Dear Spurtle,

In your October edition (Issue 366) you reported Cycling Scotland's analysis that showed 5,600 bike journeys on Leith Walk between 8am and 9am on 13 and 14 May 2026, presumably based on data from the bike counter at Picardy Place. This strikes me as a statistical impossibility: at 2,800 bikes per hour, this implies 50 bikes per minute. 

Perhaps the modes of transport got muddled up? It is highly likely that in excess of 8,000 passengers travelled by bus through Picardy during the one-hour morning peak over the two days, with perhaps another 2,500 by tram.

As an aside, it is a shame that no one seems to count the long suffering foot passengers on Leith Walk. Or how many of the bikes using Leith Walk are commercial vehicles, often with illegally modified electrical motors. 
 

Harald Tobermann

Chair

Edinburgh Bus Users Group

email: chair@edinburghbususers.group

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Dear Mr Tobermann,

Rather than being statistically impossible, 1.28 bikes passing a single counter every second is practically implausible. There again, given the surprising speeds and high levels of skill achieved by regular users of souped-up cycles, perhaps we should not be surprised.

The Editor

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Dear Spurtle,

Thank you for featuring the results of Cycling Scotland’s recent all-mode traffic surveys in your October edition (Issue 366), including the record levels of cycling seen on Leith Walk in Edinburgh. We respectfully wish to highlight an error in the reporting, that ‘Cycling Scotland’s analysis of traffic data for 13–14 May 2026 shows 5.6k bike journeys on Leith Walk between 8am and 9am.’

5,653 bikes were recorded at the survey location on Leith Walk over the full 48-hour survey period, across 13th and 14th May 2026, rather than during a single hour. Between 8am and 9am on Wednesday 13th May, 232 bikes were recorded, compared to 224 cars, marking the first time more bikes than cars have been counted at this location in any single hour period.

More detail is available in the full report, including information on how these morning spikes in cycle traffic – likely people commuting to work by bike – have increased over time on Leith Walk and other major cycle routes that have been developed across Scotland in recent years.

We’d be grateful if a correction could be published when there may be an opportunity.

Mark McIntyre 

Media & Communications Officer

Cycling Scotland