Here in Edinburgh we are well used to Pedal on Parliament, the mass demonstration of cycling which takes place each year, and it has been held before in Aberdeen, but now it is to be extended to three cities across Scotland.
As part of the organisation of the event a crowdfunder has been launched today. Find out more about it here.
On 22 April the streets of Aberdeen and Edinburgh will be filled with bikes, and on Sunday 23 April 2017 it will be Glasgow’s turn. The difference is that Glasgow’s ride will be on closed roads.
The purpose of Pedal on Parliament is to hold ‘family-friendly protests for a cycle-friendly Scotland’.
The aim of holding the demonstrations before the council elections in May is clear. In Edinburgh we have a portion of the Transport Budget set aside for cycling, but that is not true across the whole of the country, and this demonstration will highlight the need for good cycling infrastructure.
Cycle hire firm nextbike have offered support already and they will donate annual memberships to those who back the online fundraiser commenced today. You might also feature in a video created by the mysterious cycle campaigner Bike Gob, and be subjected to a personal tour of East Dunbartonshire’s mean streets by helmet cam cyclist Magnatom.
Julian Scriven, Managing Director of nextbike UK said “As the leading cycle hire provider in Scotland, we are committed in getting more people on bikes and cycling across the country. Already more than 20,000 people in Scotland are members of nextbike, and we aim to increase this number as we expand throughout the country but, for cycle hire to be successful, we would like to see further support from the government in terms of long-term thinking – roads have to re-designed to ensure safety of all road users.”
Echoing this, Dr Dave Brennan, the force behind the popular Magnatom YouTube channel and one of the original organisers of Pedal on Parliament said, “We’re delighted to get the support of private companies like nextbike, which shows that cycling isn’t just about keeping healthy and saving the planet – it’s a route to economic prosperity too.
“We run Pedal on Parliament on a shoestring but taking the message right across Scotland, not just to the politicians in Holyrood, takes more money. With nextbike’s support – and donations from our supporters – we hope that we can get the word out to everyone who’d like to see safer cycling conditions for themselves and their loved ones in Scotland.”
Pedal on Parliament call for:
- Proper funding for cycling (5% of the transport budget & 10% for active travel overall).
- Design cycling into Scotland’s roads.
- Slower speeds where people live, work and play
- Integrate cycling into local transport strategies
- Improved road traffic law and enforcement
- Reduce the risk of HGVs to cyclists and pedestrians
- A strategic and joined-up programme of road user training
- Improved statistics supporting decision-making and policy
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
