East Lothian
Being within commuting distance of Edinburgh, East Lothian has seen the highest population growth in all of Scotland. Despite this growth, the county still suffers from travel barriers with some towns having just one bus service every hour. Additionally, only 1 in 5 residents have access to a car and around 75% do not have access to a bicycle. The council is therefore having to get creative with how it tackles both increasing demand on infrastructure and pressure to reduce the county’s carbon footprint.
The Journey Hub Project
Aim of the project
The programme aims to have a network of transport/mobility interchanges within easy reach of all residents to help people choose more active and sustainable travel options. Journey, or mobility hubs, vary in size from micro-hubs with new bus shelters and live bus times, to larger hubs supporting modal interchange for rail, bus, e-bikes, e-rental cars and safe, comfortable waiting facilities.
The project aims to see every resident of East Lothian live within a 15-30 minute walk of a journey hub. A journey hub includes anything that supports active travel or better access and use of public transport e.g. roofing a bus shelter and live transport updates.
Project Funding
About 60% is East Lothian Council (ELC) budget and the balance includes Interreg Europe and SHARE-North Programme awards accessed via SEStran plus Smarter Choices, Smarter Places Programme funding.
ELC has so far funded minor improvements to bus shelters to create micro-hubs but external funding has enabled a visioning study for two major sites in Brunton Hall and Wallyford which include topographical surveys, traffic modelling and options for hub design.
Key Learning
- Value of data - There is a tendency to associate behaviour change with qualitative data but quantitative data also plays a key role. Scope for integrating different data and app services into hub facilities has been an unexpected but fun aspect. For example walking apps, such as Go Jauntly, which curate local walks can help people choose a nicer route to their destination that avoids busy streets, goes via a river/woodland etc. ELC will be providing signage and QR codes for apps at hubs so that people can experience a more pleasurable walking environment, if they prefer. e.g. GIS data on car parking, cycle route counters etc.
- Consultation and engagement - Projects delivered in isolation won’t deliver intended outcomes, you need to engage and involve local groups, community councils, local charities, employers, businesses etc. ELC staff joined local cycling groups on routes around towns to understand issues e.g. if cyclists avoid a main road it may be pointless putting a journey hub there. Another example is proximity to sensitive sites e.g. they decided not to site a hub too close to a war memorial to avoid potential objections.
- Adopting a more incremental approach to programme design and delivery was necessary, mainly due to funding uncertainty, but is has realised unintentional benefits. Typical “flagship” transport infrastructure projects can sometimes promote a grand vision to secure initial engagement but risk failing to meet raised expectations of users. The Hub approach is proving more responsive to user needs and providing invaluable learning on what will work where. It has enabled more genuine engagement and effective “listening” to capture some subtle but key features and aspects which risk being overlooked in flagship initiatives to the long-term detriment of a scheme’s success. For example, we might improve a bus stop initially then introduce other features when funding allows such as providing natural shelter on approaches via trees and other landscaping features, bike rack provision, lighting etc.
- Learning from mistakes - consensus is important in getting the right locations and facilities and supportive marketing but inevitably we will get things wrong sometimes. This should not be a barrier to engagement but seen as an opportunity to learn and improve approaches for future projects.