Ireland, see also NI
Róisín Ingle: I’ve been freewheeling around Dublin town since the red letter day aged eight or nine when I inherited a thoroughly banjaxed third-hand bike that once had belonged to several older brothers or sisters. It was blue and bockety, the saddle leather battered and worn, the chain creaky and in need of a good dose of 3-in-1 oil, but it was mine, all mine. Read article
More on cycling in today’s Irish Times
Only 40 per cent of drink driving cases listed before the country’s District Courts since January 2013 resulted in convictions, new figures show. Read more
Waterford City and County Council is currently developing the Waterford Greenway along a 45km section of the old disused railway line from Dungarvan to Waterford. It is anticipated that this amenity will officially open to the public in the second half of 2016. It is envisaged that the development and completion of the Greenway will have a hugely significant cultural, social and economic impact on the people of Waterford in the years to come. Read article
One year after the official launch of CokeZeroBikes (Cork), the Transport and Mobility Forum Cork (TMF) hosted a half-day seminar on 8th March 2016 on the scheme. The event saw a packed conference room in the Metropole Hotel with about 50 delegates with professional transport / bicycle planning backgrounds attending. Presentations were given on the public bike schemes by the NTA and a group of Master’s students from the UCC Centre for Planning, while the smaller scale Clonakilty Community Bike Scheme received lots of praise too. Planners for Cork City Council reported on their infrastructure improvement projects as did those from County Hall (i.e. Cork County Council) and Cork University Hospital. Delegates learned that there are a number of major employers yet not with the reach of the public bikes.
In the lively discussion, many attendees expressed the hope that the NTA would soon expand the scheme, building on its overwhelming success. This was echoed by the NTA’s Michael Aherne, although he had to try hard to keep expectations low. The NTA would first need to help the two other schemes (Limerick and Galway) up on their feet, although officials in Dublin were more than surprised about the rocket start of the Cork scheme. He pointed out that “in Dublin, we had to wait five years to see how the [Dublin Bikes] system developed and to understand usage patterns. In Cork, however, the emergence of a cycling culture appears to be happening on a fast track.“ Coordinated promotion from various sides and bodies, many of them part of the TMF, such as Cork Cycling Campaign, the Cork Councils, UCC and others, are making a valuable contribution to that success.
For more information visit: Transport & Mobility Forum (Cork) and Cork Cycling Campaign
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
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
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.
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.
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:
Additionally and more specifically, we must:
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!
