Hello All, Cycling officers at the Stakeholders meetings are saying that Cllr Ross's proposal to cone off route A at Roseburn in a trial will never happen. They say it will be too complicated. We need to pressure our Councillors not to let this scheme be approved without a trial. Please remind them that if they want their party to be elected next May they need to show they are prepared to act on local concerns. I wanted to let you know that the George Street Association have taken an interest in our survey. I have visited most of the 100 or so shops, bars, cafes and restaurants there and none were aware of the Council plans to run a protected track down each side of George St. The street was left out of the “consultation” carried out last Xmas although for some reason the squares at either end were included. When the Council passed the West to East Cycle link plans in principle at the Transport Committee meeting on the 30th August, though, George Street was included. That the street’s users were never given the chance to comment on the plans, which will have a huge impact on parking and congestion, is astonishing. The George Street Association started promoting the survey on social media yesterday and drew in 50 respondents in one day. I’ve been invited to present at their traders meeting on the 10th November. We now have 330 responses and views so far indicate the Council’s cycling officers are wrong. They have told politicians that the track will get people cycling and raise the share of journeys to work being made by cycle in the corridor to 10% by 2020. But will it? Will one in ten non-cyclists start cycling into town if the Council builds this thing? Interim results from our cycle survey to date show residents think they’d be more likely to cycle if there was better access to off-road paths, fewer cycling black spots (eg crossing points at busy junctions) and more pothole-free cycle lanes which buses can use at bus stops. Many of you of course will never take to two wheels and that is an important point to make, too. If you haven’t filled in the survey yet, please do so by visiting www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/whybike Somewhat predictably, Spokes members have been piling in to try and swing the survey results their way, going by the number of additional comments demanding option A. Postcode analysis indicates they are bogus responders- they will not be using the track to get into town if their home is a long way directly north or south of the track’s route. Can I reiterate that the Cllrs are interested in the results of the survey and even if you are never likely to get on two wheels it would be good if you filled it in and said as much. If enough of us do this it will minimise the impact of these bogus “non-cyclists”. You may be interested to hear the Scotsman today reported “Task force launched after cycle routes axed” (http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/task-force-launched-after-cycle-routes-axed-1-4275533). It said Scottish Government SNP transport minister Humza Yousaf today threw down the gauntlet to Nationalist and other councillors who have scrapped existing and new segregated cycle lanes. He announced a taskforce to find out why there had been problems with such schemes, which are seen as vital to Scottish Government plans to increase cycling fourfold by 2020. Recently two protected cycle tracks were demolished: 1. SNP members on South Ayrshire Council led a successful move to rip out a segregated cycle lane in Ayr. 2. Nationalist councillors also helped to scrap an extension of the Bears Way segregated route between Milngavie and Glasgow planned by East Dunbartonshire Council. Mr Yousaf said he was “disappointed” by such moves and said the new working group would seek to remove hurdles hampering the development of more segregated lanes on roads. The Scottish Government sees these as crucial to help to meet their “vision” of 10 per cent of journeys being made by bike by 2020, compared to less than 2 per cent just now. Other news you may be interested in is that we are going to deliver paper survey forms to homes all along the route from Roseburn to Haymarket- if you want to help, that would be great- please just drop me a line. Finally, in the Evening News on Monday there was a letter “Does cycling’s Roseburn Vision need an eye test?” which is reprinted below. My reply (which I hope will be published) follows. Thanks and best wishes Pete Gregson The Roseburn Vision Group Dear Editor Dave McCraw wrote in on Monday that he thinks the Roseburn Vision needs an eye test. He rubbishes our claim that protected cycle tracks are not leading to predicted increases in cycling. I wonder if he knows that East Dunbartonshire Council has just stopped Phase 2 of the Bears Way in its tracks. One of the reasons Councillors voted it down is because they saw that in Phase 1, cyclists still use the main carriageway. Even when the Council builds a protected cycle track, cyclists don’t use it. Edinburgh Council has been told by officers that building the track from Roseburn to Leith Walk along Melville Street and George Street will raise the share of journeys to work being made by cycle in the corridor to 10% by 2020. But will it? Will one in ten jump on their bikes if the Council builds this thing? I am a cyclist and I think not. People don’t cycle in Edinburgh because of the weather and the hills and because we have an excellent bus service. A recent Scotsman report said Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee have built numerous cycle routes - both on and off road - over the past 20 years, but the numbers using them on a daily basis remain stubbornly low. Mr McGraw says data shows that segregated tracks lead to an immediate increase of at least 60% more cycle journeys. In the case of West Coates, we counted 6 cyclists an hour. A 60% increase on this would mean possibly 10 an hour. So, for the sake of 4 more cyclists an hour, the Council wants to hold up thousands of travellers in cars and buses, remove parking and loading for shops and residents alike and create even more delays on the A8, one of the most congested and polluted streets outside London. Mr McCraw lives in Currie so won’t be losing his local shops, sitting in traffic jams and and breathing more polluted air as a result of this scheme. I would argue that it is myopic vision such as his and the Council’s cycling officers that will put Council resources into the wrong places. Interim results from the 270 who have completed our cycle survey to date show residents think they’d be more likely to cycle if there was better access to off-road paths, fewer cycling black spots (eg crossing points at busy junctions) and more pothole-free cycle lanes which buses can use at bus stops. The Roseburn Vision is 20/20 on this one. The more Evening News readers fill in the survey, the more chance we have of convincing the Council to think again. To participate, visit tinyurl.com/whybike Yours sincerely, etc