Capital D - another commute race, with a twist

daymobrew

Siobhan from ProMedia TV rang me to tell me about their next commute race, this time with a twist.

It is from Tallaght to city centre, planned for Tuesday 9 October at 8am.

The twist - they want to swap modes - they need a cyclist to be a motorist for the day! :eek:
They have a bus user who is going to cycle and a motorcyclist who will take the Luas.

If you would like to be involved please contact Siobhan on 01-662-2500.

Cabaal

hmm this should be interesting

oobydooby

I hope the cyclist wears a helmet in the car

Pete4779

daymobrew wrote:

Siobhan from ProMedia TV rang me to tell me about their next commute race, this time with a twist.

It is from Tallaght to city centre, planned for Tuesday 9 October at 8am.

The twist - they want to swap modes - they need a cyclist to be a motorist for the day! :eek:
They have a bus user who is going to cycle and a motorcyclist who will take the Luas.

If you would like to be involved please contact Siobhan on 01-662-2500.

I'd love to do this - I used to cycle from Blackrock to Tallaght and it took the same time as driving (around 60 mins). Didn't need a shower after the drive though. Not in Dublin anymore though, now out West! Where the cycle lanes are black!

daymobrew

To aid the driving cyclists, I asked for advice on the commuting & transport forum.

rubadub

oobydooby wrote:

I hope the cyclist wears a helmet in the car

Class! I would love that, telling the interviewer "you would be crazy to leave the house without it".

I would love to cycle on that "cycle track" from whites cross to foxrock, with all the legally inadequate painted lines. Get on and off the bike every 10metres cycling on the road and bus lane where it is legal to do so. Tell them you are just obeying the excellent laws, and how coach drivers try and kill you for simply obeying the law.

Didn't need a shower after the drive though

But you shower before the drive so it is the same time wasted/spent.

A person not used to cycling will fare very badly compared to all the others, fitness and knowledge of the "route" through the potholes & glass.

kenmc

Also not being able to anticipate traffic light sequences - I find thats quite a biggie, if you can know that the lights are about to go green you can approach them slowly and not have to stop fully.

Raam

if they do one on the north east of Dublin, I wanna be in it!

flickerx

But.. but.. if I was driving, would that mean I'd actually have to obey a red light?

cyclopath2001

flickerx wrote:

But.. but.. if I was driving, would that mean I'd actually have to obey a red light?

Actually, all road users are supposed to stop on orange.

daymobrew

Siobhan rang me to say that they haven't had a cyclist volunteer for the 'race' next week. Anyone?


Contrary to what I mentioned in the first post, the cyclist this time will be an actual bus driver. The hope is that he'll be more aware of cyclists when he's back on his bus.

kenmc

Thats a good idea, hopefully he'll tell his friends too.
Not really surprised they're having trouble finding a cyclist to switch to car to be honest. Wouldn't fancy it myself.

mkdon05

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Actually, all road users are supposed to stop on orange.

You only stop on the amber light if it is safe to do so.
i.e if the driver behind you is close, you shouldn't be jammin on the brakes to stop just cos its orange.

niceonetom

mkdon05 wrote:

You only stop on the amber light if it is safe to do so.
i.e if the driver behind you is close, you shouldn't be jammin on the brakes to stop just cos its orange.

actually the law is that you muststop on amber unless it is unsafe to do so. a subtle but important difference

mkdon05

niceonetom wrote:

actually the law is that you muststop on amber unless it is unsafe to do so. a subtle but important difference

You only stop on an Amber Light if it is safe to do so.

There the same sentence in my book:p

oobydooby

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by niceonetom
actually the law is that you muststop on amber unless it is unsafe to do so. a subtle but important difference

You only stop on an Amber Light if it is safe to do so.

There the same sentence in my book


Maybe a bit too subtle :eek:

niceonetom

oobydooby wrote:

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by niceonetom
actually the law is that you muststop on amber unless it is unsafe to do so. a subtle but important difference

You only stop on an Amber Light if it is safe to do so.

There the same sentence in my book


Maybe a bit too subtle :eek:

jaysus, you'd never make it as a lawyer.

daymobrew

I just watched the "Capital D" programme with the 'race' from Tallaght to O'Connell Street. It started at 8am.

The cyclist (a Dublin Bus driver by day) completed the 14km journey in 40mins, which included being knocked off his bike by a right turning driver that didn't check his/her mirror near Christchurch.
He rode a mountain bike with knobby tyres and front suspension (and disc brakes ). He had a nice yellow jacket, a helmet and loose shorts. One piece of footage showed him crossing Walkinstown Roundabout - brave man!

The Luas user (normally a motorcyclist) took 50mins. He was full of praise for the relaxing atmosphere. He read the paper and did a bit of the crossword.

The motorist (is a regular motorist - it was planned to be a regular cyclist but none volunteered) took over 90mins! She didn't report any extraordinary delays.

In the pre-'race' interviews the cyclist said that "is about the most efficient way to travel in Dublin city; unfortunately it's not the safest way to travel."
An en-route interview (possibly taped another day) he complained about the lack of cycle lanes between Tallaght and Drimnagh (via Greenhills Road). He said "it is unsafe to cycle". At the post-'race' interview he was very critical of Dublin City Council for not including cycle lanes on the redesigned O'Connell Street.

The motorist said that she didn't have any other option for her commute because "of my line of work", but that was never elaborated on. She said that she cycled to college, adding "you're really taking your life in your hands". As they played the next line, "cars don't have a lot of respect for bikes on the road", she was shown changing lanes (moving right) dangerously in front of a motorcycle (a black Suzuki Bandit that overtook her a second later) :rolleyes:

kenmc

For someone who was just knocked down he seems remarkably blase about it!
Can't help wondering if he regularly knocks someone down with the bus, and figures that it's only right he's on the receiving end for a change.
But he's right about the lack of facilities available for cyclists, and articulated well.

mikemac

kenmc wrote: »

For someone who was just knocked down he seems remarkably blase about it!
Can't help wondering if he regularly knocks someone down with the bus, and figures that it's only right he's on the receiving end for a change.
But he's right about the lack of facilities available for cyclists, and articulated well.

What's with all the bad feeling against the bus driver?
The guy completed a longish commute in a fast time. He made several good points about the state of cycling in Dublin.
And yet posters here can't help but get the smart and bitchy comments in against him.

Oh, I suppose he's not a real cyclist! I've seen that comment thrown about here

kenmc

no bad feeling at all, fair play to him, as you said he did a long commute and made good points about the facilities available. And if more people were willing to get out on a bike the world would be a better place for us all.
But if I was knocked off I would be absolutely livid, so I was amazed at how relaxed he was about it. The comment about him knocking people over was supposed to be tongue in cheek, made at the end of a hard fridays work, obviously didn't work, so apologies.

mikemac

Fair enough ken, thought you were serious there.

Yeah, he was extremly calm but I suppose as an experienced bus driver nothing ever fazes him as he's seen it all. Respect! :cool:

People react in different ways to accidents. I know when I was knocked down last month I started nervously laughing. Kind of a nervous reaction I suppose when dealing with stress.

Dirk Gently

Just watched the link there. Fair play to the chap, especially on a mtb. He spoke well and got his points across. It's good that capital D have been highlighting cycle commuting lately but it will need a lot more high profile exposure and / or days of action from cyclists before we see a change for the better.

Alkers

daymobrew wrote: »

He rode a mountain bike with knobby tyres and front suspension (and disc brakes ). He had a nice yellow jacket, a helmet and loose shorts.

I wonder how they'd get on if they made the motorist ride a tractor :D:D

Cabaal

Oh this sounds interesting, must have a look at this later when I get home from work

DeepBlue

clown bag wrote: »

It's good that capital D have been highlighting cycle commuting lately but it will need a lot more high profile exposure and / or days of action from cyclists before we see a change for the better.

I'd say they lost a few potential cyclists with that clip. It seemed to heavily emphasise that cycling in Dublin was dangerous and just to underline the point the guy who was cycling got into an accident :eek:.

Not only would it put off any commuters thinking of taking to the bike it would also mean that any relatives or friends watching would be telling the would-be cyclist that he/she's mad to consider commuting by bike.

Dirk Gently

DeepBlue wrote: »

I'd say they lost a few potential cyclists with that clip. It seemed to heavily emphasise that cycling in Dublin was dangerous and just to underline the point the guy who was cycling got into an accident :eek:.

Not only would it put off any commuters thinking of taking to the bike it would also mean that any relatives or friends watching would be telling the would-be cyclist that he/she's mad to consider commuting by bike.

I don't see any point in trying to encourage people to cycle when these are the conditions they face so I think the guy done a good job. When roads become safer with more cycle routes, better quality and better cycle facilities more people will commute by cycling. Like you say, a lot of people who give it a go now quit and go back to the car pretty soon because of the danger involved. Better to highlight and fix the problem and then encourage people to cycle, otherwise inexperienced cycle road users will find themselves put off after a couple of attempts.

markpb

DeepBlue wrote: »

Not only would it put off any commuters thinking of taking to the bike it would also mean that any relatives or friends watching would be telling the would-be cyclist that he/she's mad to consider commuting by bike.

And they'd be right. I commute 60km a week and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. There are huge advantages over just about every other form of public transport but it's just not safe - you're constantly wondering where the cycle lane has gone to, why people are walking, driving or parking on it, why there's no lane when the road is narrow and there are huge lanes when the road is wide, why the Gardai and clampers wont bother coming out for a cycle-lane-obstructed call, etc.

Raam

clown bag wrote: »

I don't see any point in trying to encourage people to cycle when these are the conditions they face so I think the guy done a good job. When roads become safer with more cycle routes, better quality and better cycle facilities more people will commute by cycling. Like you say, a lot of people who give it a go now quit and go back to the car pretty soon because of the danger involved. Better to highlight and fix the problem and then encourage people to cycle, otherwise inexperienced cycle road users will find themselves put off after a couple of attempts.

To be honest, I can't see facilities being improved unless more people start to use the existing ones, substandard as they are

rp

clown bag wrote: »

Better to highlight and fix the problem and then encourage people to cycle, otherwise inexperienced cycle road users will find themselves put off after a couple of attempts.

I don't think that's gonna work: the gvmnt & corpo can sit back and say there's no reason to be spending more on cycling, cuz no one want to cycle. It's one of them eggy-chickeny kind of things.

daymobrew

rp wrote: »

I don't think that's gonna work: the gvmnt & corpo can sit back and say there's no reason to be spending more on cycling, cuz no one want to cycle. It's one of them eggy-chickeny kind of things.

The Government and DTO will argue that they've done their thing with the pathetic One Small Step campaign :rolleyes:

I would love to see the Ride To Work discount scheme here. Up to 60% saving on new bike and safety equipment (though it might just be a 'loan').

Dirk Gently

rp wrote: »

It's one of them eggy-chickeny kind of things.

I agree it is a bit chicken and egg but I definetly think some forward planning is neccessary (something alien to Irish planners). Regarding Dublin anyway, it's a small city (area) and we are above capacity already on our roads. In order to improve public transport and private vehicle traffic flow we need to first get the number of cars using our roads down. To do this people first need alternatives, alternatives which while there now in theory, need to be improved on to make it work in practice.

Sean02

Well done Gerry. I think you were brave to use the Greenhills Road. Would the n81 to Templeouge Bridg, left to Harolds Cross,right at Patrick St, Aungier St, Georges St, been a longer route ?. I think it would be safer as it has more cycle lanes some off road. I also wonder did your accident occur because you obeyed the law and stopped before the white line at a junction. this practice is hughly dangereous for cyclists. many cyclists particuarly ladies , who are less inclined statisticely to break the law, are killed each year by lorry drivers and HGV's turning left.