— Planned protest this Friday now to be a picnic thanking the council.
Dublin City Council today installed bollards on the Alfie Byrne Road section of the S2S Dublin Bay cycle route, according to images provided by campaign group I Bike Dublin.
The bollards were installed ahead of a Westlife concert this Friday and Saturday at Croke Park.
The bollards seem to be aimed at stopping coaches from parking on the cycle route — one of the strongest indications yet that there has been an inter-agency battle over the use of coach parking on the segregated cycle path. Previously the Gardai, Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority (NTA) had each referred this website to contact another agency.
Last year, the Gardai press office told this website that alternative arrangements would be made and coaches would not be parked on the cycle path. Then last month, Gardai would not give clarity if the cycle path would be used for coach parking for a Spice Girls concert.
However, the cycle path featured in the plan for coach parking for the Spice Girls concert at Croke Park and the only thing which stopped this happening was protesters from I Bike Dublin.
I Bike Dublin said that at their last protest they talked to a senior NTA official and that the official was requesting they end their protest and that cyclists would be safe on the road.
At the time of publication the NTA did not response to requests for comment on this issue.
I Bike Dublin said this afternoon that they planned to protest again this Friday, but they will now hold a picnic to thank Dublin City Council:
We were planning to hold an action to protect the cycling lane on Alfie Byrne this Friday. However, @DubCityCouncil is erecting bollards that will stop coaches from parking there.
So instead we will be holding a THANK YOU DCC picnic, from 5 to 7 pm on Friday. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/a9gwZ9qI7o— I BIKE Dublin (@IBIKEDublin) July 2, 2019
If this is on your cycling route home, join us – if it's not, join us anyway! @DCCTraffic staff welcome to join.
If anyone wants to help fund the picnic (totally optional), donations accepted on https://t.co/9uaCFFnnrK 2/2 pic.twitter.com/3WaZiVeryS
— I BIKE Dublin (@IBIKEDublin) July 2, 2019
Whoop Whoop!
But this is indeed interesting because someone ordered those poles to go up. Dub City Council workers were putting them up when I passed earlier….. so the Gards and the NTA seem to be out of the loop on this. ?
When is a cycle path not a cycle path? During Velo 2019, Dublin City Council and the NTA were quick to sing the praises of the S2S, http://www.S2S.ie, referring to it in their Velo brochure as their ‘flagship cycling project’. This boast despite the fact that there is no S2S through the city centre and nothing at all built on the southside of Dublin. So, maybe we should encourage them to put more bollards up along the rubbishy painted lines with drains and broken glass they call cycle paths, and get the motorists off them?
What great secret do the nta have access to that they know that parking buses on a cycleway makes the road safe for cyclists
Just to let you all know those new “Bollards” are not solid structures. They are 100% bendy. Like a lot of installments along cycle lanes that look like solid dividers they give-way with the merest pressure. I witnessed small children bending them 100% to the ground today. Thus, they are only a psychological prevention, as opposed to a physical prevention of Coaches parking.
I went passed them today. they are very far apart…. I think a coach will fit between them with room to spare
The proof of whether they are fit for purpose, or not, is if they work.
Fair play DCC. They are showing their position on the issue. If we see coaches illegally parking, I hope the Gardaí do their job, and issue on-the-spot fines.
The NTA paid for a coach park in Sheriff St, but it closes at 7pm. Do we know why it isn’t available for evening events? It was a bit crazy investing in a facility which only solves part of the problem.