Tag: active travel

Hasta la Vista, Union St

by gavnhev, posted in campaign

The debate over whether Union St should be pedestrianised or not has rumbled on for decades so it’s not surprising that it continues to be a bone of contention.  The Covid-related ‘Spaces for People’ measures saw the central section, from Bridge St to Market St, closed to traffic and the Council seemed keen to keep that in place.  We’d taken part in various discussions with designers working on behalf of the Council who were coming up with ‘streetscape’ designs for how it could look. We’d even got as far as discussing some of the finer details as to how, for example, cycle lanes could be routed around bus stops.

But then back in May we had a local government election resulting in a new Administration: out went the old Lab-Con alliance and in came a new SNP-LibDem one instead.  Soon followed a decision to re-admit buses to the closed central section of Union St, and suddenly all the streetscape designs were back to square one, and astonishingly the new designs had no cycle lane infrastructure at all.

The Council ran a short consultation in October seeking public views on the new designs, and by far the greatest number of comments fed back were in relation to the lack of active travel provision.  There were two worrying trends:  firstly, a false narrative that because buses were back on Union St, there wasn’t room for a proper segregated cycle lane.  Secondly, because they were designing-out a cycle lane for the central section, it seemed to follow that they thought they didn’t need one on the east and west sections of Union St either.  Despite the consultation responses, the recommendations put before Councillors for a decision on 14 December were to approve these new designs which would effectively leave cyclists mixing with buses on the central section, and mixing with all traffic on the remainder.

Whatever had happened to the City Centre Masterplan, passed unanimously by Council in 2015, and which promised to deliver “a cycling city”.  What about the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy, enshrined in national and local transport policy, which is very clear that designs should cater for pedestrians first, and then cyclists, before considering public transport and other vehicles?

In the run up to the Council meeting we’d run a campaign to bombard co-leader of the Council Ian Yuill with postcards highlighting the need for proper segregated cycle lanes on Union St.  We’d also managed to meet with Cllrs Yuill and Miranda Radley, from the respective parties forming the administration, and also Cllr Kate Blake to make our point. 

At the Council meeting itself, both Rachel Martin on behalf of ACF, and Jon Barron on behalf of Grampian Cycle Partnership had requested a ‘deputation’ in other words the opportunity to speak to the meeting.  Both did an excellent job of putting the case for segregated cycle lanes and highlighting just how much at odds the recommendations before Councillors were with current policies and the desire to create an active travel network in the city.

In her presentation, Rachel described cycling amongst buses on Union St currently as being reminiscent of a scene from The Terminator.   The press picked up on that and had great fun with the analogy in items which appeared in the P&J and Evening Express in the following days.

Segregated cycle lanes for Union Street to be considered (pressandjournal.co.uk)

Truck-chase scene from Terminator 2

The decisions taken at the meeting now mean that central Union St will remain much as it is at the moment in terms of traffic access and so bikes will still have to mix with buses and service vehicles.  However speed limits for buses (similar to Broad St) will be looked at again.  And in a critical change from what had been recommended, officers have now been instructed that designs being developed for east and west Union St, and some other city centre streets being redeveloped, should include options for segregated cycle lane infrastructure.  It will be several months before we see those designs, so this isn’t the end of the discussion and no doubt there will be more battles along the way to ensure that cycling is properly provided for.  We’ve also taken the novel step of submitting a formal “participation request” under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, to try and improve the process and ensure that cyclists’ voices are listened to.

Our thanks to Rachel and Jon who put their arguments so eloquently, and to those Councillors who listened and voted to amend the plans.

Spotlight on a cyclist: Laurie Rominger

by Rachel M, posted in spotlight
  1. What is your name, where are you from and how long have you been in Aberdeen (if not local)?

Hello! I’m Laurie, and Aberdeen has been my home since 2016. I’m originally from a rural area outside of a small town in the US. To say it was a car dependent place would be an understatement. We didn’t even consider it possible to go out the front door for a jog. We didn’t have public buses. The private car was our interface necessary for living life.

  1. How did you get into cycling?

Going to university was my first time cycling in a city, and I was immediately hooked. My university was covered in safe streets, effective traffic calming measures, pedestrian areas, bike paths, and green spaces.

Leaving campus, things got a bit less cycle-friendly. Actually, it’s still a running joke between my friends about the time we were once away from campus and I realised a bike lane ended and I screamed “WHERE’S THE BIKE LANE GONE?!”

American university campuses are a work of perfection. I once overheard a uni student telling her friend how happy she was walking and using the bus, but that she was away to buy a car because she would need it when she had a job. We get four years living in a beautiful place, being active, bumping into friends in our shared (walkable and accessible) outdoor spaces, then the rest of your life in a car.

  1. What kind of cycling do you do?

Aberdeen is the perfect size for cycling. I can get to a lot of places in 5 minutes, and anywhere else in 15, so that’s most of the cycling I do. I find so much joy in the simple act of cycling somewhere I need to go. I’ve never found excitement in opening my car door and sitting down to drive. So I consider myself pretty lucky to get to live in a city where I can quickly get anywhere on a bike.

  1. What type of cycle do you use?

I used a Halfords bike (shout out to all the Apollo Virtue users out there!) for over five years. It gave me loads of new opportunities, for both work and leisure. Taking jobs in different locations, seeing all of the parks, new communities, exploring the Deeside. That bike opened up my world.

Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, and that’s particularly  true of a cheap Halfords bike. After I got my permanent residency last year, I bought myself a present – a proper commuter bicycle. I used to walk, car share, and take the bus all the time, but since I’ve had a reliable bike, I just don’t have interest in those other things anymore. Not that they’re not great options!! I just can’t tear myself off of my bike.

  1. Where do you cycle usually/any favourite routes? How often?

I dawdle up and down King Street several times a week. I love that it’s quite flat, super direct, and always filled with loads of people walking and cycling. And at least there’s a bike lane. #stopparkinginthebikelane

  1. What would you like to see to improve your cycling experience?

Ok, hear me out. Bus/cycle lanes help keep traffic away from cyclists. Presumably, the highest volume of car traffic happens at peak hours, so in non-peak hours the need for cars to have two lanes of travel in one direction is not significant. It doesn’t seem to me like there are many advantages of giving drivers two lanes in off-peak hours. If we had a city-wide ban on cars in bus lanes 24/7, we could potentially make cyclists safer. 

It’s a small, easy fix, but at a deeper level, it would be nice if we could question the default that cars get as much space as we can possibly afford to them.

  1. Any top tips for someone considering cycling in the area?

Cycle with a friend! Find someone with a bike and cycle to the supermarket together. Cycle to Duthie park together and race each other down the slides. Cycle to the beach then jump in the water. (Ok, I might pass on that last one!)

That’s what I wish I could have had when I first started cycling in Aberdeen. There are lots of friendly cyclists here, but when you’re surrounded by cars, it can feel quite lonely out there. 

By the way, if you don’t already have friends keen to cycle with you, you can come find some new ones at Aberdeen’s critical mass bike ride on the last Friday of the month!

Photo of rally in Aberdeen

COP 26 rally, Aberdeen

by Rachel M, posted in campaign, event

On Saturday 23 October a few ACF members gathered at the pre-COP26 rally in Aberdeen, where ACF Chair Gavin was amongst the speakers.  His message on active travel and the lack of proper infrastructure in Aberdeen was heartfelt and is the same sort of thing ACF has been saying for most of its 18 year history.  You can read what Gavin had to say below.  It seemed to go down well with the hardy audience who braved a chilly couple of hours on Broad St. 

But we never forget that we are often preaching to the converted:  although an MP and MSP were included in the list of speakers, with their own climate change messages, any elected members from Aberdeen City Council were notable by their absence – either among the speakers or even in the crowd (apologies if any were there that I didn’t spot).  

Most of the things that could be done quickly and relatively easily to improve active travel in Aberdeen are within the powers of the City Council.  Are Councillors even listening?  From where we are, it doesn’t feel like it.

ACF presentation at COP-26 rally, Broad St Aberdeen, 23 October 2021

Providing a means of low carbon mass transport is one of the big challenges facing us: private cars contribute about 15% of our emissions – that’s more than domestic heating and way more than aviation. Cars have their uses and many of us enjoy the convenience they offer. Yet cars are hopelessly inefficient in congested cities, and make no sense for many short journeys.

Unfortunately over the last 100 years we – as a nation – have been obsessed with cars. As a result we have a road system and even our city centre designed around the motor car with pedestrians and cyclists in second or third place.

What if someone invented a form of transport that was cheap, low impact, zero-emission, and helped to keep us fit at the same time? Well, they did, they invented it 200 years ago, and it’s called a bicycle…

The humble bicycle is a machine that can fight climate change …

But having to share the road with motorised traffic can make Aberdeen a pretty unpleasant place to ride a bike, and as a result cycling as an everyday form of transport has become a minority choice.

It doesn’t have to be like that. In continental Europe and increasingly in many British cities too, cycling is becoming a part of mainstream everyday transport. In Copenhagen roughly 50% of people get around by bike everyday. In Aberdeen, it’s one or 2%.

It isn’t rocket science, but it does need investment in a network of safe, segregated cycle paths where anyone and everyone can travel around safely. But we haven’t even got to the question of how to pay for it, because it seems in Aberdeen we don’t have politicians with enough imagination to even conceive what a city centre with a network of safe active travel routes would even look like. We had a segregated cycle path installed along the beach esplanade last year and it lasted barely two months before Councillors decided to rip it out again. A decision not informed by facts; no consultation, no statistics.

We had a small network of cycle paths proposed in the City Centre Masterplan which Councillors unanimously voted for in 2015. Six years later how much of that has been built? Unless you count this street we’re standing on, the answer is pretty much none of it.

Arguably the real reason we don’t have proper segregated cycle paths isn’t the lack of funding, it’s because our cities are tight for space so something’s got to give: what needs to be done is to reallocate road space away from cars, and that where it gets difficult because – guess what – nobody with a car wants to give up the convenience they currently have, and they’ll get really upset if you try to take away their on-street parking to make space for a proper bike lane.

It can be done with the political will. Glasgow has just announced a plan to build a network of 270km of cycle paths by the end of the decade. Imagine – almost all of that city reachable by bike within 30 minutes, no school more than 400m from a proper segregated bike path, and no house more than 800m. Edinburgh will build 85km within the next 5 years.

Aberdeen is of course a much smaller city – we don’t need anything like 270km – but we are starting from a low base. How many proper segregated bike paths do we have at the moment, well none really. And yet Aberdeen City Council is instead still working on plans to build new dual carriageway capacity to bring yet more traffic into the city. It’s hard to comprehend, and it certainly doesn’t reflect the climate emergency. Of course we get the usual excuses and wishful thinking: everything will be fine once all our cars are electric. Well, no it won’t. Just like we were told all Aberdeen’s transport problems were going to be solved by the AWPR. How did that go? If you build more roads, you get more cars. It’s called induced demand. Of course the same applies to cycling: if you build proper bike lanes, many more people will use them.

Our transport system would be so much better if people were given the realistic choice of cycling. Imagine how much better our city centre would be if we could emulate Copenhagen and take half of motorised traffic off the streets. And not just better for cyclists – better for everyone: less noise, less time-wasting congestion, less air pollution, better health for us and our children. Higher levels of walking and cycling could save the NHS £17 billion over 20 years.

Our Council’s best effort so far on encouraging cycling is to bring us a universal bike hire scheme, maybe sometime next year. What they don’t seem to recognise is that the single biggest reason more people don’t ride a bike isn’t lack of access to a bike, it’s because they don’t feel safe on the roads. By all means give us a fancy London-style bike hire scheme, but first please give us places to ride them safely.

Aberdeen Cycle Forum has been campaigning for better cycle facilities for almost 20 years, and you’d have to say we have so far failed to bring about meaningful change. The levers of power still lie with our elected representatives, and it feels like they aren’t listening. We need them to wake up to climate change, wake up to air pollution and wake up to the fact that there are alternatives to a car-dominated transport system.

Gavin Clark
Chair, Aberdeen Cycle Forum

On elite vs everyday cycling & approaching deadline for the ‘Make Aberdeen Accessible’ campaign

by Nico S, posted in campaign

The Tour of Britain will be coming to Aberdeen this Sunday. We are glad to see bigger events being allowed to happen again, and for the Tour to highlight the beauty of the North East of Scotland. We are sure the general public will share this feeling and a lot of our members will also be out and about to have a peek at the race.

In fact, there is no denying that plenty of Aberdeen Cycle Forum members see and enjoy cycling as a sport only; but many others see, or would like to see, cycling promoted as an everyday activity and a valid mode of transport. We believe that cycling should be accessible to everyone and not just to elite athletes. 

The beach esplanade recently got a new layer of tarmac as part of the preparations for the Tour and the lack of potholes will benefit all road users. However, much more work is required elsewhere in the city for Aberdeen to become a place where cycling is for everyone; the focus should be on high-quality, permanent cycling-specific infrastructure. 

The little infrastructure we currently have would also be much better utilised if it were designed properly. To address this latter point and identify existing infrastructure barriers to cycling, earlier this summer we launched the ‘Make Aberdeen Accessible’ campaign. We’ve had lots of submissions (see the map below), which we are going to report to the relevant parties while suggesting how they could be addressed. There are still a few days left to submit more entries, with the deadline for the campaign set for Monday 13 September.

Both the lack of robust cycling infrastructure and the poor design of existing cycling infrastructure could be addressed thanks to the recently announced Scottish Government plans to dedicate 10% of the total transport budget to active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) by 2024-25, up from the current 3.5% share.

If you have experienced issues with barriers to active travel such as locked gates, chicanes, bollards and missing dropped kerbs, please let us know by submitting entries at this link. Or if you’d prefer to email us then you can get in touch at info@aberdeencycleforum.org.uk.

Make Aberdeen Accessible

by Rachel M, posted in Uncategorized

We’ve received lots of photos of unaccessible infrastructure in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to our Make Aberdeen Accessible campaign. Here are a couple of examples.

Barriers like these make active travel difficult and in many cases completely exclude wheelchair users and people with non-standard bicycles like trikes and cargo bikes. Thanks for all the submissions so far and please keep it up! The more examples we get the more we can take to the local authority to demand action.

Duthie Park – A cycle audit

by gavnhev, posted in campaign

Last year when we started up our programme of lessons for beginners, Duthie Park was the obvious place to go because there is lots of space and plenty of wide, well-surfaced and mostly flat paths.  The park is generally a great place to cycle, especially for kids, learners or just less confident cyclists who want to stay away from traffic. But could it be better?  There is hardly any cycle parking, and the layout of the access points is far from ideal.

We’ve produced a cycle audit which hopefully captures what is good but also what could be improved.  This is our second attempt at an ‘audit’ of this sort.  The first one looked at the new cycle path on Tillydrone Avenue and the Diamond bridge and you can read it – Third Don Crossing – Cyclists’ perspective.  We don’t claim to be engineers or design professionals – we’re just pointing out things that are obvious to a cyclist but maybe not to everyone else.

Maybe you know somewhere that would benefit from a cycle audit?  Send us your ideas, or even better, do your own one!

Frustration with council plans to remove beach cycle path

by Rachel M, posted in campaign

The Aberdeen Cycle Forum is dismayed to see the city council is planning to remove the cycle lanes at the beach. The segregated cycle path was installed less than two months ago using money from the Sustrans Spaces of People fund as a way to allow for social distancing during this pandemic.

The beach path was the very first of its kind in the city and provided hope for cyclists that this would be the start of a connected network of paths. Aberdeen city currently accommodates cyclists poorly and the environment on the roads can feel hostile and dangerous. This presents a barrier to people and discourages them from cycling.

You don’t have to be a cyclist yourself to benefit from cycling infrastructure. People who replace trips by car with trips be bike lower the carbon footprint of the community, reduce expenses for the NHS, and lower air pollution in the city. This benefits the entire community.

If you’re as disappointed as we are by the council’s decision then please write to your local councillor. You can find emails at the links below:

You can find your local councillor at this link: your councillor
Email the transport spokesperson: Councillor Sandra Macdonald
Email the transport strategy team: transport strategy

We recommend emailing all three. If you live in Aberdeenshire then just use the second two emails.

Cycling lessons and Dr. Bike

by Rachel M, posted in event

The Aberdeen Cycle Forum is putting on a series of cycling lessons along with a Dr. Bike. The first two lessons in the series were last Saturday, 29th August. It was heart-warming to see beginner adult cyclists get their first taste for cycling and to experience the thrill that comes with it. Those of us who learnt to cycle as kids take it for granted when we’re adults but there are many adults today who never had the opportunity to learn when they were young.

Adventure Aberdeen provided the instructor and the Dr Bike while Aberdeen Cycle Forum was able to pay the costs using funding from Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival, Paths for All, and the fundraising we did for our Reclaim the Streets event which got cancelled due to the pandemic.

The next set of lessons and Dr. Bike will be at Hazlehead Park on the 12th September. The lessons are already all fully booked up but subscribe to our blog so you’ll be notified if we add some more.

IMG_3915.jpeg

IMG_3923

IMG_3913.jpeg

IMG_3910

TV_XxV8TSCSP_logo_Strapline_CMYK

 

Active travel to school: a Welsh case study

by Rachel M, posted in news

We were very fortunate to have Dafydd Trystan speak at our meeting on Tuesday night on developing an active travel plan for a Welsh school. It was inspiring to hear what they have achieved which is less than 5% of parents driving their children to school. These are numbers we can only dream of in Aberdeen but if it can be done at one school in another part of the country then there’s no reason it can’t be done here. We just need to find the political will.

The benefits of active travel are too great to ignore: children who walk or cycle to school perform better at school and children who have clean air to breathe are physically healthier. Air pollution from vehicles causes all sorts of problems for young bodies from asthma to heart disease and cancer. We adults owe it to this young generation to create an environment in which they can thrive.

You can read more about Dafydd’s case study at The Ysgol Hamadryad Story.

The winners are …

by Rachel M, posted in Uncategorized

We announced the winners of our Best in Cycling Awards for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire at the Belmont Filmhouse on Tuesday evening this week. It was a terrific turnout and wonderful to see so many different people and organisations working hard to improve conditions for cyclists. Big thanks to everyone involved and a big congratulations to all the winners and nominees. There are lots of fantastic initiatives happening and it was a difficult choice for the judges.

Best Business

Bike Remedy, Stonehaven

“Bike Remedy Stonehaven is a friendly locally-owned and run bike shop who give an excellent service.When I bought a bike from them last year they couldn’t have been more helpful. I’ve also used their workshop a couple of times and been pleased with the results.They are supportive of local clubs and provide a free bike doctor at the Mid-summer Beer festival Sportive. I think they also support other local chairty rides such as the Tour de Catterline.”

Best Employer

The University of Aberdeen

“The University of Aberdeen has shown commitment to all forms of active travel and is particularly keen on encouraging cycling.They have run various events and projects this year to support cyclists and help more people to take it up. Cycling features heavily in the Sustainable Travel Plan and they work closely with beCyCle, a bike library and workshop that is hosted on campus, to support our university community to gain access to bicycles and confidence-boosting cycle training.This year both the university and beCyCle worked to lend out more than 200 bicycles to students and staff at the university.
The University has also organised a ‘Lock it or Lose it campaign’ to deter bike thieves and encourage secure locking of bicycles. In the past, we have given away free ‘Sold Secure’ locks and cycle helmets at its ‘Bike Safety & Security’ events with Grampian Police and provided a competitive cycle to work scheme for staff.
The university has also successfully been awarded numerous cycling grants and has used this fund to promote cycling by offering more than 50 Dr. Bike sessions to staff and students, and more than 10 inclusive cycling sessions, weekly led rides and finally set up an eBike fleet for their staff to use.”

Best New Cycle Infrastructure

Deeside Way

“Deeside Way is an absolute treasure! It’s long, reasonably flat, passes beautiful scenery and landscapes, and the council recently removed some problem tree roots so the surface is very good.”

Best Public Cycle Parking

ASV Aquatics

“Leaving my darling bike outside can be difficult sometimes, but I really appreciate the cycle parking facilities at the ASV aquatics centre. It’s convenient enough to the door, it’s sheltered for rainy days, and there are comforting signs about CCTV monitoring. There are always lots of bikes there, too, so I know that while I’m in the pool, my bike is going to have a great time with its many bicycle friends. “

Best School

Hazlehead Academy

“I think that Hazlehead Academy is a great cycle-friendly school and nominate it for the school award.
Firstly, Hazlehead Academy was recognised as Aberdeen’s first Cycle Friendly Secondary School by Cycling Scotland. back in 2016. In addition to being an Eco-School with a recognised focus on encouraging active travel choices to get to school, it also sits in a great geographic location with a catchment area that has allowed pupils to have the choice to safely and easily cycle to school. As well as having the highest percentage of pupils cycling to school in the city, they also support”

Cycle Hero

Shaun Powell

“Shaun is an absolute storm of a man who has ridden up and down Aberdeen and shire setting up so many wonderful cycling projects and pop- ups. He has worked (often single-handedly) to improve cycling for the most vulnerable in our communities.This year Shaun has worked to set up an inclusive cycle hub in Peterhead and Moray, whilst working on setting up an inclusive cycle hub in Seaton Park. He has also run pop up sessions with inclusive bicycles at Seaton Park, Newton Dee, University of Aberdeen and various other locations. I truly believe this man is a hero! “

The Cycle Raspberry

Every dashed white line pretending to be a cycle path

And a group shot with the winners: