### Bike bus calendar for the 2026/2027 school year – always on Fridays! – 21st August – 4th and 18th September – 2nd and 23rd October – 6th and 20th November* – 4th and 18th December* – 15th and 29th January* – 12th and 26th February* – 12th March – 30th April – 14th and 28th May – 11th and 25th June *During winter months we may cancel certain dates a day or two beforehand, if the weather gets really bad – please check the JGPS Community Bike Bus WhatsApp for up to date info. ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Bike bus calendar for the 2026/2027 school year – always on Fridays! – 21st August – 4th and 18th September – 2nd and 23rd October – 6th and 20th November* – 4th and 18th December* – 15th and 29th January* – 12th and 26th February* – 12th March – 30th April – 14th and 28th May – 11th and 25th June *During winter months we may cancel certain dates a day or two beforehand, if the weather gets really bad – please check the JGPS Community Bike Bus WhatsApp for up to date info. ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Bike bus calendar for the 2025/2026 school year – always on Fridays! – 19th September – 3rd and 31st October – 14th and 28th November – 12th December – 9th and 23rd January – 6th February – 6th and 20th March – 1st, 15th, and 29th May – 12th and 26th June ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### URGENT COMMUNITY ACTION Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route On Tuesday 12th May, the council will make a decision whether to make all, some or none of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route permanent. This route protects children travelling to 6 primary schools and James Gillespie’s High School. We’re asking everyone to join us at lunchtime on Tuesday 12th May outside the City Chambers at 12:30pm to show the strength of community support for these road safety measures. Our message being “Keep Our Kids Safe”. We know a show of community support outside the meeting venue works, so let’s get this crucial route for kids made permanent! Not able to join us on the day? Then please write to your ward councillors, copying-in the TRO councillors, by Tuesday to ask for the entire route to be made permanent. Scanning this QR code will start a draft email to all of the TRO subcommittee councillors Further reading: * Our summary of the whole story * Excellent blog on the actions leading the council to revisit the decisions, from edi.bike * Follow-up blog on how the council are now trying to severely weaken the route

### Bike bus calendar for the 2025/2026 school year – always on Fridays! – 19th September – 3rd and 31st October – 14th and 28th November – 12th December – 9th and 23rd January – 6th February – 6th and 20th March – 1st, 15th, and 29th May – 12th and 26th June ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Bike bus calendar for the 2025/2026 school year – always on Fridays! – 19th September – 3rd and 31st October – 14th and 28th November – 12th December – 9th and 23rd January – 6th February – 6th and 20th March – 1st, 15th, and 29th May – 12th and 26th June ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Bike bus calendar for the 2025/2026 school year – always on Fridays! – 19th September – 3rd and 31st October – 14th and 28th November – 12th December – 9th and 23rd January – 6th February – 6th and 20th March – 1st, 15th, and 29th May – 12th and 26th June ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Bike bus calendar for the 2025/2026 school year – always on Fridays! – 19th September – 3rd and 31st October – 14th and 28th November – 12th December – 9th and 23rd January – 6th February – 6th and 20th March – 1st, 15th, and 29th May – 12th and 26th June ### Next bike bus We start at 08:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 08:40. If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you, and would also ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example). We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage the group to stay together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We follow the route shown on this map. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary, we will stop the bus to allow them past, but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them as you go past. The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: ### Previously… Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Next bike bus is on Friday 5th September! Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We will be updating with new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Next bike bus is on Friday 5th September! Over 6 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. Please check back here, or on Bluesky or Mastodon, to confirm the date. We will be updating with new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

## Update 31 August 2025 The changes to the Braid Estate are due to be implemented on the ground in September/October 2025, namely the removal of the filters and the addition of temporary-style segregated bike lanes. As such, the council have released the Experimental Traffic Order (as TRO/25/17). Crucially, the order contains the new layout, and also the option to “revert” back to having the filters again, should the reintroduction of rat-running not work out! Note that TRO/25/17 is **not currently subject to public consultation**. It is a ‘First Stage’ or Statutory consultation which is targeted at so-called Statutory consultees – i.e.: Police Scotland and other blue light services. The **Public Consultation will commence at the implementation of the changes and will run for 6 months**. Changes to the Braid Estate, expected to be implemented in September – note the removal of the filters on Cluny Drive and Braid Rd The modal filter options, also included in the ETRO, to which it may be possible to revert back to depending on the public consultation to be held ## Update 30th October 2024 New Traffic Regulation Orders representing the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, _as currently implemented_ , are to be drawn up within the next couple of weeks. This is a technicality – there is no need to comment on them, and comments will not be counted by the council. Following on, in January 2025*, another traffic order will be drawn up to include the changes that were discussed (removal of the traffic filters in the Braid estate and implementation of a segregated cycle lane) during the March Transport & Environment Committee (TEC) meeting. Comments to the council on the changes will be invited. We will be back in touch with you then. *January 2025 will be the (almost) 4 year anniversary of the traffic filters being installed outside the school. That’s 4 years of a simple, low-cost traffic intervention helping to keep children safe and the neighbourhood more pleasant! 4 years of successful community campaigning to support the council to meet its own policies, objectives and manifestos. Policies that the majority of residents support. Thank you for continuing to show that people do have agency and can make a difference! ## Update March 2024 The good, the bad, the ugly… ### The good – a new filter For the Whitehouse Loan modal filter at Strathearn Rd, council officers recommended the “revised option 2” and this was voted through at the council’s Transport & Environment Committee (TEC) meeting of 7th March 2024. This preserves the full filter on Whitehouse Loan, while introducing a new one on Clinton Rd to prevent rat running traffic there. The precise location of the filter on Clinton Rd is still to be decided by officers. ### The bad – the Braid estate Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories voted for option 3 for the Braid estate – to remove all the modal filters that form a part low-traffic-neighbourhood and replace them with a segregated cycle lanes. Our deputation to TEC details the reasons why this was a terrible decision. Unfortunately, the SNP and Greens were out-voted in their motions to keep and enhance the existing filters and add new ones. This would have brought the estate close to being a full low-traffic-neighbourhood. What we could have had is shown below as option 1, which was also the option recommended by the council officers who were sadly overruled. ### The ugly – uncomfortable councillors The Transport Convenor and Labour councillor, Scott Arthur, was visibly uncomfortable during the discussion, taking an unusually long time to sum up his motion to remove the filters. He also resorted to arguments over semantics when challenged by other councillors. When challenged on the costs of the proposed segregated cycle lanes on Braid Ave, a circular discussion with officers ensued. Councillors soon discovered they had no money available for the lanes and that cheaper rubber kerbs were “not an option”. Lib Dem councillor Sanne Dijkstra-Downie appeared unwilling to vote against the filters and left the meeting, substituting ward councillor Neil Ross. Later we heard a deputation from Newington ward councillor Pauline Flannery (Lib Dems) who referenced an earlier conversation about “no one is looking to reverse the smoking ban or seat belt laws”. She stated that “we should not impose traffic changes on people”. [_We note that traffic “changes” have been imposed on people over the years, with sat-nav directing ever-greater volumes of ever-larger and ever-more-powerful cars down residential streets, for marginal time savings_] In summing up, the Transport Convenor Scott Arthur said, “I’ll make a prediction – if we do go for this option [ripping out the modal filters], people in the Braid estate, many of whom support this option, are going to be contacting us, possibly asking for some of these filters to come back. And as a committee, given the nature of this debate, I think we have to be open to those requests.” He is essentially admitting that removing the filters is a mistake. And yet they still voted to make that mistake! Finally, in a last-ditch desperate plea, councillor Findlay McFarlane (SNP) appealed to the Convenor, “come on Labour, don’t do it [don’t rip out filters that keep kids safe]” The vote to remove the filters, that keep kids safe, came mere hours after an emotional motion _at the same committee_ , discussing the death of a child on Edinburgh’s roads. ### Further reading: * Planters in Morningside’s Braid estate to go despite pleas over safety – Edinburgh Evening News (archive) * Shawlands Bike bus rides for Thomas Wong and Elizabeth Bell – We bike bus today for safer cycling tomorrow – The Herald (archive) * Council to remove ‘low traffic neighbourhood’ scheme despite safety concerns – STV News (archive) * A good summary of the route options and preferred options (which we agree with) from Green Councillor Ben Parker (archive) * * * The existing filter at Whitehouse Loan and Strathearn is shown below. ## Previous consultation The council are consulting on options for the area around Whitehouse Loan and Clinton Rd as well as the Braid estate (or “the Clunys”). Three options for each area are given. Below we give an appraisal for each. Thank you to all who have taken part in the previous consultations – **you are amazing and the reason we still have these measures to date!** It’s important you do so again to show that the safety of our kids is a priority. To do that, head to the Council’s survey via this link. The survey **closes on 22 October 2023**. ## Summary: **Children’s safety should not be up for debate.** Only the options which include additional modal filters and don’t weaken existing ones, will keep children safe. Such interventions are **proven to reduce by 50% the chance of injury or death** to your child. ### Whitehouse Loan and Clinton Rd area **We support option 2 for Whitehouse Loan** , to keep the existing filter on Whitehouse Loan and to add a new one on Clinton Rd. This will protect and enhance the multiple benefits of this small low traffic neighbourhood. ### Braid estate (the Clunys) **We support option 1 for the Braid estate** , to keep the existing measures in the Braid estate and to add a new filter at Braid Crescent. This option will protect the Quiet Route and also offers the best value for money. We estimate the cost of the alternative proposals (segregated cycle lane) to be around £500,000, compared to the cost of an additional modal filter at around £10,000. A survey conducted by a resident showed that 75% of 32 households on Braid Ave would like to keep the filter on their street. We are disappointed that none of the options for the Braid estate offer a full low-traffic neighbourhood, i.e., by removing through-traffic from Hermitage Drive and Midmar Drive. The reason given by the council for not doing this is delays to public transport on Comiston Road. We agree that delays to public transport are unacceptable, however opening up residential streets to through-traffic does not solve these delays and has a negative impact on people living in those streets. ### Reasons why the other options should be rejected: The consultation will ask you to rank the various options, with no option to say you disagree with any of the options. Please use the free-comments box to make clear you only support the safest options. Allowing southbound traffic to enter Whitehouse Loan would bring a return to speeding and intrusive traffic on a key route for children walking and cycling to school. Speeding is especially made worse by the width and downhill slope of the street. A new through-route from Strathearn Rd via Hope Terrace to Kilgraston Road is also opened up, presenting a new risk to pedestrians and children on bikes, particularly at the junctions. Traffic on Strathearn Rd would see additional delays at the junction due to new turns into Whitehouse Loan blocking or slowing following traffic (often these are not residents but car drivers attempting to shave a few seconds off a journey and inadvertently slowing down the whole system for all users). * * * Adding segregated cycle lanes to Braid Avenue does not bring the wider benefits of a low-traffic neighbourhood to the resident community, and are very expensive and time-consuming to implement. It also sets an unsustainable precedent for all residential streets in the city to have segregated lanes. The segregated cycle lanes are only offered to allow drivers to continue to speed and rat-run through residential streets, diverting funds and resources from where segregated lanes are really required, which is on main roads. The options presented have not been costed, yet the costs between them will vary enormously. This makes it impossible for residents to take a fully informed decision. As stated above, we estimate the cost of the segregated cycle lane to be around £500,000, compared to the cost of an additional modal filter at around £10,000. From a social justice point of view, it’s hard to justify £500,000 being spent on one of the most affluent areas in the city, to the detriment of other areas, simply to reintroduce through-traffic for cars. The council voted in June’s Transport Environment Committee meeting that “changes would not dilute the aims of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route scheme”. Allowing intrusive traffic by removing filters does dilute those aims. ### Consultation document On this page, we haven’t replicated the council’s detailed information on each of the options. For easy reference, and to preview the consultation before filling out the online form, you may download a “paper” version of the survey document: travelling-safely-greenbank-to-meadows-engagement-questionnaire-print-copyDownload

### Next bike bus is on 28th March! Over 5 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. The next date is the 28th March but please check back here or on Bluesky or Mastodon to confirm. We will be updating we new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Next bike bus is on 28th March! Over 5 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong, even winning the occasional award! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. The next date is the 28th March but please check back here or on Bluesky or Mastodon to confirm. We will be updating we new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Next bike bus is on 28th February! Over 5 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. The next date is the 28th February but please check back here or on Bluesky or Mastodon to confirm. We will be updating we new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

### Next bike bus is on 28th February! Over 5 years ago, the inaugural JGPS bike bus held on the 22nd March 2019 was a rip-roaring success, with 162 people taking part, and we are still going strong! ### Next bike bus If you are new to the bike bus or are not sure your child will manage the hills, we would love to see you but would ask that you accompany your child in case of mechanical incident (for example) – we cannot, unfortunately, guarantee someone will be available to accompany children who fall behind the group for whatever reason. We will, of course, do everything we can to help everyone along and encourage very strongly that the group stays together. Please make sure you read our guidelines for taking part in the bike bus. The next date is the 28th February but please check back here or on Bluesky or Mastodon to confirm. We will be updating we new dates after half term. The last nine bike buses had roughly 120-140 taking part in each and were all great successes. We were lucky enough to have excellent photographer Andy Catlin join us for the one on the 17th June who took some amazing photos – please click on the image below to preview the whole album or to purchase individual photos. We start at 8:20, congregating at the junction with Charterhall Road and Blackford Avenue. We aim to get to school for 8:40. We following the road shown on this map – please click to see the route in detail. If your child is attending the bike bus please also attend with them, as it is important in the event of an accident or mechanical failure that someone can stop and help. There is no formal procedure for joining in en route, but try to find a space to filter in or start riding at the front of the bus when you see it and let the leaders catch you up and allow the existing bike bus subsume you! For confident parent cyclists who have children who are doing well it is really helpful to be aware that at certain points – for example the junction of South Oswald road and Oswald road, we should block the traffic and allow the children to pass safely. Please thank drivers who stop for us, but do not put yourself in danger if a driver becomes impatient. If necessary we will stop the bus to allow them past but in our experience most drivers are very happy to see the kids passing by and in general they will be delayed by no longer than a minute or so. We are lucky enough sometimes to have the police accompany us, which always proves a hit! The Astley Ainslie staff are kindly opening the North gate and waiting at some potentially tricky junctions. Please thank them too as you go past. Finally the council is overriding the signals at Whitehouse Loan crossing Strathearn Road – please also if you get a chance thank the council worker here and thank the cars for waiting. The entire bike bus can be seen on this video from the ride on the 3rd May – this should give a good idea of what it is like to those that are not aware: The risk assessment for the route can be viewed here. The second bike bus on the 3rd May was also a great success as can be seen from the video: Here’s a “fly-past” from our excellent volunteer rear-marker Robert Gormley of the bike bus on the 17th May:

Letting them take some responsibility for their choices is what prepares them for adult life.

The electric SUV was left balancing on two wheels on the steep embankment next to the Union Canal in Ratho on Saturday, January 4.