Merchiston Community Council
13 March 2010 
Speaking up for the people of Merchiston  
Transport
Edinburgh has been served by an award winning bus service provided by Lothian buses. They serve the community by primarily offering radial routes i.e. everything leads to Princes Street and very little radiates around the city. We span three radial routes. The first through Bruntsfield is the best served and has many Lothian Bus services [5, 11, 15, 15a, 16, 17, 23, 45] The second is through Gilmore Place, Polwarth to Colinton Road. This route only has two buses[10, 27]. The third is along Fountainbridge Dundee Street and again this has a few more services[1, 34, 35]. We also have a route [38] which starts at the Western General and ends up at the Royal Infirmary at Little France.



Lothian Buses have introduced a bus position tracking system so now you can get up-to-the-minute details of when your bus is due before you leave your house or work. Simply log on via a computer to bus tracker or mobile phone to mobile.mybustracker.co.uk and you can find out when your next bus will arrive at any bus stop fitted with the new bustracker real-time displays. All you have to do is enter the bus service, bus stop code (found at your usual stop), street name or postcode. Note not all Lothian Buses are fitted yet, and more of an issue is the effect of the Gas and Water mains replacement works along with the installation of infrastructure for the impending tram. All these have a knock on effect on the buses as well as other road users.

Click on the link below and try it for yourself.

http://www.mybustracker.co.uk or http://mobile.mybustracker.co.uk

We are currently benefiting from what feels like perpetual roadworks for many reasons. We are having aged mains water pipes and gas pipes renewed across the city while we are also preparing for the introduction of a tram. The tram will not come near our part of town but the disruption is felt by everyone. While the replacement of essential pipes goes on there is always the continued unplanned emergency repair required. So although we would be asked not to use cars the buses do get caught up in the disruptions too. This makes the bus tracker more valuable if you are heading to a bus from a computer or have a mobile phone handy.


Cycling

With all the disruption many are taking to their bicycles once again. This is great for them and the environment. Commuting along the canal is very much quicker and more pleasant than slowly chugging in past all the roadworks in either a car or a bus, if that is an appropriate route for you. Others make use of the sporadic cycle lanes and unfortunately a few are not sure whether they are cyclists or pedestrians and take to the pavement. This, as well as being illegal, has caused public meetings and SPOKES have been running a campaign entitled Bike Polite to improve cycling politeness and standards.

Sustrans
Sustrans is the UK's leading sustainable transport charity. Their vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. Every day they are working on practical, innovative ways of dealing with the transport challenges that affect us all. The NCN route 75 runs through our area along the canal. You can find more here


City Car Club

Public transport not suitable for a particular trip? Then why not try The Edinburgh City Car Club which aims to offer convenient and affordable pay-as-you-drive access to a car for people for whom car ownership is unnecessary, too inconvenient or too expensive.

Rather than paying for a car, road tax, insurance, maintenance, MOT, breakdown cover and parking, why not consider joining the Edinburgh City Car Club?

Contact details
Edinburgh City Car Club
31 Argyle Place,
Edinburgh
EH9 1JT
Telephone:0845 258 2985 or Telephone: 0845 330 1234; Fax: 0131 466 8161 E-mail: mail@citycarclub.co.uk
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 08.30 - 17.30


Disabled

For details of the Blue Badge Scheme (parking for disabled people - you do not need to be a driver), contact Clarence.

Contact details
CLARENCE
Contact Centre, Chesser House,
500 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh
EH11 3YJ
Telephone: 0800 23 23 23       E-mail: clarence@edinburgh.gov.uk
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 8am - 8pm.



Own a Car?

Then you will be interested in the Controlled Parking Zone (See boundary map on our Boundaries page).
The CPZ provides residents' permit parking, shared use, 'pay and display' parking (up to 4 hours) and some Loading only spaces, in effect from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm.
In some of the Bruntsfield shopping area there is further restrictions on Saturday mornings as shown in the photograph.
This has returned the area to the leafy suburb it once was with long term park and ride commuter or long term 'storage' parking removed.
The City Council is currently incorporating lessens learnt in the newer CPZ schemes into the original CPZ areas and this will take some time to produce less diversity in rules making the whole scheme much simpler to follow.

Residents

To give residents more parking spaces, a new type of parking bay throughout the CPZ has been introduced - shared use bays. These bays allow both residents' permit parking and pay and display parking.

How to get a residents' parking permit

Edinburgh's residents' parking scheme gives permit holders access to extra parking bays set aside for their use only. There are never as many bays as permits.
Applications should be made at least 7 working days in advance of when the permit is required.

For further information, visit the Resident's parking permits web page.

Contact details
Parking - Residents' Permits
249, High street, Edinburgh
EH1 1YJ
Telephone:0845 1300 906 
Opening Hours:
Mon, Wed and Thursday - 8.30am to 4.30pm, Tuesday - 10am to 4.30pm and Friday 8.30 to 3.00pm

What about parking for businesses which need a vehicle to operate?

Parking permits are available for retailers and tradespeople who use their vehicle for work - for more information, see the City of Edinburgh Council Permit page.