other research methods. Data from local counters should be available from council cycling officers, who receive it from Sustrans.
- For years Spokes has been pressing Edinburgh Council for a European-style Public Bike Counter [picture], ideally on Middle Meadow Walk – for its promotional value as much as for the actual data! It may at long last happen in 2013-14, as part of a wider counter project in several parts of Scotland, coordinated by Sustrans.
Data from Spokes main cycle and traffic counts
Note – if the Excel files below do not open directly, save them to your PC and try opening them from there.
Trends in Spokes traffic counts November 2006 to the present [xls 41k]
1305 Traffic count – full data [xls 37k] Worse weather than last May, but highest ever no. of bikes (just). Huge car rise at Forrest Road (up 33%) though overall car count total still less than in our 2007/2008 counts. Probable car transfer from Bridges & Lothian Rd to Mound, which is now reopened to all traffic (also more car restriction at foot of Lothian Rd, as access now closed to QF St). Bikes up slightly in Lothian Rd, but almost static in Forrest Rd. No obvious gain from QBiC, though it may have helped maintain bike numbers given the deterrent effect of the huge Forrest Rd car increase.
1304 Mini-count Princes St / George St [pdf 50k] A special one-off count to use in our campaign to counter the council’s proposed Princes Street bike ban.
1211 Traffic count – full data [xls 37k] Despite drizzly weather, highest ever 8-9am number and % of bikes, just higher even than the May count. Significant rise on new Quality Bike Corridor northbound. Overall northbound rise but southbound fall. Cars almost lowest ever November figure, but southbound car transfer from Lothian Rd to Forrest Rd (presumably due to Mound reopened).
1205 Traffic count – full data [xls 37k] Highest ever total and % of bikes, cars almost lowest ever May level, but taxi/bus/commercial if anything rising.
111115 Traffic Count – full data [xls 36k] Big jump in bike use – total bikes higher than any previous count including May counts! Bikes 8-9am up 12% on Nov 2010 and 15% on Nov 2009. Cars at lowest ever November level, though drop partly due to Mound closure (as in Nov ’08 & ’09). Bikes now form 20% of all northbound 8-9am vehicles at our counting points. The Bike Station also did counts today – and found similar big rises in bike use.
110517 Traffic Count – full data [xls 36k] Comparison with May 2010 unreliable because Queensferry St shut for gas main work, with traffic diverting via Haymarket (& Forrest Rd)? Lothian Rd – big fall in motor traffic, lesser fall in bikes. Forrest Rd – cars up, bikes same as last year. Overall, bikes comprise 19.7% of 8-9am citybound vehicles, whilst 77% of citybound cars have only one occupant.
101116 Traffic Count – full data [xls 44k] Increased bike traffic for the 5th successive November. But, exactly as in May, whilst bike traffic rises at 3 count points, it falls in Forrest Rd heading towards Princes St – have the tramlines deterred some? Unlike May, private motor traffic rose substantially (but only significantly at the above location), resulting in a slight fall in bikes as a % of all traffic. On Nov 16 there was also a count at Fiveways Junction [pdf 135k], by the Bike Station.
100511 Traffic Count – full data [xls 20k] Increased overall bike traffic for the fourth May - very small increase this time, but against a background of continuing fall in cars, so the % of bikes continues to rise. Fall in Forrest Rd bike traffic towards Princes St – have the tramlines there deterred some? See May 11 news item for more comment.
091117 Traffic Count – full data [xls 20k] Increased bike traffic for the fourth November – very small increase this time, but against a background of continuing fall in cars, so the % of bikes continues to rise. Highest ever November bike % on any road, 23.9% northbound on Forrest Rd, but fall in bikes on Lothian Rd.
090512 Traffic Count – full data [xls 20k] (1) Continuing consistent high bike use, plus rise in numbers since last May at every point, though % fall in Lothian Rd due to more cars (2) Overall drop in motor traffic, with big Forrest Rd southbound car reduction (due to Mound closure?) but big rise on Lothian Rd (less traffic restrictions now at West End).
081118 Traffic Count – full data [xls 20k] (1) Continuing consistent high bike use, with overall rise since last Nov (2) Big Forrest Rd southbound car reduction (due to Mound closure?) along with rise in bikes and in car sharing.
080506 Traffic Count – full data [xls 21k] Continuing consistent high bike use, around 20% of all vehicles citybound 8-9am. Also counted single occupancy cars – around 75% of all cars!!
0712 Middle Meadow Walk cyclist questionnaire survey. Cyclists were stopped and asked if they would answer a few questions. MMW questionnaire [doc 18k] MMW Raw data [xls 28k] MMW Results graphs [doc 400k]
071120 Traffic Count – full data [xls 27k]
070515 Traffic Count – full data [xls 17K]
070515 Traffic Count – Press Release [rtf 24k]
061128 Traffic Count – full data [xls 75K]
061128 Traffic Count -Press Release [rtf 13k]