Edinburgh must look to the Netherlands for inspiration in meeting its goal of boosting cycling rates, city council cycling leader Councillor Jim Orr told delegates at the annual Cycling Scotland Conference today.
The event at the COSLA Conference Centre in Haymarket was hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in collaboration with Cycling Scotland, Royal HaskoningDHV, Cycle Nation, Sustrans and the Dutch Cycling Embassy.
Cllr Orr, who is Vice Convener of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Transport and Environment Committee, delivered the opening address to delegates.
He said: “The catchphrase for this year’s conference is “Love cycling, go Dutch” and, like me, I’m sure all those from Scotland are looking forward to learning how our Dutch colleagues have succeeded in building high cycling levels in that country and working out how we can follow suit here.”
Cllr Orr outlined Edinburgh’s ambition of having 15% of all journeys to work being made by bicycle by 2020 – up from the current level of around six per cent, and he acknowledged the positive publicity for cycling generated by Edinburgh Olympian Sir Chris Hoy and Tour de France victor Bradley Wiggins.
He went on to say that Edinburgh’s budget commitment for cycling is currently five per cent of the transport budget, but added that there is still plenty of work to be done if Edinburgh is to emulate the Dutch model.
“Transport culture is still dominated by the private car and the local bus company, and the majority of people don’t yet feel it’s safe to cycle on our streets. I’ve only been involved in cycling policy for six months and I know how complicated it can be. But personally I am an optimist and confident about our chances of meeting our targets for 15% of journeys to work by bike in eight years’ time.”