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"Everybody has to acknowledge that you cannot drive everywhere all the time” – Edinburgh plots shift away from private cars in city centre

City says it will invest in walking and cycling infrastructure

Edinburgh is planning a series of new driving restrictions in the city centre in a bid to create more space for people travelling on foot and by bike.

The council is taking a fundamental look at how the city centre works in terms of transport and is due to launch an official consultation process on a “Central Edinburgh Transformation” initiative next month.

Council leader Adam McVey told The Scotsman that having fewer private cars in the city centre would be a key aspect.

“You can’t drive where you want in other cities and they are all the better for it. They have better spaces and better public realm. We’re not aiming to eradicate private cars – that would be ridiculous. Everybody has to acknowledge that you cannot drive everywhere all the time.”

An official report for councillors says that the way the city currently caters for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users is unsatisfactory.

“As a compact, walkable city, Edinburgh’s public realm does not always provide the best pedestrian experience,” it says. “Congested historic streets, narrow footways, increased footfall, street clutter, the variable quality of materials and long wait times at crossings, frustrate safe and convenient movement.

“Edinburgh has an active and growing cycling culture with more people benefitting from this healthy, accessible and pollution-free way to get around. However, cyclists must negotiate conflicts with cars, public transport and pedestrians.

“The public transport system is the envy of many other cities, yet its high patronage results in several thousand bus movements per day on Princes Street and crowded bus stops across the city.”

McVey said the plans to tackle these issues could mean “quite a lot of change.”

“Other cities around the world have managed increasing numbers, which is driven either by population or tourism, they have looked to maximise space by diversifying transport uses.

“I would expect us to look at having less private cars and better public transport. We need to make sure people can still access the city centre, but in a way that maximises the space. We can’t increase the size of the city centre.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The successful co-existence of people who live, work and play in the city centre, spread across an extraordinary topography and urban form, is what makes Edinburgh the special place it is and what gives it its World Heritage Site status. But for all of Edinburgh’s outstanding qualities, some streets and spaces of the city centre remain congested and cluttered.

“Edinburgh is also a growing city. It is expanding faster than any other UK city and by 2040 will have a population of 600,000. A growing city needs a city centre that works for everyone across all its functions. To pull this together we will prepare a plan that sets out a clear ambition for the city centre in the context of the wider city evolution.

“We want to reduce congestion in the city centre and believe the key to doing this is improving the efficiency of public transport and investing in walking and cycling infrastructure.

“Making it easier to walk or cycle through high quality infrastructure as well as communicating the impact and benefit of high quality public realm on people’s health and well-being, are key components of creating a change in behaviour and a shift away from private cars.

“The process of evidence-gathering and consultation data will allow for idea generation and scenario testing. However, we are not at this stage of the process yet. We will continue to work closely with Lothian Buses and other bus operators on the project at every stage to test scenarios and develop solutions that fulfil the project aims and objectives.”

An ongoing consultation on safety measures for cyclists around Edinburgh’s tram tracks closes on April 11. Measures proposed include early release traffic signals and various options for changes to road layouts.

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WillRod | 5 years ago
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Cambridge is also a compact city, much flatter for cyclists, has dozens of good cycle lanes and yet full of cars. Parking costs are expensive, but the park and ride is also expensive, so it’s just as cheap to drive in.

Due to job needs, I have to have a car, and be near it in case of a call-out,  it cycling or walking would save me so much time, mostly due to the traffic! I can walk from the edge of the city to the centre in 45 minutes and cycling would take about 15minutes. Compare that to nearly 40 minutes when football matches are on, and 12-15mins at normal times and it’s a no-brainer!

Avatar
Man of Lard | 5 years ago
2 likes

It's also the same council that has spurned an golden opportunity to almost eradicate private motor traffic traversing the city centre (close Leith Street to cars) and shove in a huge gyratory in Picardy Place creating a public space effectively in the middle of a roundabout... Whilst simultaneously making it less attractive for pedestrians & cyclists...

Words : grade A
Deeds: grade F

Avatar
brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes

Quote:

We’re not aiming to eradicate private cars – that would be ridiculous. (but) Everybody has to acknowledge that you cannot drive everywhere all the time.

This.  Most sensible comment I've read from a council in a long time.

Avatar
crazy-legs replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

Quote:

We’re not aiming to eradicate private cars – that would be ridiculous. (but) Everybody has to acknowledge that you cannot drive everywhere all the time.

This.  Most sensible comment I've read from a council in a long time.

Sadly it's the same council that managed to turn a single tram line into possibly the most expensive bit of public transport in history. £776 million for a 14km line that took EIGHT YEARS to build!

Maybe they've managed to learn a few lessoons from that epic display of incompetence...

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

What they have to remember is that some of us might travel quite a distance to get there, once there leave the car and walk around. 4 hour parking limits promotes extra, unnecessary journeys and fining people who have paid for parking is just poor and a waste. Hiding or closing car parks just adds to unnecessary journeys too as does poor/non-existent signage to said car parks!

I do more business in Glasgow anyway...

Avatar
brakesmadly | 5 years ago
5 likes

Can't wait til the Bristol Post picks up on this story.

Cue the mouth breather fist typing as they rage about their 'right' to drive wherever whenever they like being taken away (when in reality it's already been taken away due to the number of others who all have the same 'right'.)

Avatar
Canyon48 replied to brakesmadly | 5 years ago
1 like

mbrads72 wrote:

Can't wait til the Bristol Post picks up on this story.

Cue the mouth breather fist typing as they rage about their 'right' to drive wherever whenever they like being taken away (when in reality it's already been taken away due to the number of others who all have the same 'right'.)

Something similar has already been reported over on BP.

The Broadmead development is considering becoming fully pedestrianised, with a cover, similar to Cabot Circus. It'll be much nicer when pedestrians and cyclists are given priority in city centres, they'll be much more pleasant places!

Avatar
brooksby replied to Canyon48 | 5 years ago
0 likes

Canyon48 wrote:

mbrads72 wrote:

Can't wait til the Bristol Post picks up on this story.

Cue the mouth breather fist typing as they rage about their 'right' to drive wherever whenever they like being taken away (when in reality it's already been taken away due to the number of others who all have the same 'right'.)

Something similar has already been reported over on BP.

The Broadmead development is considering becoming fully pedestrianised, with a cover, similar to Cabot Circus. It'll be much nicer when pedestrians and cyclists are given priority in city centres, they'll be much more pleasant places!

At the moment, 'old Broadmead' is public land and is shared use.  However, when they fully pedestrianise Broadmead, they're proposing to hand ownership over to the Bristol Alliance (who own Cabot Circus and Quakers Friars).  So, from that point on the same rules will apply as currently apply in Quakers Friars (no cycling, no skateboarding, etc).  They're already starting to get rid of the benches - a person sitting down isn't in the shops spending money!!

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John Smith replied to brakesmadly | 5 years ago
0 likes

The biggest problem with these projects though is not providing a real alternative or has some very poorly thought through solution.

Take Oxford, where I live (well, I live about 15 miles from Oxford because I can't afford to live there). They want people to stop driving in to the city, which is fine. It has park and rides, cycle lanes and bie parking in town. In theory all good. in practice:

The park and rides are all right on the edge of the ring road, or inside it, so by the time you have got to them you are half way through th traffic.

The charge £2 per day to park and £2.50 for the bus. It may not see much, but £4.50 buys you a good chunk of parking in the city.

You can't take a roof mounted bike in to the P&R so can't park and cycle. Bars to stop lorrys getting in to the car park see to that.

The cycle lanes are a joke. No segragated lanes, and often lanes that are smaller than the width of handle bars. Many of them are on pavements which are full of pot holes, drop kerbs, crossing roads and pedestrians.

Bus lanes are not much better. Most bus drivers are fine, but taxi drivers are a pain.

mbrads72 wrote:

Can't wait til the Bristol Post picks up on this story.

Cue the mouth breather fist typing as they rage about their 'right' to drive wherever whenever they like being taken away (when in reality it's already been taken away due to the number of others who all have the same 'right'.)

 

Bristol Post? What makes you think any other local paper is any better?  3

Avatar
dreamy | 5 years ago
3 likes

All very positive.

Looking forward to pedal on parliament. mark beaumont is going to be there smiley

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