Transcript:
*Banging tunes*
Child 1: I love cycling because it doesn't damage the planet.
Child 2: I like cycling because it gives you exercise.
Child 3: I like cycling because you don't have to buy a car and you can travel really quickly to shop places.
Paul:
Hi, I'm Paul. I live in Colinton, in South West Edinburgh. I've got three young children who go to Juniper Green primary school. As you can see here we have a collection of my childrens bikes and my bikes and we're keen cyclists. We use them to get to school and to travel around the city.
Amal:
It was a really rewarding experience seeing my youngest start to cycle during lockdown with the roads being so much quieter. She was three and three months when she started cycling on a pedal bike by herself and...it was really rewarding, it was liberating to see her physical confidence and her physical strength. She was moving out of toddlerhood and becoming, em, a physically stronger independent person.
Paul:
So with using the bike to get to work obviously things like nursery drop off and school drop off as my children got older became more of an overlap, a bit more of a consideration. So my children went to Lanark Road nursery which is not far here, it's less than a mile away and before the cycle lanes it would have to be a case of me cycling with them either towing them directly or them on the pavement and me on the road. Having traffic going past us, juggernauts at 40mph was a pretty uncomfortable experience.
Amal:
I think cycling means a lot to my family. When I see my children cycle, I see them enabled, that they're taking their transport into their own hands, when they are cycling in the winter, I see them thinking about their bikes lights, their gloves, cycling in the cold or the wet and what waterproofs they are going to need so i see how they plan their day because they are not just getting in the car.
Paul:
So when the cycle lanes did come along it gave us a lot more flexibility, a lot more choice, as to how to get the children down to nursery, so they could cycle themselves with me alongside them, or in front of them but at least it would be protected from the high speed traffic and the large vehicles moving down the lanes. The other advantage is my eldest child who's ten can now cycle down to football practice at Dovecot Park, at the bottom of the cycle lanes, which gives him that freedom, it means one of us don't either have to drive him in the car or to go with him so he can do that by himself, but again, building his independence, giving him some freedom and he can also go and see his friends who live in that area as well. What I'd really like to see is for there to be consideration for all road users within the community, of all ages, people who might not have a voice, in order for them to take advantage of the local community, the facilities and the network that we have available. At the moment there is very much a bias towards traffic, vehicular traffic, cars in particular, and them being used for local journeys that could be replaced with active travel.
Amal:
I just want to feel that if I'm not there, or their dads not with them that they're safe, that the world around them wants to keep them safe, while they cycle to school.
*Banging tunes*
End