Fianna Fail yesterday launched their cycling policy, titled Improving the Urban Cycling Experience (PDF). Discussion on it can be found on boards.ie here.
A Fianna Fail press release quoted party leader Micheal Martin as saying:
DCC Beta cycling suggestion #1: Filtered permeability
Dublin City Council’s City Architects Division are looking for ‘beta projects‘ for their ‘beta area‘, which is a test area for changes to the city’s landscape. Here’s our first suggestion….
“Little or no progress” with Dublin’s complex junctions or major one-way streets says report on cycling
Dublin City has seen “a definite improvement” for cycling in the last five years, an independent report says, but it warns that targets will not be met if the momentum is not stepped up. It highlights how one-way streets and large junctions are not being tackled.
The Bypad report written for Dublin City Council was finalised earlier this year, but was not reported on until now.
“The concise conclusion from the 2011 Bypad audit is that there has been a definite improvement in the quality of the cycling policy in the last 5 years which included the appointment of Ireland’s first Cycling Officer,” the report said. “However, cycling needs to be taken far more seriously as a core part of urban transport policy than it currently is.”
Irish cycle track law to be revoked
Legislation to revoke the rule which forces cyclists to use a cycle track regardless of its condition is in the process of being finalised, the Department of Transport said.
The national cycle policy includes a commitment to remove the current law, known as the “mandatory use” rule. That promise was originally made by Noel Dempsey, the transport minister in the last government, but has been slow to be delivered.
Cyclists are currently required to use cycle lanes marked with the correct bicycle logo sign, but cyclists view this as unfair given the current state of the country’s cycle lanes It’s understood that a number of bodies including the RSA are against changing the law.
“We have to do” quays cycle route – senior Dublin engineer
A high quality cycle route on the quays is “something we have to do” a senior engineer with Dublin City Council has said.
Under the title “Liffey Cycle Route” council has allocated €150,000 for “design and commencement of construction of a high quality East-West city centre cycle route linking the IFSC in the east with Heuston Station and the Phoenix Park in the west.”
Cycle lane guidelines only adopted after major Dublin repairs
Design guidelines costing nearly €250,000 and aimed at making roads safer for cyclists were set aside on a technicality for resurfacing works to 24km of roads in Dublin.
Officials from the National Transport Authority (NTA) defended the disregarding of their own guidelines, the National Cycle Manual, while cycling campaigners called it “an appalling sign for the future.”
The manual was published at cyclemanual.ie early last year and was available to road authorities before this, but the NTA said the resurfacing — which cost €22 million — did not have to follow the manual because the “work predated the formal adoption” of the manual.
Safety in numbers for cyclists in Dublin City?
As the numbers of cyclists has increased in the Dublin City area — including many inexperienced cyclists, and, reportedly, many apparent reckless ones — the death and injury rates have declined:
39,000 people commute regularly by bicycle in Dublin – Census
Over 39,000 commuters in Dublin count themselves mainly as cyclists, up by 26% since 2006, according the 2011 Census.
In all of Co Dublin, which includes the four council areas combined, the modal share is at 5%, up from 3.95% in 2006. It accounts for an actual increase of over 8,000 people.
However, people who cycle less regularly and those who use a bike for a small part of a longer commute — such as many Dublin Bike users — are not counted by the Census as cyclists, so the total number of cyclists is likely to be even higher. Dublin Bikes now has around 46,000 long-term subscribers who have clocked up over 3.5 million trips since September 2009.
The Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council areas account for over three quarters of the 39,044 people who are mainly cyclists, with 23,265 and 6,869 cyclists respectively. The strongest growth in cycling is also in these areas. Those who say they ‘usually’ use a bicycle to get to school, work or college has increased by 29% and 37.5% respectively.