EDINBURGH STUDENT PRESIDENT WILL SPEAK FOR A EDINBURGH CITY CYCLE SCHEME LATER TODAY
The council’s petitions committee is still alive and kicking despite moves to disband it at the end of last year. Later today they will hear the one single live petition which is before them and they will have a deputation who will address them first.
Briana Pegado, Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) President is due to speak on behalf of a petition calling for a Bike Hire Scheme submitted by Stuart Mitchell in December. The petition calling for a city wide bike hire scheme and has been signed by 739 individuals.
Briana Pegado along with other student leaders across the city has taken a keen interest in this petition and helped to promote it while it was open for signatures.
Pegado explained:
“I wholeheartedly support the petition, Edinburgh is one of the few cities in the UK that doesn’t currently have a bicycle hire scheme and we know this is something local residents have been calling for. In my capacity as President of Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) I have been working with the University of Edinburgh in partnership to launch a pilot bicycle hire scheme funded by Cycling Scotland through their Cycle Friendly Campus Scheme. We are targeting first years in halls of residence as our research identifies them as least likely to cycle.
Many students at the University of Edinburgh study at campuses outside the city centre. Cycle routes have improved throughout the city and a bicycle hire scheme would be an affordable, sustainable and healthy way to get around the city. It would be fantastic to see the council put its weight and influence behind a city wide scheme.’
Fergus Boden, President of Queen Margaret University Students Union and another keen supporter of the scheme said:
“I think this is a really exciting opportunity for residents and visitors to Edinburgh, and particularly to students at all institutions across the city. One of the biggest costs involved in cycling is purchasing a bike, so being able to borrow bikes as and when you need them will make it one of the most accessible means of transport to students in Edinburgh, as well as opening up cycling as an interest to people who don’t own a bike. The volume of signatures the petition got demonstrates the level of support this idea has, and I hope the council can recognise that too.”
Our photo shows the bikes from Dublin which were originally set up by JCDecaux and are now sponsored by Coca Cola.
A link to the petition can be found here
The agenda for the hearing can be found here
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
