Cycling in Dublin

Inspired by Broadsheet.ie. Flickr slideshow:

If the slideshow does not work for you, you can also view the set of photos on Flickr.

Following from our report on a planned upgrade of the bridge at North Strand Road, it turns out that Dublin City Council are looking at upgrading more of the road, the busiest cycling route in the city.

Cllr Ray McAdam sent us an update:

[The] Roads & Traffic Department has informed me that Roads & Traffic had previously appointed a consultant to prepare a preliminary report for the widening of Newcomen Bridge in order to facilitate cyclists. This study will now be extended to include an assessment of the options for improving cycle facilities from The Five Lamps through to Fairview Park and Annesley Bridge. The completed report is not due to be ready until approximately November.

The section to be studied is in blue:

View North Strand Road in a larger map

MORE: Bridge on Dublin’s busiest cycling commuter route to be upgraded

Rush hour in Copenhagen

The Danish Embassy in Dublin are again helping out with Bike Week. They are to host a Danish bicycle photo exhibition by Mikael Colville-Andersen (of copenhagencyclechic.com and copenhagenize.com fame)…

Like last year, there will be a Danish contribution to the Dublin Bike Week, which is part of the annual Irish Bike Week. The contribution will be the Danish photo exhibition ‘Monumental Motion – A cycling life in the Danish capital’ by Mikael Colville-Andersen, which documents the cycling lifestyle of Copenhagen by displaying 50 unique images of everyday cycling life in the Danish capital. Denmark, and especially Copenhagen, are world-renowned for the Danish cycling culture. The artist spent over 4 years documenting bicycle life in the Danish capital, resulting in 50 chosen images from a collection of over 10,000 photos.

The bicycle is an indispensable companion for almost every Dane, and the exhibition hopes to highlight the variety of ways Copenhageners of all ages and wage brackets use the bicycle in their everyday lives. At the same time the exhibition and the healthy bicycle culture should be seen as an important part of the effort being made to transform 21st century cities into high-quality places to live. The role of the bicycle in this effort should not be underestimated.

(via the Dublin Cycling Campaign on Facebook)

Cycling in Dublin in print: Nearly at the green light.

Thank you to everybody who has helped with funding for Cycling in Dublin in print! With just under two weeks to go, the project is nearly 80% funded on fundit.ie.

For every €90 after the target is exceeded, the amount of copies will be increased by 1,000 copies, up to a max of 10,000 copies — thanks to all of you, this upper target is now looking possible.

The response from individuals has been nothing short of fantastic. Also a big thanks to the Dublin and Cork car sharing company GoCar who have become title sponsor.

If you have any questions or suggestions on anything from content to distribution please get in contact at ideas@cyclingindublin.com or comment below.

Dublin City Council has confirmed the date for when its experimental bicycle traffic lights on the Canals Cycle Route are to switched on. It said on twitter on Thursday: “We begin switching the Canal Cycle Way junction lights on from 14th March.”

Bellow is the traffic light sequence explained (image from Dublin City Council’s blog; text by cyclingindublin.com). Continue reading →

Metro Herald reported this morning that ‘nearly half of cyclists break law’ as their front page lead story — that’s at best lower than motorists or at worse about the same as them.

The cyclist statistic was from a wider PR survey from Semperit Tires, no details were given in Metro Herald about other road users, but other surveys puts the lawbreaking of motorists well above “almost half”.

Here’s just a few examples:

One survey found 90% of motorists were breaking the 30km/h zone in Dublin City Centre. Autobiz.ie reported last year that “A Continental Tyres traffic speeding survey along Dublin’s city centre quays, found that less than 10% of motorists were obeying the 30km/h speed limit.”

The Sunday Tribune put that even higher. It reported: ”Almost 97% of motorists in Dublin city are breaking the controversial new 30kmph speed limits.”

According to an AA survey last year 53.8% of motorists surveyed “admitted to using a handheld mobile phone at least occasionally while driving.”

Another survey by the AA found that “almost half (45%) of drivers [surveyed] have stopped on the hard shoulder of a motorway to make or receive a call.”

Funding has been approved to upgrade a bridge on North Strand Road, the busiest cycle route into Dublin City Centre.

Newcomen Bridge is recorded by the council as the single largest point of entry for cyclist over the canals and into the city centre at the morning rush hour. It serves as the main route to a wide range of areas including Fairview, Clontarf, Marino, Donnycarney, and Coolock.

The bridge brings North Strand Road over the Royal Canal and a railway line. The heavily trafficked road currently has narrow shared bus lanes where bus drivers and cyclists attempt to squeeze past each other.

The funding of €80,000 from the NTA for upgrading of the bridge was confirmed by a posting on councillor Ray McAdam’s website. He wrote:

Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Transport has informed me that €80,000 has been allocated by the National Transport Authority to allow the Newcomen Bridge Cycle Project progress. This funding will be used to finalise the design of a scheme to provide improved facilities for both pedestrians and cyclists. From what the Minister has told me the project will see a widening of Newcomen Bridge for both cyclists and pedestrians. I expect to receive a further update on this from the Council Engineers next week. If you would like further information on this project, please get in touch with me. Minister Varadkar has also pointed out to me that funding will be made available for design work of the cycle route along the Royal Canal from Sherriff Street to North Strand Road and then onto Phibsborough Road. Despite our economic difficulties, I am delighted that our Fine Gael-led Government is in a position to allocate funding to allow these vital projects to develop.

More details as we get them, but below is our brief description of what the council had been looking at. It seems the NTA approved a somehow cheaper version of the first part, and funding for the design of the second half:

The proposed project at Newcomen Bridge has been split into a menu of two – the NRA can pick all, one or none.

From north to south along North Strand Road, the council says the bridge needs to be widened to remove a conflict with cyclists and buses. The design has yet to be finalised, but is likely to be physically separated from the bus lane and the footpath
It estimates this will cost €1.1 million.

From east to west, at an estimated €1.9 million, the council wants to enable cyclists to travel along the Royal Canal – this is part of a wider plan to develop a network of off-road cycle routes along the Royal Canal, Grand Canal, and Dublin Bay.

A cyclist was seriously injured in a collision with a truck just north of the Dublin Airport Roundabout on the Swords Road. Here’s the statement from the Garda Press Office seeking witnesses: Continue reading →

There’s an interesting discussion on Rothar’s Facebook page about gender and cycling, read it here, and there was some banter about cycling in heels, dresses, skirts, make up, and generally in normal clothes.

Special gear is great if you’re cycling around 15km, or if you’re cycling up and around the Dublin mountains. But it’s amazing how many people think that you need to have gear like helmets, high-vis or special cycling clothes just for a few kms to work or down to the shops. People give all sorts of reasons why it’s just not possible to go without this gear. Continue reading →

Full-sized bicycles are now officially banned on Luas, going against government policy. To date the RPA — the state agency in charge of Luas — and its contracted operator Veolia Transdev had used a more informal operational ban on bring bicycles on board trams.

The national cycle policy firmly commits to allowing full-sized bicycles on Luas, but the RPA previously cited safety reasons as to why they have dismissed this government policy. They only allow fully covered folding bicycles.

While it is common to have rush-hour restrictions, a range of tram, metro and train services worldwide allow bicycles on board.

The new light railway bylaws or bye-laws drafted last year and enacted on Tuesday. The new bylaws read:

5. (1) A person shall not on a light rail vehicle or a light railway—…

(q) board or attempt to board a light rail vehicle with a bicycle unless it is folded and fully encased.

The national cycle policy says:

Bicycles and LUAS We will provide for the carriage of bikes on LUAS when services are of a frequency and at a capacity that allows for it. i.e. when it is considered possible to carry bikes on carriages when they do not interfere with the capacity for pedestrians.

The policy also includes Dart, commuter services and any planed metros:

Bicycles and Sub-Urban Rail We will permit the carriage of bikes on DART and other suburban rail services at off-peak times and on counter peak services at peak hour, following a more detailed study which will recommend suitable devices / facilities for the proper restraining of bikes on the trains. This will include all future Metro plans in Dublin (or anywhere else they may be planned).

Irish Rail now allow bicycles on Dart and Commuter services off peak, but the RPA also dismissed that section of the policy and had been planning the now stalled multi-billion Metro North without any provisions for carrying bicycles.