Sustainable Travel in Haddington No comments yet

1. Your Own Legs.

 Walking’s great – people have been getting about on their legs for millennia and nothing bad happened to the planet.  It’s also good for you, the walker – it reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke, reduces body fat, enhances mental wellbeing – loads of good stuff, in fact.  Walkers even live longer – provided they take a few simple precautions like looking both ways when crossing the road.  And in winter when it’s cold, especially if you’re older you want to make sure you wrap up when you’re out (your mum told you this and I’m putting it in in case my children are reading!)  – otherwise the blood near your skin will thicken to try and keep you warm, which can lead to clots later, obviously not a good thing. 

Luckily Haddington is a pretty compact town, so for most people, legs really are an option.   If you spot something infrastructure wise that’s making walking difficult, like damaged pavements or lighting that isn’t working, you could call East Lothian Council. They won’t fix what they don’t know about.  The phone number is 01875 824305. If you have problems with things like cars consistently parking where they shouldn’t, you can email  Haddington Community Police  Another hazard for pedestrians is dog dirt – if you’ve got a dog, free, biodegradable bags to deal with this are available in the Council offices or in the Library.

For those of you who are new to Haddington, or to walking around Haddington, here is a map which includes pedestrian links.  It also shows places to eat, sit and…er…other useful facilities.

View Walking Haddington in a larger map

 

No 2 – The Bicycle

Cycling is probably the most sustainable form of travel there is – even more so than walking.  This is because despite the materials needed to make the bicycle, it is much more efficient than walking.  So you need less food to power you to get from A to B, and this cuts down on the emissions needed to get the food from wherever it comes from into you.  Complicated! 

It’s good for you too, you know it – BUPA says a new cyclist covering short distances will cut their risk of death by 22% (I thought death was pretty much a certainty, but that is what they say); see Bupa cycling information for more. Cycling reduces your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, stress, depression…and cyclists absorb less pollutants from traffic fumes than car drivers.  Because cycling builds coordination and muscle tone it can also reduce the risk of being hurt in falls.  Though it does undeniably increase the specific risk of being hurt falling off your bike  - this hardly ever happens when you are not actually cycling.  

People do worry about the risk of becoming a casualty as a cyclist, and there is a small risk, as there is in a car or even walking.  It can put you off starting.  But…over the population as a whole, years of life lost through being killed on a bike are far, far less than years of life lost due to the effects of lack of exercise.   Cycle casualties in Scotland are about one per 21 million kilometres cycled – that’s Haddington to Edinburgh every day for the next 1271 years.  And the more of us there are out there, the safer it gets  - when cycle use doubles, the risk of a motorist hitting a cyclist goes down by a third.  So take a friend.  Take two!

Of course you don’t want it to be you, and boffins reckon if you are in an accident you probably want to be wearing a helmet.  It needs to fit close to your head and not be pushed back.  You can buy one at Mikes Bikes and Models on the High Street.  He also sells other bike accessories, bike add-ons and things like child seats, carriers and tag-a-longs.

Sustainable Haddington are producing a map of cycle facilities in and around Haddington; until this comes out you can see facilities we know about here:

View Bicycle Parking and Routes in Haddington in a larger map

There is off-road access to Longniddry Station via the Railway Walk cycle path – allow about 30 minutes before the train time – free cycle carriage on the trains too!   

East Lothian Council produces a map of cycling in East Lothian, which you can get a copy of by calling Iain Reid, Cycling Officer on 827827.  Spokes produce cycle maps of Edinburgh and the Lothians – you can find out more about them on Spokes , or order a map online .

To plan your journey even further afield, see Cycle routes developed by Sustrans.

If you are worried about cycle breakdown or theft, you can get covered for cycle rescue either  through the Cycle Touring Club (call 0800 212810) or online through the Environmental Travel Association at Cycle rescue insurance

 

3. PUBLIC TRANSPORT

And then there’s public transport.  Although a slightly gloomy picture, it may not be as bad as you think.

Sadly, trains in Haddington are no more – the branch line which joined the East Coast Mainline at Longniddry closed to passengers in 1949.  It’s now used for walking, cycling and horse riding.  A campaign to re-open it for trains is run by RAGES (Rail Action Group of the East of Scotland) – if you think this would be a good idea and would like to help, you can find out more at RAGES .  The closest services are at Drem and Longniddry – Drem is closer if you are getting a taxi afterwards (or even if you’re not!)

In the meanwhile, there is the bus.  You can find out about all the bus services and plan your journey at traveline .  Services can change all the time, so it’s best to check online or by phone before you travel if the time you arrive is important.

There is a Haddington Town Service, which runs from the High Street up Hospital Road, Lydgait, Riverside and back. For more see info at Don Prentice Coaches .

The following table is a guide to the main destinations leaving from Haddington with bus service and approximate travel time.  These guidelines are based on the Monday to Friday services. Saturdays are similar with a few less morning and evening buses. Sunday buses are lest frequent and usually take more time, but with a bit of will, patience and, possibly, something to read or a daydream mood, most destinations can be reached on Sundays also.

For destinations that don’t have a regular direct bus service, such as Longniddry, or the Royal Infirmary, it can be possible to get there by taking more than one bus.  Sometimes this isn’t too bad, for example travel to the Infirmary can be quite quick on multiple buses because of the frequency of services within Edinburgh.  It’s just a pain to do it for the first time, or if you don’t know your way about. Traveline will help with this sort of journey, but it doesn’t get round the basic fact; the bus service to some places is not great.

Destinations in East Lothian that are not listed may still be reachable by bus, for example Seton Sands (Eve Coaches 128) or New Winton (Don Prentice 123).

You’ll need the exact money for your fare for buses on the First and Lothian (mostly around Edinburgh) services. Perryman, Eve Coaches and Don Prentice give change.

 

 

 

A useful summary of bus service in and around Haddington can be found at Public Transport to Council Offices

 

4. TAXIS

Taxis – these are eco enough to be allowed in Edinburgh’s green lanes.  Why?  Because the existence of taxis means people who only really need a car occasionally don’t have to buy one.  And if they haven’t bought a car, they can’t use it for all those other little journeys.  Taxis are likely to be fairly fuel efficient as fuel is a big part of their running costs and they’re usually quite new.

Taxi firms serving Haddington include:

Abbey Taxis (01620 825445)

East Lothian Private Hire 01875 852711

Johnnys Cabs -01620 826222

Colins Cabs 01620 825825

5. CARS

All right, they’re evil .  But some of them are more evil than others.  If you definitely are going to get another one, have a look at What Green Car – it will show you the cars in each category with the best fuel economy – and hence CO2 emissions.  New cars should also have a fuel economy label, which looks like this – though hopefully the one you’re considering buying will have the arrow pointing at the “A”:

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And once you have your vehicle, or if you decide not to get one after all, you can register your  journeys on Tripshare East Lothian which will help you find people to car share with. 

If you are a car driver, it would be considerate to avoid the areas around schools at drop off and pick up times if you can.  School starts between 8.40 and 9.00, so the main bulk of children will on the move in the central area from at least 8.30 am to 9.00.  They leave school between 3.20 and 4.00 Monday – Thursday and 12.00 – 12.30 on Fridays, so will be around from 3.20 to about 4.20, and 12 -  12.50 on Fridays.  They are heading for/leaving  schools off Pencaitland Road (Knox Academy and Haddington Infants),  Meadowpark (St Marys and Haddington Infants), Neilson Park Road (Kings Meadow) and West Road (The Compass).  The main roads to try and avoid at these times are Victoria Park, Meadowpark, Pencaitland Road, and if possible the junction at the Railway Inn.  The junction at the Railway is particularly busy for pedestrians around 8.35 – 8.45 in the morning when Knox, Haddington Infants and Kings Meadow children are all trying to get to school, and again on Friday just after 12.00- when Knox and Infants children leave at the same time.

All the Haddington schools have a Travel Plan, and if you are a parent you could ask where they would prefer you to park if you do  have to bring your child to school by car.

There is no car club in Haddington (if you’d like to help set one up get in touch!).  But you can still help by eco-driving, which will save you money as well as fuel.  The AA reckons it could be around 10% on your bill.   There are lots of tips, but it seems to boil down to:

Before you go

• If you are travelling to buy a product, why not see if you can get it in Haddington first? You could try Bizfo or Yellow Pages online
• Check the map so you don’t get lost (and waste fuel)
• Check the traffic news to see if you can avoid jams (see Traffic scotland – it’s also got a beautiful little carbon calculator as well which calculates your carbon emissions for each journey)
• Take the roofrack off if you aren’t using it – it causes drag which uses extra fuel
• Plan ahead, and try and combine trips if you can
• Check your tyre pressure especially if you are off on a long journey – soft tyres are not only dangerous but make you use extra fuel

Going

• Leave! “warming the car up” wastes fuel
• Try and drive smoothly, changing up at around 2500 revs for a petrol car, 2000 for diesel and avoiding stopping and starting and sudden changes of speed – can’t be helped sometimes, obviously!
• Turn off the electrics such as demisters, once they’ve done their job
• Speed – driving at 70 mph uses around 10% more fuel than driving at 60 mph, and around 15 % more than at 50 mph. Most cars do their best around 55 mph.

There is only one source of fuel in Haddington, and it is the Jet Garage on the Dunbar Road.

 

6. ECO-FLYING

This is going to be quite short.  But for what it’s worth, apparently this will help albeit slightly;

• 1. Fly non-stop if you can – taking off and landing use the most fuel
• 2. Go economy – this sends a signal to plane companies that customers would rather be closer together but fuel efficient
• 3. Pack less – extra weight means extra fuel

When looking for tips on greener flying, some websites suggested this: go for electronic ticketing.  It cuts your paper waste. And, take your own water.  Buying bottled airline water is bad for the environment.  Though you may not be allowed to take this on the plane. The bottom of the barrel is now in sight…

If you ‘d like to calculate your emissions from a flight, see Carbon Flight Calculator .  This calculator is backed by the Stockholm Environment Institute (very reliable boffins).   Flying does use a lot of energy – a return short hop holiday flight has about the same CO2 emissions per passenger as the average person’s driving or eating meat for a year for a year.  It’s also seen as a luxury rather than essential use, and for this reason, people sometimes look to offset the carbon impact of their flights. There is a Government-backed quality assurance scheme as offsets are of variable quality. Ones that are approved have this mark:

For information on how to get to Edinburgh Airport other than by car, and on hotels near the Airport so you don’t have to worry about missing the plane,  see the Edinburgh Airport Guide