21 October 2010
A Tale of Two Cities – Edinburgh and The Hague
Transform Scotland volunteer John Webster reports:During a recent visit to The Hague in The Netherlands, I was struck by the difference between the two cities in their approach to traffic management and commuting in general. Both are capital cities, with parliament buildings in the city centre, but differ markedly in how they handle the public realm.
Edinburgh city centre is often heavily congested with buses and other vehicles, which makes even crossing the road an unpleasant process. Princes Street is spoiled by the stream of double decked buses, often twenty in a row, that obscure views of the old town and create much noise and air pollution. Cycling into the city centre takes courage because it involves weaving in and out of relatively fast moving buses, lorries and cars, which perhaps accounts for why so few people in Edinburgh or Scotland cycle.
By contrast, The Hague is a heaven of calm, with many streets pedestrianised and full of shops ranging from large departmental stores to boutiques selling specialised items. One reason for the much superior range of shops may be the relative lack of out of town shopping malls, which effectively kills off city centre shopping.
An extensive tram network serves most parts of the city, one line even extending as far as the neighbouring city of Delft. The trams are very frequent, comfortable, popular and cheap to use. A recent innovation is the introduction of Chip Card, which can be topped up at shops or elsewhere then used for public transport in any city in The Netherlands. On boarding and leaving the tram, the passenger scans the card at one of perhaps eight on-board terminals, with the result that fifty or more commuters can get off and another fifty board in about 20 seconds – no queuing to pay the driver. Just compare the photo of mid-morning traffic in the Buitenhof just off the main shopping street!
Countless thousands of citizens of all ages cycle to work, to school or to the shops using miles of traffic free cycle lanes through the city suburbs and centre. Parents are happy to allow their children to cycle to school because they know they will be segregated from traffic and have their own set of lights at road junctions to allow safe crossing. Just look at the photo of cycles parked by commuters at the Central Station and this is only one floor of a multi-level cycle park!
We have a lot to learn in the UK about sustainable travel and improving the public realm to prioritise walking and cycling rather than the car. Yet, the introduction of safe cycle lanes in our cities would require only a fraction of the annual expenditure on roads. Will we ever catch up with mainland Europe?
One final point, our return journey to Edinburgh by rail was an example of our third-world transport network. It took just under two hours to travel from Brussels to London by Eurostar and almost seven hours from London to Edinburgh due to track repairs and train problems!