Cycling in Irish Cities

rack up dublin…

Anyone spotted what I think are the JC Decaux bike racks going in around the city?

I passed the one outside the Bull and Castle and saw not one, not two, not three, not four etc, etc, not eleven but twelve luminous jacketed men working on a patch of ground not much bigger that my living room. Industrious.

@PTB wrote:

Anyone spotted what I think are the JC Decaux bike racks going in around the city?

You’re right- they’re being installed as we speak.

All stations bar one are east of an axis running through the Four Courts.

@PTB wrote:

Industrious.

That’s Mick Wallace for you!

The answer to that, as given by JCDecaux itself, is There aren’t enough bikes to cover the whole city.

I’ll let you work out the ‘logic’ :rolleyes: behind that for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L89h0XYD-gg

ok ok so I broke some lights… but I’ve cycled this route for over four and a half years and I know the light sequence very well and what is coming. I wouldn’t go through a major junction if it had a red light…

Has anyone used the cycled lane on the N11 outside the Stillorgan Park Hotel (may have a different name now)… pot hole city and don’t get me started on Dublin cycle lanes….

Good piece in today’s guardian

Cycling dangerous, on yer bike

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/08/cycling

I suspect SUVs and other large vehicles are the biggest dangers for cyclists, and the most disruptive vehicles on the street?

Kevin Street Garda Station – the lost property section on the right as you go in

Sarah McInerney
Dublin’s new Samuel Beckett bridge, which will form part of the government’s €10m cross-city cycle route, has been described as “dangerous, unusable and unacceptable” by a cycling lobby group.

The landmark €60m piece of infrastructure, which opened last week, is an integral part of a circuit that will link Rathmines and Fairview Park. When launching the 7km route in September, Noel Dempsey, the transport minister, said it would “open up the city” to cyclists and show that “cycling can be safe for everyone”.

However, the Dublin Cycling Campaign said after testing the course that the cycle lanes are of insufficient width and in some cases put cyclists in danger. The group also claims that many lanes stop without warning and much of the signage appears to be illegal.

“It’s just not usable,” said James Leahy, who tested the route for the cycling body. “You cannot use it safely or without breaking the law. This is meant to be a new flagship phase in cycle routes for the next generation, but in this case they have just repeated all the same mistakes of the past.”

Mike McKillen, chairman of Cyclist.ie, an umbrella group for Irish cycling campaigns, said the design of the facilities suggests they were an afterthought. “I suspect that when the bridge was designed it had no cycle lanes, and then last year Dempsey gave the city council €10m for the cycle route across the city,” he said.

“At that point it was too late. They couldn’t make the bridge wider, so they just put lanes in willy nilly wherever they could find the space. It really makes us despair. The engineers in Dublin city council just don’t get things right for cyclists.”

Leahy claimed the cycle lane on the east side of the bridge leads directly into oncoming traffic. The one on the west side has a “a very narrow cycle track on the footpath” which turns sharply on to the road, he added.

“These particular instances are actually quite dangerous,” Leahy said. “It would have been much better for the council not to draw out any cycle lanes and leave cyclists on the road.”

In a number of instances, the council has erected signs directing cyclists on to the footpath, which Leahy believes may be against the law.

“It is illegal to cycle on footpaths unless there is a designated cycle lane, and on one side of the bridge, there’s no cycle lane,” he said. “It’s meant to be a ‘shared space’ but that only works in an area where pedestrians and cyclists are taking their time. This is a commuter route where cyclists are likely to be going at high speed. This signage also is not in the Traffic Signs Regulations, so I would question its legality.”

Leahy said that even if the design does not break the rules, it is still unsuitable for cyclists to be on the pavement. “We’re constantly hearing calls from pedestrian groups to get us off the path, and we agree,” he said. “For elderly people it’s disconcerting to have cyclists zipping past in a blur, and it’s also been a big issue for the blind.”

Fionnuala Murphy, communications officer for the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, said the group is opposed to having cyclists on the pavement. “If you’re trying to navigate the city with a guide dog or a cane, it already takes a lot of concentration,” she said. “Trying to be aware of people flying past you at high speed just adds to the difficulty.”

A spokesman for Dublin city council said there was no case of a cycle track leading into oncoming traffic on the bridge and that the sign indicating shared pedestrian and cycle use was “being incorporated within the new Traffic Signs Manual”. The plan had always been to have cycle lanes on the bridge, he added.

“We would not accept the accuracy of all the points raised in relation to the bridge,” he said. “The cycle lanes have been designed in accordance with accepted national standards.”

Dempsey said he could not comment on the situation on the bridge but admitted there were substandard cycling facilities in urban areas. “One of the reasons I published Ireland’s first national cycle policy in April was because I recognised there were so many problems to be addressed before we could have a cycling culture,” he said.

Leahy and McKillen praised the principles set out in the policy, but said they were not in evidence on the bridge. “The policy has a hierarchy of what facilities should be put in place, and the introduction of cycle lanes is right down the bottom of the list,” Leahy said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6962775.ece

As a pedestrian I think it looks great!!!

http://www.waterwaysireland.org/index.cfm/section/article/page/1024GrandCanalGr

Grand Canal Way Opens 🙂

Fairly impressive cycle path running alongside the canal, 8.5km long, from Lucan to Inchicore. Better still, its flat, given that it runs alongside a canal and all 😉

I live in Park West and the number of people using it already for both cycling and recreation is really encouraging, you’d swear it was always there.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0820/1224277229259.html
nationwide (except longford) cycle lanes! while there is a central fund the councils will be doing it themselves so dont expect it any time soon though, so cycltist will still be in the middle of the country roads afraid of what may be in the bank! and before anyone starts i cycle too but i still go mad at people (id say about a third) taking up dangerous positions given the twisty roads and the speed difference

I was scootering along on the north circular earlier today when an agressive cyclist flew past me shouting “get out of the cycle lane you ignorant @%$&*#” This is not the first time its happened to me as I would weave through rush hour traffic. I then witnessed the same polite righteous cyclist break 4 red lights in a row (I kept getting stopped at a red only to catch up with him shortly after). It really is jungle law out there.