Inspired by the words of John F. Kennedy: “Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike”
Presented by Cyclist.ie and Waterford Walk & Cycle Campaign
April 25th – May 7th, Index Gallery, Central Library, Waterford
Category Archives: Irish Posts
Ireland, see also NI
Cyclist.ie elects new Chairperson
Mike McKillen was the first chairperson of Cyclist.ie – The Irish Cycling Advocacy Network – from its foundation in February 2009. At our Council meeting on 12 March he announced that he decided to get off the ‘bike’ in order to let new legs pedal it into the future. Seven years in the saddle is long enough, particularly since as Flann O’Brien wrote in ‘The Third Policeman’, if you sit in a saddle for too long you fuse at a molecular level with the leather!
Colm Ryder (from Dublin Cycling Campaign) was nominated and elected unanimously as our new Chair at the Council meeting on Saturday 12 March and has taken over from Mike. Colm has plenty of energy and ideas so the steering and direction of the ‘bike’ are in good hands. Mike will still be involved in Dublin Cycling Campaign and with whatever has to be done in Cyclist.ie.
In handing over Mike said “I wish Colm well in the role. He has a great bunch of volunteers and an able National Cycling Coordinator in Dr. Damien O’Tuama”.
Mike is pictured above on the left, on his own bike; Colm is on a Dublin Bike, on the right
Waterford Greenway
Submission by Maynooth on Dublin – Galway Euro Velo #2
Our member organisation Maynooth Cycling Group (see also Facebook) has drafted our Part 8 submission to Kildare County Council about the proposed Royal Canal Greenway that forms a critical part of the Dublin to Galway Euro Velo Route #2.
The Part 8 planning process deals with the route from the county boundary with Dublin through Kildare to Maynooth. This is an important sector of the overall route as it passes close to major employment centres based around Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth. It needs to be a high quality greenway so that it takes commuters out of their cars to reach the likes of Intel, Hewlett Packard, etc. There are lots of schools along the route and it will need good connections to all schools if we are to get many more students to use their bikes to get to school and end the school run by car.
The local authority is just not getting the bigger picture.
This is why it is crucial that we continue to monitor all planing application having anything to do with transport and that fail to address the urgent decarbonisation of our transport system from its present unsustainable growth path.
Smarter Travel Video – Why Cycle to UL?
This video describes the various smarter travel facilities and initiatives that have led to the University of Limerick winning the National Smarter Travel Campus of the Year Award, the National Cycling Campus of the Year Award and the National Students’ Union of the Year Award.
Cyclists Set out their Demands ahead of Election 2016!
With the general election just around the corner, cyclists have set out their political demands!
Our vision is for everyday cycling to be normal part of life for all ages and abilities (the ‘8 to 80’ cohort as it is sometimes put) – very similar to the ways it is in many northern European countries. Remember also that #COP21 is a game changer – we need radical reductions in CO2 emissions from the Irish transport sector!
We want all political parties to commit to these two overarching aims:
- Allocate at least 10% of transport funding to cycling
- Implement the NCPF in full (initiated in 2009 it has only four years to run – time is ticking on actions/objectives not realised so far)
Additionally and more specifically, we must:
- Achieve at least 10% of all journeys by bike by 2020 [It is currently only at 1.6% at a national level]
- Appoint a National Cycling Officer in the Dept of Transport [This is a crucial step in being able to implement the NCPF effectively.]
- Make 30km/h the default urban speed limit
- Introduce a legally enforced 1.5-metre gap for overtaking cyclists; more information
- Provide for contra-flow cycling on one-way streets
- Retrofit the top 50 most dangerous junctions in Ireland
- Fund high quality cycle infrastructure
- Upskill An Garda Síochána to understand cycling so as to address (1) dangerous overtaking (2) illegal parking in cycle tracks; see #free-the-cycle-lanes
- Provide mandatory cycle training in all primary and secondary schools
- Introduce compulsory certificate of professional competence (CPC) for all taxi/hackney drivers by end 2017
Over the coming weeks, election candidates will be knocking on your door. Please relay the above points to them, explain why everyday cycling makes so much sense, and do feel free to share, tweet and post our graphic to get its message out there.
Cyclist.ie and its constituent local campaigns, and festivals will be working hard to ensure that all political parties understand the issues and see the value of putting the bicycle at the heart of transport and public health policies. If you support our work representing cyclists, please considering joining Dublin Cycling Campaign or, if you are outside the capital and not resident near a local campaign group, Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network. This support makes a real difference is enabling voluntary organisations with their work. Thank you!
Fund-raising volunteer sought
Cyclist.ie seeks a volunteer with fund-raising skills to help it secure corporate social responsibility (CSR)- or philanthropic-type funding for its work. Cyclist.ie’s fundraising volunteer will advise on, and help to advance, a plan to approach the chosen companies and funders. More info.
Launch of National Physical Activity Plan
Cyclist.ie at launch of National Physical Activity Plan
Healthy Ireland launched the long awaited “Get Ireland Active – National Physical Activity Plan” in Dublin today (14th Jan 2016). Ministers Leo Varadkar (Health), Paschal Donohoe (Transport, Tourism and Sport) and Michael Ring (Sport) each spoke at the event. Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, National Cycling Coordinator with Cyclist.ie, attended on behalf of the cycling campaigning community. Cycling Ireland were also present representing the sporting arm of cycling.
The common theme of each of the Ministers’ speeches was that in order to avoid further pressure being applied to an already overstretched health service, it is essential to change national habits so as to have physical activity as a normal part of our everyday lives. Hear hear! And how does one change these habits? It will require multiple agencies, sporting groups, the voluntary sector etc. in order to bring about a paradigm shift at every level of society.
In Cyclist.ie, we strongly believe that the built environment itself must not be an ‘obesogenic one’ – it must make it easy and safe for people of all ages and abilities to walk and cycle. We are delighted to see this point elaborated more fully in Section Four (Environment) of the plan. The proof, of course, will be determined by the extent to which this plan shapes the capital spending programmes of other departments. It is simply not acceptable that cycling receives a minimal mention in the government’s spending plans announced recently; PDF available here
The National Physical Activity Plan is downloadable here and Cyclist.ie will be examining it in more detail over the coming days and weeks. Watch this space.
Belfast Bike Life Report
‘Bike Life’ has been prepared by Sustrans in partnership with the Department for Regional Development. It presents information on cycling infrastructure in Belfast, and cycling behaviour and attitudes to cycling expressed by Belfast residents. It is the first time that such comprehensive information has been provided for Belfast. Full Report
Trains, planes and automobiles – how we got around in 2014
The number of people choosing to get around the capital on the public bikes system increased significantly, as passenger journeys jumped to over 3m in 2014.
Passenger journeys peaked at 355,155 in October of last year, almost 200,000 more than the number of users from the same month in the year prior. Public transport services all around the country – bus, rail and Luas – saw an increase in passenger numbers throughout the year.