Edinburgh BioQuarter

There are many options for travelling around Edinburgh by bus. There are multiple bus stops close to the hub.

Use the Traveline Scotland journey planner to plan the most convenient route. There are different options for public transport fares, including:

• Travelling for free on buses in Scotland with a National Entitlement Card (e.g. under 22s or over 60s). A day ticket with Lothian Buses, who run most of the buses that stop near to the hub, is £6.00, and a single ticket is £2.40 (for latest fare and route information see the Lothian Buses website).
• Waverley train station is a 30 minute bus ride from the pop-up hub. ScotRail train tickets can be purchased at the station or on the ScotRail app. You may be able to buy a railcard or eligible for other discounted train tickets. Visit the ScotRail website for more information.

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There are groups offering health walks to help build your walking confidence and meet other people visit Walking Scotland to find a walk near you.

• Friends of Little France Park: A community-led group via Friends of Little France Park Facebook Group that promotes the local greenspace, organizes community engagement, and occasionally hosts nature or wellbeing walks in collaboration with local organizations like the Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust.

Key Cycling Features and Routes:

• Little France Park Paths: Features wide, surfaced, traffic-free paths suitable for cycling, connecting the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Craigmillar Castle Park, Danderhall, and Craigmillar
• QuietRoute 61 Connections: Links the Edinburgh BioQuarter and the Royal Infirmary with local destinations including Holyrood Park, Hunter's Hall Park, Duddingston, and Gilmerton

QuietRoutes are Edinburgh's walking and cycling routes - perfect for exploring the city. There is an interactive map to help plan your journeys.

For longer journeys, you can plan your cycling route using the CycleStreets website or app.

There are a number of local groups that can help you cycle in Edinburgh. Groups include:

• The Bike Station is a community-focused charity bike shop that refurbishes donated bicycles and sells them affordably to keep bikes in circulation and reduce waste. It also provides services like repairs, maintenance classes and skills training to support people of all ages to cycle and develop confidence. The revenue from these activities funds programmes aimed at building healthier, more connected and sustainable communities across Edinburgh and Scotland. To read more about the work they do click on their website.
• Spokes website includes details of local bike rides and campaigns.

Most local journeys can be done by walking, cycling or public transport. But for occasional journeys that need to be done by car, why not consider renting one of the nearby car club vehicles from Enterprise Car Club? Car clubs offer the benefits of access to cars without the costs and hassle of owning one. Visit the Enterprise website to learn more.

The project aims to work out how more people in Scotland can be supported to walk, wheel and cycle for short local journeys. The hub therefore needs to be near where people live, work or visit, or a combination of these things.

This site was chosen after an assessment process and site visit that looked at things like:

• Existing sustainable transport options (e.g. bus, cycling, walking, car club)
• Proximity to amenities (e.g. hospital)
• Potential for more people to take journeys by public transport or walking or cycling

Edinburgh BioQuarter scored highly in this assessment as it is a busy location and has high potential for modal shift to more sustainable types of transport.

No, the council is not funding the pop-up mobility hubs project. The funding for the project comes from South East of Scotland Transport Partnership’s People & Place Programme, which is a grant fund of Transport Scotland. The aim of the funding is to make it easier for more people in Scotland to walk, wheel or cycle for short, local journeys. CoMoUK has partnered with the Edinburgh BioQuarter partners to bring the pop-up hub to BioQuarter and understand the views of staff and visitors on the hub and benefits from the facilities available on the hub.

The hub will be in the area between Tuesday 13 October – early December 2026. It will then be moved to another area in the South East of Scotland and the pavement area will revert to their usual function.

We are testing the pop-up hub across the South East of Scotland to see what works well and what does not to help people to walk, wheel and cycle more. Keeping pop-ups between 6 to 8 weeks means that we can try different types of location and also gives more people the benefit of having the pop-up in their area.

The hub features:

• Accessible seating to allow those with mobility needs (or anyone else) to rest while walking
• Bike repair stand
• Bike docking station
• Colourful planting and greenery
• Free walking and cycling events for the community while the hub is in the area

We have installed over 30  pop-ups across Scotland, and none so far have resulted in any major issues relating to antisocial behaviour or littering for residents. However, we will respond to any issues raised (see below for how to contact us) and our Edinburgh-based team will check on the hub regularly.

If you have an urgent concern to report about the hub, you can email scotland@como.org.uk or call 07553 355519 between Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm. If you would like to share your opinion on the hub, positive, negative or neutral, you can fill in our survey, which can be accessed at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/bioquarter/.