CycleFife

Thursday: nothing happened

Talking and reading about cycling and provision for cycling can be the most will-sapping way to spend your time. Cycling blogs and forums, newspaper stories and comments about traffic are often filled with frustration and anger, bitterness and sad tales of injuries and deaths. YouTube is a huge repository of videos where motorists shave past cyclists and cyclists and motorists engage in angry encounters at traffic lights. 

It's not always like that. So, let's step back for a minute and enjoy a pleasant ride from Edinburgh's city centre to my unofficial park and ride spot in Barnton. As I rode back, camera running, I realised just how quiet and pleasant it was to ride for 27 minutes, in the rush hour (starting at 5.10pm) and spend hardly any time interacting with traffic. From the film, I selected out all the footage containing a car on or joining my side of the road. I ignored cars heading in the opposite direction. True, they could unexpectedly swerve across the road but if it wasn't at a junction where it could turn in front of me I ignored it. I was left with just four minutes of footage. Four minutes out of 27 and most of that just travelling or waiting behind a car. I'm not saying it's perfect but this is how it is almost all the time. How it should be.

Let's hear it for the good routes. Don't worry if you can't be bothered watching it. Nothing happens. No one crashes and no angry words are exchanged with anyone. There is no bitterness or recriminations about the hopeless provision for cycling. I was in Edinburgh. The sun was shining and I had to stop to take my jacket off.

 

Bill Walker MSP

My main correspondence with Fife Council was initiated through an email to Bill Walker, my MSP, sent via Write to Them. Throughout that conversation, he has been cc'd in the emails. My email to the Council on 18 June suggested that perhaps it was now time for him to contact Transport Scotland since the main trunk road past the village, the A985, was clearly the principal barrier to progress for cyclists and pedestrians in the village. He responded on 22 June:

Dear Steven,

I hope your are well and thank you for keeping me up to date with the situation.

I see that your have been in correspondence with XX and XX (names removed - SH) as I initially suggested.

I hope that you have had some useful discussions regarding the provision of cycling routes around Fife.

Clearly, this is a matter for Fife Council, subject always to budget availability, but as you can see I am copying in XX to ask him if he feels that the best way forward would be, as you suggest, for him to contact the appropriate office within the Scottish Government.

I hope some progress can be made as suitable funding becomes available. Recently, in Parliament, I have supported a couple of initiatives regarding the improvement of cycling routes which would provide some advantages in the promotion of cycling.

Slainte,

Bill

I replied. The links in the text below weren't in the email. I've added them in case anyone is ever interested in following up my references, which I think would be obvious to Bill.

Dear Bill

Thanks for you email. I noticed that you had signed Alison Johnstone's motion supporting National Bike Week, which is very welcome although I'm sorry to say that as far as substantially increasing participation in cycling goes, National Bike Week is harmless but insubstantial fluff. I should also say, just for balance, that I noted that you did not support her motion (S4M-02641) supporting Pedal on Parliament and noting that the Scottish Government’s report on Meeting the Emissions Reduction Targets 2010-22 proposed allocating £1.32 billion over 11 years for active travel, and suggested that 10% of the transport budget should be spent on active travel. I think that sort of funding commitment is what is needed to properly promote cycling in the ways that Fife Council would clearly like to but is unable to.

Yes, the correspondence with XX and his colleagues has been a useful discussion although that is as far as it goes. Not that I was expecting anything concrete to happen immediately but there has been a useful discussion of positions and plans that has good general information on what might happen but has been light on specifics about when. Still, it's early days and the new administration in Fife must still be establishing its priorities. I was cheered slightly by Labour's national transport team saying that "Labour councils across the country should be backing cycling in every way possible"* although I'm not so starry-eyed that I won't wait to see how that translates into funding locally.

I do agree that it all comes down to budget availability but that is more a matter of political priorities than the total available for spending. At the moment, the Scottish Government spends just 1% of its transport budget on cycling. I was disappointed that just this week, while the Scottish Government was allocating £105 million for 'shovel ready' projects, none of that went to the £6m of shovel ready cycling projects that Sustrans has waiting for funding. Sadly, suitable funding was readily available but the Scottish Government decided it had other priorities.

I have to disagree, based on the exchanges I've had with XX and his colleagues, and based on my own experience of cycling anywhere out of Limekilns with my children, that this is clearly a matter for Fife Council. Many of the issues I have raised with Council relate directly to the A985, about which the Council can do nothing without the support of Transport Scotland. That is why I came to the conclusion that little progress will be made without commitment from Transport Scotland to improve and open up access to the paths along, and to improve opportunities to cross, the A985. 

I hope it will be possible to bring Transport Scotland into the discussion. 

Best wishes

Steven

*  This comment was made in the course of a discussion on Twitter preserved here.

Latest to the Council

 

The latest response from the Council has really crystallised the main issue, for me at least, of negotiating the A985 - the main trunk road from the A90/Forth Road Bridge to Kincardine Bridge that cuts through Rosyth and passes many of the West Fife villages. It seems clear that the first issue for anyone, never mind a child getting to school, coming out of the villages and heading in any direction is the A985. I replied (sent 18 June - I'm little behind): 

Thanks once again for you detailed response (and XX's additional comments). I really do appreciate the time you and XX have taken to make not only detailed replies but ones that are honest and candid about the difficulties of making high quality provision for cycling. It is, of course, a political problem at national and local level that prioritises car journeys and fails to make even the most basic provision for cycling, especially what is now called utility cycling. I hope you're right that the political perception of cycling is changing. Certainly I have had some encouraging feedback from Labour at a UK and Scotland level (where they are not of course in power) which has implications for how Labour councils should fund cycling. I'll add that to my blog and make sure that my local councillors are aware of it. Also, Councillor Gavin Yates has been in touch, prompted I think by the Labour Party in Scotland, and offered to ride any routes with me. He's a cyclist but not a councillor in my ward but I'll take him up on that offer and hopefully cover the route from Limekilns to Halbeath that we have been discussing and also the route between Woodmill and Limekilns, which would cover the roads and junctions my son would need to ride to high school. It hasn't been arranged but perhaps you and/or Scott would like to join us? 

In the meantime it would be good to hear from Mr Walker, who has been silent since passing my original email to Murray for a response and to Doreen to 'mind'. I recall that he offered to contact the appropriate person within the Scottish Government. Given the significant role of the A985 and Transport Scotland's budgeting in frustrating developments to cycling routes around the trunk roads, it is perhaps time for contact with the Scottish Government to be made. We can bat emails back and forth endlessly but significant improvement hinges on Transport Scotland. Perhaps Doreen would raise that with Mr Walker.

As you might expect, I have some further questions and comments on your response.

Limekilns foreshore - Is there a timescale for improving the path? And has there been any discussion with the community council?

Primrose Road - Given the ownership, I entirely agree with your approach to maintaining this path. Perhaps it would be possible modify the drainage since the main problem is the giant puddle that develops at the path's lowest point and to agree with the estate to modify its access to the fields off Primrose Road to limit the extent to which agricultural vehicles churn it up.

Shared path along the A985 - From my perspective, the A985 is the major problem that needs to be addressed with Transport Scotland. There are several elements to this: crossing from the Limekilns junction to the pavement on the other side and the lack of a proper pedestrian/cyclist refuge in the middle. The lack of a dropped kerb on the north side. Even walking the bike and trailer would be much easier with a dropped kerb. The lack of a path from the Limekilns junction to the shared path at Bruce Haven. I know there is the foreshore path but given its condition and the greater difficulty of crossing at Brucehaven, the Limekilns junction would be preferable. In any case, the path along the foreshore that goes up Windylaws is not called Cardiac Hill around here for nothing.

It is also quite absurd that the path from Hilton Road and Kings Road is not shared use. With minimal improvement - trimming back the grass that encroaches on the pavement, sweeping the grit and glass - that footpath would be ideal. If it was joined to the Limekilns junction it would be perfect. At one level it doesn't really matter since I'll continue to cycle on it but it would be better if it were legal.

Rosyth Station / Pitreavie Roundabouts - could you clarify where the shared use section starts between these two? I don't think there is any signage. It doesn't really affect me because if I have my daughter on her tagalong or trailer we'll be on the pavement regardless and if I'm on my own I'll be on the road but it would be good to know just in case we are challenged. Signage might encourage other people to use it.

I partially take your point about having to compromise on trailer space but the politicians will need to realise that if they want to increase the proportion of journeys made by bike, they are going to have to accommodate not just solo cyclists but families including trailers, tagalongs and (if the trend continues) cargo bikes. The guidelines were written for a world with bikes never mind trailers. In any case, even cycling with children on their own bikes needs more space. Adults need to position themselves behind and to the right of children just to create the space that children need to be safe and confident. The tendency to create token lanes of 1.5m isn't going to create the feeling of safety that novice cyclists need.

I hope you don't mind me saying that I find your last paragraph refreshingly candid. You are, of course, absolutely right - it is politicians and not officers who allocate budgets and I'm happy to do what I can to improve their understanding of the importance of providing for cycling and the benefits to communities.

Best wishes

 

Crossing the A985

There are two routes out of Limekilns but both of them are problematic for cyclists and pedestrians. For pedestrians there is no footpath beyond about 100 yards on either side of the junction. Google Streetview gives a good view of the junction. Indeed, to the west, the footpath only starts at the junction. Pedestrians need to cross the road to get anywhere.

Cyclists could ride on the A985 (and many do) but it is a busy trunk road and at peak times when, for instance, a child might be travelling to or from school, the road is busy in both directions.

The alternative is along the footpath on the foreshore referred to in many of the emails between me and the Council and accepted by the Council as being in a poor state of repair. That path brings the pedestrian or cyclist to A985 junction at Pattiesmuir. From here there is a continuous footpath to Rosyth, although not for cyclists. Cyclists are supposed to head further away from Dunfermline towards the Rosyth dockyard and come back up, adding an extra mile to the journey. Continuing along the footpath to Rosyth would be illegal. We'll come back to that in a future post.

The shortest route is to cross the road here and go through Pattiesmuir and along a signposted cycle track to Rosyth. That path is in extremely poor repair and we'll have a look at that in a future post. This is what it is like crossing the A985 at about 2.30pm on a Friday afternoon (22 June 2012). I approach it in this video from Rosyth rather than the path from Limekilns. It only takes 90 seconds for me to cross the road but notice that I start crossing before the last blue car heading east has cleared the junction I'm aiming for. Otherwise, the car behind the last westbound Ford Fiesta would have been too close. Not really a novice move.

This is the road kids from the village would need to cross to get to their high school. 

 

It all comes down to budgets

Another detailed response from Fife Council picking on some of the questions left over from earlier emails. As usual, I've deleted references to individuals (and fixed some typos). 

Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you, I've been on leave. In response to your further questions regarding cycling routes between Limekilns and Dunfermline and some of the issues you have raised with my colleague xxxxxx I would comment as follows:

Limekilns foreshore - When this route was originally put in in the 90s the whole path between Limekilns and Pattiesmuir was finished in an unbound dust surface. The surface along the foreshore was pretty good in those days (it was actually a tarmac surface) and was felt to not need further upgrading. When the section from the fore shore to Pattiesmuir was subsequently surfaced the fore shore section was left as, again, it was felt that the surface was OK. Since then it seems to have deteriorated significantly, hence our desire to upgrade it. As it is now a core path we have powers to do this without requiring agreement from the landowner

Primrose Road - this is in the ownership of Elgin Estates although it appears it was a public road at one time in the past. We have a number of such tracks promoted as cycle routes across Fife and the issue we have with them is that they are also farm and field accesses and get used by heavy agricultural traffic which cause all of the damage too them. Our agreement with the estate is to maintain it for passage by bicycles and not to repair damage by agricultural vehicles. In reality we do end up maintaining them for agricultural use as much as cycle use and as such we have tended to adopt a 'do minimum' policy - not ideal but its the only way we can avoid excessive expenditure on them. That said I think its fair that we re-visit Primrose road and carry out repairs if budgets allow.

Shared path along the A985 - The section between Hilton road and the path to Limekilns is shared use. Similarly the section between Waggon Road and Muirside Lane nr Cairneyhill is also shared use. In terms of our relationship with Transport Scotland we liaise regularly on roads and footways maintenance and we have a good dialogue with their strategic sustainable transport team but it is fair to say that we don't do any joint working on improving cycleway links on the trunk road network. There are a few outstanding projects we would like to see developed on the trunk roads in Fife but Transport Scotland do not seem to have a specific budget for this. We hope to address this issue and try to work more closely with Transport Scotland in the future as the trunk road does present a substantial barrier to various cycle routes in Fife.

Rosyth Station roundabout - In an ideal world this would be signalised with pedestrian / cycle phases provided. As it stands we have no budget for this at present, however we would hope to try to improve walking and cycling facilities as we develop the shared use route up Queensferry Road.

Pitreavie Roundabout - just to confirm the footway is designated as shared use round the roundabout (both sides) and up to the Toucan just to the north on Queensferry Road. We had hoped to widen the footways last year but Transport Scotland were just about to commence the works to install the new overhead signs for the Bridge so the project was delayed. This will get picked up once the sign works are complete.

In terms of trailer access we try and provide enough space at junctions and other features wherever possible but in many cases we can barely find space for cyclists. Road space re-allocation is the solution to this. We have done this in Kirkcaldy in a number of locations and received a large amount of criticism from members of public as a result! As time goes on such schemes will gain more public and political acceptance but until that time we have to accept compromises.

We consult and work closely with Sustrans, Cycling Scotland, the CTC and a number of local cyclists. The problem is that we are very much a minority and therefore cyclists receive little political attention and funding. At present there is zero budget for new cycleway schemes from Fife Council's Capital Resources. We get money direct from the government although this is shrinking year on year. Sustrans grants are on the increase thankfully but we still need to find match funding. Events such as 'Pedal on Parliament' have done a great job of raising the awareness of Politicians to cyclists needs and to make them see that cyclists are now a significant part of society. It looks like the funding tide may be turning so we can only hope that things will improve in the coming years. In the meantime public pressure on local and national politicians needs to continue, particularly given the new administration in Fife. Us Council Officers have only a limited influence in this respect!

I have to say that I'm impressed by the time these guys are spending answering my emails. In general, you get a sense of frustration with Transport Scotland and its distinct lack of interest in cycling. The last paragraph is interesting - badger the national and local politicians.