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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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Edinburgh Council 2022 & Active Travel

Rather unexpectedly, given the results of the election on 5 May, the City is now run by a minority Labour administration, replacing the previous SNP/Labour coalition. What does this mean for active travel? (AT)

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City centre traffic count: bikes up, cars down

The May 17th Spokes city-centre 2022 traffic count found bike numbers continuing their upward trend during our covid counts. Totalled over our 4 city-centre count points (northbound and southbound, Forrest Road triangle and Lothian Road) during the 8-9am peak period, total bike numbers jumped dramatically from 217 last May to 310 this year. The increase was entirely northbound (perhaps commuters returning to city centre jobs) with southbound bike numbers almost unchanged.

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Council election 2022 – Edinburgh manifestos analysis

With the main party manifestos for Edinburgh’s May 5th Council elections now published, Spokes has assessed their support for cycling, and active travel more widely, as everyday transport…

Our conclusion…

Tops – Green
Good – Labour & SNP
Medium – LibDem
Disappointing – Conservative

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#SpokesMtg: 2022 Council Hustings – Report

Our March 28 Virtual Hustings was attended by over 70 people, with almost all staying through the whole 2-hour meeting, a testament to the excellent QA in the second half of the meeting.

A full video of the meeting is here, so this article is not a blow-by-blow account of the meeting, but instead picking out some points of interest. Check out the video for the full story!

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Thurs 5 May: 2022 Council Elections

Council elections are approaching and are critical to cycling and transport policies and budgets for the next 5 years. We’ll tell you here how to make the most of the election opportunity locally. Please use our info to contact and try to influence your own candidates. Send us any useful replies you receive from them.

This article is being filled out further as the election approaches and more info, such as manifestos and hustings, becomes available.

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Achieving Traffic Reduction: #SpokesMtg report

It’s extremely tough; much tighter timelines are needed, especially on demand management; and the public must be part of decision-making on implementation – but, nonetheless, the Scottish Government 20% and Edinburgh Council 30% ambitions for car-km reduction by 2030 can and must be achieved.

This perhaps summarises the outcome of one of our meatiest and best attended public meetings ever, with over 80 attendees, most of whom stayed for the full 2 hours.

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#SpokesMtg: Traffic Reduction commitments in Scotland & Edinburgh

The Scottish Government has made a remarkable “commitment” to reducing car-kilometres by 20% over the 2019 pre-covid figures, by year 2030 – primarily as a response to the climate crisis, although with many additional side-benefits for public health and community. Edinburgh City Council has followed this up with a 30% ambition – albeit a “target” rather than a commitment.

Our online public meeting on Monday 21 February [7.30-9.30pm] brings together Scottish Government Minister Patrick Harvie MSP, responsible for active travel policies and Cllr Lesley Macinnes, the City’s Transport Convener, to explain, debate and be challenged on the route to achieving these very tough ambitions.

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CCWEL: work begins after an arduous evolution

Work has at last begun on CCWEL, the long-awaited City Centre West-East Link cycleroute, a largely protected route from Roseburn in the west, through the city centre (George Street) and onwards to Leith Walk. It will also link to the residential and university area of inner South Edinburgh via the George Street to Meadows route (MGS), with work expected to begin there next year.

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Hopes & Challenges for 2022

Stop Press 13.1.22: Traffic Reduction ‘Route Map’ published. Much as we predicted (2 & 2.2 below) – some good stuff, but without tougher Demand Management, notably Road User Charging, the 2030 traffic reduction commitment is very unlikely to be met. Consultation opens, closing 6 April 2022.

What can we expect in Edinburgh and Scotland for bike use and wider sustainable transport in the uncertain year now beginning? 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, large and small, which we expect to matter in 2022.

Continue reading Hopes & Challenges for 2022

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