Cycling Ireland and Cyclist.ie have come together to form a strategic partnership to promote and advocate for the development of cycling on the island of Ireland. With the numbers of people cycling at an all-time high, this synergy promises to be an exciting new project which will allow both bodies to advocate more effectively for cycling. Read more
Cycle City Active City Leicester Conference
Cyclist.ie keeps a close eye on developments across the water in how British cities are changing to accommodate more cycling. As Irish campaigners we regularly travel across to cycling planning / advocacy events and enjoy meeting our cycle campaigning colleagues and swapping notes.
The latest trip was to Leicester to attend the Cycle City Active City conference. Leicester is undergoing a rapid transformation in recent years. Not only does the city boast the largest area of pedestrianised streets of any UK city (with cycle access and no record of serious collisions!), it has also been dismantling some of its gigantic flyovers – classic symbols of 1960s motorised automobility – and promoting urban regeneration. The nurturing of an everyday cycling culture is very much part of this mix. All of this has been helped along by a directly elected Mayor of the City Council (Peter Soulsby) and one of the most dynamic Local Authority Cycling Officers in the UK (Andy Salkeld).
We also heard the latest news from New York (Jon Orcutt) in which cycling is growing through a combination of high quality (protected) bike lanes and a large bike-share scheme, and from London where top notch cycle campaigning (by London Cycling Campaign and others) has prompted a series of directly elected mayors to treat the bicycle as a serious mode to alleviate congestion and help turn London into a more people friendly city. LCC’s latest success is getting a commitment from London’s new Mayor Sadiq Khan to triple the cycle superhighways, enable ‘Mini-Hollands’ in every borough and take dangerous lorries off streets.
Other excellent contributions came from Rachel Aldred, Senior Lecturer in Transport at Westminster University, who is studying how exactly reducing the volumes as well as the speeds of motorised traffic improves the environment for those not wearing a full body metal shell (her blog) and Philip Darnton, Executive Director of the Bicycle Association. Philip’s main argument is that £20M will enable every single school child in the UK to be trained in how to cycle in trafficked environments and every child deserves this training. Meanwhile, cycling journalist and author Carlton Reid recommended that we treat every outrageous / irrational anti-cyclist comment from various celebrities / notice boxes (such as ex- UK Chancellor Nigel Lawson’s as an indication that we are winning the battle: cycling is growing.
All in all, the Leicester conference was excellent. There were over 500 delegates / speakers plus another 300 cycle training instructors in attendance, and the quality of the presentations was really very good. There is an undoubted buzz generated by the more radical interventions on the streets of London to create safe cycling conditions for all – the question and feeling on everyone’s lips was: why should it just be on a handful of London’s streets that safe cycling conditions are created!? Hear hear!
Dr. Damien Ó Tuama is the National Cycling Coordinator for Cyclist.ie. He presented at the Leicester conference on “The (Slow) Progress in Implementing Ireland’s National Cycle Policy Framework”.
A BIG thanks to Trek
A sincere thanks to the distributors of Trek bicycles in Ireland for their generous donation to Cyclist.ie to support our work.
Centro are the latest of the Irish bicycle companies / importers to see the logic in supporting organised cycling advocacy so as to move cycling up the political priority list.
Trek president John Burke has long maintained that the bicycle industry should divert cash from marketing and R&D to help advocates and politicians create a bicycle friendly world . Hear hear!
Worth checking out their website and some of the progressive cycling projects in various parts of the world they are supporting. Fair play to them!
European Cyclists’ Federation grows stronger – AGM 2016 Report
Stockholm was the host city for this year’s AGM of the European Cyclists’ Federation – the annual gathering of the member groups of ECF. Colm Ryder and Damien Ó Tuama represented Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network. Read more
HGV Permits for Dublin
On behalf of Cyclist.ie, Deputy Tommy Broughan (Ind) kindly asked Parliamentary Questions (PQ) – directed at Minister Frances Fitzgerald (Justice) concerning the An Garda detection & enforcement of the Dublin City Council HGV permit system
- PQ68: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the Heavy Goods Vehicle permit system for Dublin City including the number of permits issued in 2014 to 2016 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
- PQ69: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number and results of discrete Heavy Goods Vehicles stopping and checking operations An Garda Síochána has carried out to detect the permit status of Heavy Goods Vehicles requiring a permit in each of the years 2014 to 2016 to date; the number of multi-agency check-point stoppings conducted with An Garda Síochána, the Health and Safety Authority and the Road Safety Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter
Response:
I am informed by the Garda authorities that the Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) permit system, which is administered by Dublin City Council under its HGV Management Strategy, continues to operate within Dublin City Centre from Monday to Friday, during the hours 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The system requires HGVs utilising 5-axles to obtain a permit to travel inside a designated cordon area to conduct business or make deliveries. HGVs using 4-axles do not require a permit to enter the cordon area. Details of the number of permits issued are a matter for Dublin City Council.
I am further informed by the Garda authorities that Garda checkpoints cover all areas of road traffic legislation and roads policing, including HGV requirements. However, specific details on the number of such checkpoints are not available, with the exception of Mandatory Alcohol Testing Checkpoints and Truck/HGV Checkpoints, which are recorded on PULSE. In the period 2014 – 19 May 2016, An Garda Síochána has conducted 3,763 Truck / HGV Checkpoints. I am advised by An Garda Síochána that these figures are provisional, operational and subject to change. An Garda Síochána has further advised that multi-agency checkpoints with other agencies, including the Road Safety Authority, are not separately recorded on the Garda PULSE System
Cyclists need to stop peddling excuses for rule-breaking
The cycling lobby does itself no favours by engaging in tribal finger-pointing in an effort to excuse bad cycling behaviour … read more
European Cycling Challenge 2016
The European Cycling Challenge – ECC2016 is the biggest urban cyclists’ team competition, which takes place every year May, 1-31.
Join the Team of your City, track your bike trips with the Cycling365 App, challenge other European cities!
Majority of commuters still turning to the car
Despite Government efforts to get more people to walk, cycle, or use public transport, three out of every four journeys are still being made by car, according to a new overview of the country’s transport sector.
Changing city priorities: Let’s do more to promote cycling
A simple reordering of priorities may make our capital city, or at least a segment of it, more attractive to cyclists and encourage more people to use this sensible, healthy and environmentally commendable form of transport. Read more
New cycling chairman gets on the saddle
The new chairperson of Cyclist.ie has warned that Ireland must utilise more environmentally friendly modes of transport if the country is to ever meet its EU greenhouse emissions targets for 2020.
Colm Ryder was appointed chair of the National Cyclist Advocacy Network of Ireland last month, and he says the country is nowhere near meeting its EU targets.