History of Edinburgh the meantime the Old Town continued to decay into an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates, and was practically segregated socially from the rest of the city. This was especially true where the sub-division of tenements offered the cheapest lodgings in narrow alleyways that formed the backdrop to the infamous 'West Port Murders' of Burke and Hare. In 1865 Alexander Smith wrote of one of the poorest districts, The Cowgate is the Irish portion of the city. Edinburgh leaps over it with bridges: the inhabitants are morally and geographically the lower orders. They keep to their own quarters,
Transport in Edinburgh well as increasing restrictions on vehicles entering the city and strict parking regulations mean that traffic hotspots are common in the city centre itself. Queen Street, Charlotte Square and the western end of Princes Street are areas of significant traffic delay. Park and ride facilities have been provided on the outskirts of the city, such as at Ingliston near Newbridge in the west of Edinburgh with spaces for 535 cars, as well as at Hermiston on the Edinburgh City Bypass, Newcraighall in the east of the city and at Ferrytoll in Fife. The schemes consist of large surface car parks