2025–>2026 : What for Edinburgh Cycling Policy & Action?

Will 2026 see Edinburgh City‘s new ‘Primary Cycle Network’ definition start to turn from policy into reality? And what of the City’s hugely ambitious 30% by 2030 traffic-reduction aims? What other decisions or actions may we see in the coming year?

Whilst not discussed in detail in this article, note that the bulk of cycleroute funding comes from the Scottish Government. Will the May Holyrood elections see a return to the abandoned promise that active travel would receive 10% of the transport budget? And how serious is their commitment to sustainable travel when the 2030 traffic-reduction 20% ‘commitment’ has been scrapped in favour of (see below) a still to be decided ‘target’ for 2035‽

In total, Scottish government decisions have significant impacts on what happens in local council areas. Additional to funding, other examples are the lack of powers for councils to enforce bus lanes by bus-mounted cameras, and (see below) the lengthy delays incurred when certain traffic order objections legally have to be referred for government hearings.

Edinburgh’s Primary Cycle Network

• 2024 – Edinburgh City Council adopted its ‘Delivering Actions for Active Travel, 2021-2030‘ Implementation Plan which included the new policy that the city’s ‘Primary Cycle Network‘ would largely comprise segregated routes on main roads. As it rightly said, these “are usually the most direct, flattest and socially safe routes.“
• 2025 – After much angst and months of delay, the notorious TRO Subcommittee, only as the legal deadline loomed, finally made permanent the parking-restriction Orders* which enable Edinburgh’s ‘Travelling Safely’ main-road ‘bollarded’ routes to exist – previously the Orders were Experimental [*except a few South Edinburgh orders which are dated to be decided in 2026]. Now, over the next few years, these routes will progressively be upgraded to form a major element of the Primary Network. Appendix 27 of the massive report to TRO Sub lays out the provisional timetable, with north, west and east complete by 2028/29 but South not until 2030/2034.
• 2026 – We hope to see some significant starts towards making the Primary Network a reality, including a start to upgrading of the Travelling Safely routes.

Main road protected cycleroute works planned for 2026

[note that some of these projects depend on bids for 26/27 government funding]

• Travelling Safely (bollarded routes) programme The provisional upgrading programme above shows the following being upgraded in 26/27 financial year: Duddingston Road, Duddingston Road West, Seafield Street, A1 (including London Road).
• Dundee Street/Fountainbridge This main-road project [] promises segregated bike lanes from Angle Park Terrace (near the Diggers pub) to Tollcross, and connections to the canal, also providing an alternative choice for towpath users. The consultation FAQs say it is hoped to start work in 2026 – though this will depend on the consultation outcome and traffic orders. The earlier ATIP October update gave a much later start date of Jan 2028 – has this timetable actually accelerated ‽
• Meadows to George Street There is just a small chance that work could begin in 26/27 on this long-delayed project. There were many objections to the Orders necessary to allow the works, and legally the Council was obliged (in September 2025) to refer some of these for a Scottish government hearing (in fact, for simplicity, all objections will be heard there). The last time this happened (for CCWEL) the government took an unbelievable two years to finalise its report (which dismissed the objections). They promised to do better in future, but we are still looking at many months [Why not ask your MSP to check on progress?] If all does happen ‘quickly,’ the Council hopes to begin construction in Jan 2027 according to the ATIP October update.
  • The infamous Scottish Government letter showing the incredible 2-year CCWEL delay caused by their hearing process [click for full size]
• Cameron Toll to Bioquarter (A7, Old Dalkeith Road) This long-delayed scheme is scheduled for construction in 26/27 according to the ATIP October update. But will it be further delayed pending tramline decisions?
• Meadows to Canal Perhaps now Edinburgh’s longest-delayed active travel project, construction is now due to begin December 2026 according to the ATIP October update (with a few earlier steps as part of Kings Theatre works)
• Foot of Walk to Dock Street (alternative to the tram route) – construction now well underway.

Main Road Preliminary Designs in 2026

• Lothian Road Boulevard with protected bike lanes and redesigned West End & Tollcross junctions – construction intended to start 2028
• A8, Roseburn to Maybury. The 2024 Mobility Plan gave, as its top example of the Primary Network, bus and cycle facilities on the A8 from CCWEL at Roseburn through to Gogar, with St John’s Road becoming a pedestrian-friendly shopping street. Given the success of CCWEL, we had suggested extending westwards as a priority in our comments [para 3.3] on the 2023 ATAP consultation, so it is great to see this. However, government funding to begin the corridor design has only just been agreed, and comes from the Bus Infrastructure Fund, so the council (and we/you!) need to ensure cycling provision is high quality.

Other schemes planned to start or expand in 2026

See the Active Travel Improvements Programme (ATIP) October Update for provisional starting dates..

• Bughtlin Burn Bridge
• Kingsknowe Park Crossing
• Leith Connections LTN
• One-way street cycle exemptions – several batches to be implemented in 26/27
• QuietRoute 30 – Dalkeith Road to Ratcliffe Terrace
• QuietRoute 9 – South Gyle area
• Duff Street lane connection to new Roseburn-Canal path
• Secure On-street Cycle Parking – further phases
• Silverknowes Road (construction underway)
• West Edinburgh Link (some construction now underway)
• Smokey Brae & Marionville

7-7-7 Bus Lanes

The long-delayed 7-7-7 bus lane trial (Balerno to Musselburgh), finally agreed at 15.8.24 TEC, is now funded and at last due to begin in 2026. Spokes has long supported 7-7-7 bus lanes, which years ago were common in Edinburgh, but now apparently need an 18-month experiment before wider applicability can be even considered.

Bike Hire

So far, the VOI bikes scheme looks very successful and has expanded rapidly, although there are some (teething, hopefully) problems around parking locations. Expansion to more parts of the city should continue in 2026.

Other significant Council decisions likely in 2026

• Princes Street – Councillors overturned a draft strategy report which had been widely seen as unimaginative, and ordered a public debate aiming for a more inspiring solution, worthy of a European capital city. In our view real change is only possible with a re-think of how the roadspace is used, to enable both wider footways and protected cycleroutes – possibly along the lines suggested by internationally renowned Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy. For more background, and links, see page 1 of our December members’ update. A further report to councillors is probable in autumn 2026 – will this bring the complete rethink we argue for? Why not tell your councillors what you’d like to see?

• Tram extension – A report on last year’s massive consultation is expected in summer 2026, when councillors will decide whether to go ahead with the next stage of preparing much more detailed plans. There is controversy over the costs of this next phase, and decisions may also be affected by the outcome of the May Holyrood elections. Spokes made a major submission to the consultation. We support the principle of the tram, but see significant problems – and opportunities – not adequately addressed in the 2025 early-stage consultation.
  • Concern: Our biggest concern is how cycling and tram will fit safely and effectively in the Bridges corridor, and we suggest several ameliorations and alternatives to the consultation plans
  • Opportunity: On the Roseburn section, Spokes has not taken a position on whether the tram should use the old railway route with an adjacent path, or the Orchard Brae onroad option. However if, as seems likely, the Council opts for the former, then there is a massive opportunity to incorporate the Mobility Plan proposal [Active Travel Delivery document, page 43] for a bridge over the mainline railway, linking the Roseburn path to the canal without the need to descent to road level and back up again. We have made suggestions as to how the engineering challenges could be tackled.

• Braid Estate – This ongoing saga has been well summarised by Blackford Safe Routes and by Cllr Ben Parker. Spokes has the same view – we are happy with the existing traffic filters, which largely remove north-south and east-west through-traffic from this residential area, which also forms part of the Greenbank to Meadows quiet route. But, due to political machinations by opponents who want the filters removed, and insufficient backbone by the administration, the Council has expended massive amounts of officer time in drawing up an experiment to remove the filters and install a complex north-south cycle lane to preserve the quiet route when rat-run traffic returns (though east-west safety would still be lost). Work on this costly experiment was due to begin in January 2026, but then it transpired that Councillors Marie-Clair Munro (Conservative) and Neil Ross (LibDems) are facing a standards hearing (on 11 March 2026) about an alleged conflict of interest over the project. If they are found to be at fault, then a re-vote is likely in 2026, when we would very much hope the experiment is scrapped, quietness and safety are retained, and officers can return to more productive work.

Demand management – too demanding?

Transport experts are clear that to achieve traffic reduction, both carrots and sticks are required [e.g. see Carrots and Sticks section here]. But experience at all levels of government finds many politicians and officers super-nervous of anything that may entail car users changing their routines, or paying a bit more to use public roads. Social media increases the problem for politicians, enabling opponents to rapidly mobilise. Yet, courage is possible! Here are some of the exceptions, in all cases with considerable success once the furore and opposition campaigns had died down, and the predictions of disaster found to be false…

• Edinburgh bus greenways, by former Edinburgh Transport Convener David Begg many years ago See DB’s Greenways reflections here in 2024 (Cllr Begg also installed Princes Street bike lanes, removed by a later council)
• Edinburgh pavement parking ban, Scotland’s first, by former Edinburgh Transport Convener Scott Arthur (now MP) See ‘legacy’ para here
• Edinburgh’s CCWEL, only saved from a massive anti-campaign and wobbly councillors thanks to former Transport Convener Lesley Hinds. See the tortured history
• London LEZ and congestion charging expansion by mayor Sadiq Khan See this history & results
• New York (Manhattan) congestion charging by Borough President Mark Levine. See bluesky thread and Bloomberg.

At Scottish Government level this extreme trepidation was obvious right from the start of their 2020 ‘commitment’ to cut car-km 20% by 2030 (as we pointed out at that time). They were too nervous to take the measures (such as road-user charging) which their own commissioned research showed could achieve the reduction, so now the commitment has been scrapped, to be replaced by a still to be decided car-use reduction ‘target’ for 2035 which looks likely to be a 6% reduction on expected traffic growth rather than a real reduction in car usage! Indeed, even with a 6% reduction in predicted growth, car-km would rise by 5%-11% between 2025 and 2035.

Edinburgh Council boldly retains their highly ambitious target to cut car-km 30% by 2030. However, they are way off track, and, whilst they are working on the carrots, to improve conditions for walking, cycling and bus, there is far less talk and action on demand management. Yet here are 3 things the Council could do, none at huge financial cost…

• City Centre – Implement the delayed (forgotten?) Future Streets policy, agreed at the 1.2.24 Transport & Environment Committee (TEC), to remove through motor traffic from the City Centre by use of multiple traffic filters and bus-gates and thus “create an extensive area between Lothian Road, Lauriston Place, Holyrood Park and Queen Street without general through / car traffic”. The then Transport Convener Cllr Scott Arthur told our 29.2.24 public meeting that he hoped this would happen in 2025, with through-traffic removed from Cowgate in 2024 as a first step. But, not even that small first step has yet been achieved, leaving a huge question mark over the full scheme.
• Traffic filters – Widespread use of traffic filters to remove rat-running from residential areas would reduce the inbuilt tendency to jump in the car if you have one, and provides greater incentives to walk and cycle for local journeys.
• Road user charging (e.g. congestion charging) – At our 30.4.25 public meeting [see QA section] new Transport Convener Cllr Stephen Jenkinson was asked about this. Whilst stating that demand management was essential, and that congestion charging is a serious option, there was a tangled tale of waiting on Scottish Government guidance, and devising a scheme joint with nearby councils. Thus any action feels distant, particularly also with council elections looming in 2027 and the likely fear of voter backlash.

In conclusion, a random thought

Looking back on the stories above, one has to be struck by the huge amount of precious officer time that is devoted to handling the concerns of councillors worried by objections which in the end often prove either irrelevant or largely unfounded. Time which could be spent far more productively. Here are some examples…

• There is no better example than the saga of the Travelling Safely experimental Orders and the role of the TRO subcommittee (see ‘2025’ near the start of this article), resulting in additional meetings and literally hundreds of pages of reports [e.g. this 682-page download for their third meeting covering much of the same ground]
• The Braid Estate story (see above) is another – huge amounts of time in meetings, massive reports, preparation of traffic orders, finding contractors, abortive costs – all in aid of a messy compromise experiment, unwanted by many, and which may now not happen
• Most recently, the decision of TRO Sub to postpone a decision on whether to allow east-bound cycling in Rose Street, where westbound has been legal for decades. Officers now have to prepare a report on issues such as whether bikes may collide with cafe tables or get through any roadworks that might happen, even though the existing west-bound cycling works perfectly well.

Is there a solution to this tragic time-wasting, delaying the safety, public health and environmental benefits of these and other projects? Certainly, objections must be heard, and councillors must interrogate officers. Some objections do have real substance. But when evidence is clear, and plainly laid out by officers when questioned at Committee (as, largely, in the above examples) surely there must be a mechanism for making councillors think twice. Is yet another investigation, more reports, more meetings, more delays, really a valid use of Council resources?

What you can do

• Contact your councillors and/or MSPs about issues in this article. Find them at www.writetothem.com. Or: Edinburgh Council / Scottish Government. Send us any useful replies. Meeting your representative(s) in person or online when you feel strongly about something can be even more useful than email – try it!
• Join Spokes – it is certainly not necessary to be an ‘activist’ though we particularly need members with the time and interest to help in our responses to local and/or national consultations etc
• Repost our Bluesky post of this article.

Finally – Happy New Year!

… and even more so if you follow up the list points above !