reduction in no. of Dublin city centre cyclists?

Itsfixed

According to new figures from Dublin City Council on traffic numbers in the city centre, there was a reduction in the number of cyclists from 5,628 in 1997 to 4,839 in 2006.

That can't be right. I see more cyclists on the streets today than I ever did when I moved back to Dublin in 1998. If it's true, it would be very disappointing given the virtues of the humble bicycle as a means to help cut traffic congestion, pollution and global warming.

Maybe the tide is only turning now in favour of bikes. The rise in sales of bikes in the UK is fast turning cycling into a mainstream activity so maybe I'm reading too much UK media?

Anyway, rant over.:D

Ghost Rider

I agree. As someone who started commuting in Dublin in the late 1990s, the idea that there are less cyclists now seems intuitively wrong. I wonder if there are methodological differences between how the 1997 and the 2007 figures were arrived at...

Itsfixed wrote:

According to new figures from Dublin City Council on traffic numbers in the city centre, there was a reduction in the number of cyclists from 5,628 in 1997 to 4,839 in 2006.

That can't be right. I see more cyclists on the streets today than I ever did when I moved back to Dublin in 1998. If it's true, it would be very disappointing given the virtues of the humble bicycle as a means to help cut traffic congestion, pollution and global warming.

Maybe the tide is only turning now in favour of bikes. The rise in sales of bikes in the UK is fast turning cycling into a mainstream activity so maybe I'm reading too much UK media?

Anyway, rant over.:D

Mucco

Does anyone know how they count the bikes?

rubadub

Mucco wrote:

Does anyone know how they count the bikes?

Thats what I was wondering, very exact figures there. It is like all these surveys, how questions are asked and to whom can result in skewed figures.

Ghost Rider

The 2007 figures probably come from the last census. Dunno about the earlier ones. I don't think they were asking such questions back then, if memory serves...

rubadub wrote:

Thats what I was wondering, very exact figures there. It is like all these surveys, how questions are asked and to whom can result in skewed figures.

Chips Lovell

It's not from the census. According to the Irish Times today, they take a count of vehicles entering from all roads between the canals.

Ghost Rider

Does that mean only people crossing the canals (i.e. not people who live between them) would be counted? If so, no wonder the figures look whack.

el tonto wrote:

It's not from the census. According to the Irish Times today, they take a count of vehicles entering from all roads between the canals.

Chips Lovell

Ghost Rider wrote:

Does that mean only people crossing the canals (i.e. not people who live between them) would be counted? If so, no wonder the figures look whack.

I'm guessing that's what it means, only people crossing the canals into the city centre.

You might be onto something there, because they're making a comparison with 1997, when there was way less people living in the city centre. Think of all of the apartment developments etc that have gone up since then.

Ghost Rider

That's exactly it. Such statistics wouldn't be taking account of the single most significant factor in western urban demographics i.e. gentrification of the city centres. I, for one, now live in what is usually defined as Dublin city centre, whereas in 1997 I was living outside it (only by a couple of hundred yards, but still...)

el tonto wrote:

I'm guessing that's what it means, only people crossing the canals into the city centre.

You might be onto something there, because they're making a comparison with 1997, when there was way less people living in the city centre. Think of all of the apartment developments etc that have gone up since then.

blorg

I don't know, I was in college in 1997 and would have thought there was plenty cycling then, largely of the utilitarian type. Then it seemed to die off a bit and what I have really seen an increase in just the last few years is a lot more older cyclists commuting to work- tending to wear lots of reflective gear, etc. - e.g. they stand out more.

This is not the only place I've seen/heard suggestion of a drop since 1997 either.