[PR] Dublin Cycling Campaign Annual Lecture - Planning for Pedals

Victor

Dublin Cycling Campaign Annual Lecture

Planning for Pedals - Thursday 15 May 2008, 8.00pm

Emmet Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
(accessed from Nassau Street or from main College Green entrance). Free of Charge

Dr. John Parkin will give the Dublin Cycling Campaign Annual Lecture 2008. His talk will explore policies for promoting cycling, based on a UK study of cycle use for commuting. He'll ask, what factors affect bicycle use?

Gender; socio-economic class; income; ethnicity; infrastructure; weather; hilliness? He'll explain policies of creating bicycle networks and consider the importance of accounting for the effort of cycling and the concept of 'permeability' of an area to cyclists.


Dr. John Parkin is Reader in Transport Engineering and Planning at the University of Bolton and has wide interests that encompass quality design, innovation, sustainability principles, evaluation, safety and community benefit. He divides his time between teaching, research & consultancy

He is the principal author of the design guidance Lancashire the cyclists' county and delivers training on this manual and the London Cycle Design Standards. He is engaged in research on the impact of cycle training interventions and in monitoring cycle use levels for after infrastructure interventions.

The Dublin Cycling Campaign is a voluntary body working to represent the interests of Dublin's everyday cyclists, and to lobby to make Dublin a bicycle friendly city.

www.dublincycling.ie

Victor

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Press Release: Minister Dempsey introduce's "Planning for Pedals" lecture

From: Dublin Cycling Campaign

Date of PR: Tuesday 13 May 2008

Time of Event: Thursday 15th May, 8pm
Location of Event: Trinity College Dublin, Emmet Theatre, Arts Building


PRESS RELEASE

The Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) host's its Annual Lecture this Thursday evening. Dr. John Parkin from the University of Bolton will deliver his paper on "Planning for Pedals". Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey will introduce the talk.

The purpose of the DCC's annual lecture is to stimulate debate and discussion on how to promote cycling in Dublin city. The lecture affords the cycling community and decision makers the opportunity to listen to the experiences of cycling planning specialists from abroad in how to improve cycling safety and increase cycling numbers. The lecture aims to improve transportation professionals' knowledge of the latest thinking in the field and to facilitate communication between the wider cycling community and traffic engineers, transport planners, urban planners, architects and public health professionals.

The lecture comes at an opportune time as the Department of Transport is currently preparing a National Cycling Policy. Dr. Parkin's talk will include explaining about the importance of good planning so as to make areas permeable for cyclists (and pedestrians) - i.e. that cyclists do not have to take long detours as is often necessary when developments are planned with only the car in mind. Good cycle-friendly planning facilitates in making trips as direct as possible for cyclists.

MORE DETAILS
See www.dublincycling.ie for the work of the Dublin Cycling Campaign.

I missed the original thread on this, so thanks for the reminder! Will see if I can make it along.

Gavin

Went to the DCC lecture last night in Trinity. It was interesting enough, lecture hall was very full. There was the usual few aggressive zealots that all advocacy groups seem to suffer from unfortunately.

Minister Dempsey made his statement about increasing cycling journeys to 10% of all journeys by 2020. (See article below). He came across well, but then again he wouldn't be a very good politician if he didn't.

The main talker was interesting academically. He'd built a model describing cycling uptake based on a number of variables. He also discussed infrastructure issues. He was a decent presenter and handled the questions well enough. I thought the talk itself was perhaps slightly lacking in focus, but he targeted suggestions at the Minister well.

Anyone else there ? What did yee think ?

Article from the Times

NEW RESEARCH carried out on behalf of the Department of Transport has indicated that 10 per cent of all journeys here will be undertaken by bicycle by 2020.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has reported that international cycling consultants, hired by his department as part of a national cycling policy study, have outlined the “prospect of a vibrant culture of cycling” in Ireland within the next 12 years.

“In 2006, the modal share enjoyed by cycling stood at just 2 per cent. Increasing the modal share to just 10 per cent would move as many people on to bikes as the public transport element of Transport 21 could accommodate,” said Mr Dempsey, who also encouraged cyclists to be as vocal as the “well-organised motoring lobby”.

Mr Dempsey was speaking at the annual lecture of the Dublin Cycling Campaign in Trinity College last night and said he hoped to be able to formulate a national cycling policy later in the year.

In late February, public consultation on the issue of sustainable travel and transport was initiated.

The Minister said more than 400 responses had been submitted, with a substantial number of these coming not only from cycling groups but from members of the public who strongly supported the promotion of cycling.

The Governments action plan on sustainable travel and transport “that will emerge later this year, will include support for, and promotion of, cycling as one of its key commitments”, he added.

Mr Dempsey also said an environmentally friendly workplace travel initiative for staff at his department would be rolled out for all Government departments.

Meanwhile, before last night’s lecture, Dr John Parkin of the school of the built environment and engineering at the University of Bolton, told The Irish Times that a “truly permeable network” for cycle traffic needed to be created in Irish and British cities.

This would encourage bicycle use and would help people to steer around urban areas quickly and safely.

Mr Parkin said good value-for-money measures to do so would include: an exemption for cyclists from turn left/right restrictions; allowing a cycle contra-flow on one-way streets; converting bridges for both pedestrian and cycle use; the erection of visibly clear route signs for cyclists and the creation of off-highway shortcuts.

The former civil engineer also suggested that strong policies needed to be formulated to support existing one-car households – “who may see the bike as the equivalent of the second car” – to discourage the need to purchase another vehicle.

Previously, there was a perception that the bicycle was the poor man’s mode of transport, Mr Parkin added, but now in England and Wales, the socio-economic class with the higher prevalence of cycling was the higher professional group.

Crap, I knew I meant to do something last night. I doubt it was recorded?

blorg

That all sounds very positive TBH, from both the minister and the presenter.

lukester

Sounds interesting.

wrote:

Mr Dempsey...also encouraged cyclists to be as vocal as the “well-organised motoring lobby”.

Excuse my ignorance, but is the DCC the main cycling lobby group in the city/country? I'd be interested in getting involved or at least lending support- cycling is still an afterthought in terms of transport initiatives, but with rising ecological awareness (and oil prices) this has to be a good time to lobby for cycling as part of the transport strategy for Dublin. It doesn't hurt that there are now a few Green Party TDs in Government.

Would be great if Dublin could aspire to something like Amsterdam's transport culture.

Gavin

The various cycling campaigns around the country appear to be forming a national cycling federation of sorts. This was mentioned at the talk anyway.

www.dublincycling.ie

Victor

http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=10611&lang=ENG&loc=2261

Speech by Mr Noel Dempsey TD, Minister for Transport, at the opening of Dublin Cycling Campaign's Annual Research Lecture
Break line image
16 May 2008

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY


I was delighted to be asked by Dr. Mike McKillen of the Dublin Cycling Campaign to open proceedings here this evening. I say this because tonight will be remembered as the occasion when a Minister for Transport finally got serious about cycling.

I don't have to tell this audience that where transport is concerned, sustainability is THE keyword. As Minister for Transport, I am stating clearly without ambiguity that sustainability must be right at the centre of my Department's agenda. That's the easy bit.

The hard bit is to make sure that the sustainable transport agenda will become embedded in the consciousness of the wider public. I'm up for that challenge as well.

As most of you are aware, I launched public consultation on the issue of Sustainable Travel and Transport in February just gone.

In the period up to 2020, this country will face ENORMOUS challenges in terms of transport emissions, congestion in our cities and towns and the impacts of these on the basic quality of life of all our citizens. Even when I launched that consultation process, it was clear to me that FUNDAMENTAL changes to travel behaviour are unavoidable.

Bringing about fundamental change will require commitment from all sectors of society. Through the consultation process, I was looking for a significant level of buy-in from day one.

We got that buy-in. In fact, we received well over 400 responses to the consultation document from a wide range of stakeholders. As cyclists, you'll be interested in the fact that a substantial number of these came not only from cycling groups but also from individual members of the public who strongly support the promotion of cycling.

While the Government's Action Plan on Sustainable Travel and Transport that will emerge later this year will include commitments to cycling, it cannot focus on cycling alone.

So, in the clear knowledge that cycling must play a key part in developing a sustainable transport system for Ireland, I directed my Department to commission research into a potential National Cycling Policy, concurrently with work on the development of the Action Plan.

The outputs of this research are VISIONARY, holding the tantalising, yet REALISABLE, prospect of a culture of cycling in Ireland by 2020, with 10% of all trips by bike. I'm committing to that tonight.

Non-cyclists in the audience may not fully appreciate the scale of this vision. So let me expand briefly.

In 2006, the modal share enjoyed by cycling stood at just 2%. Increasing the modal share to 10% would move as many people on to bikes as the public transport element of Transport 21 could accommodate and we are investing no less than €18 billion in public transport.

Achieving a shift to bike of this magnitude will require actions like

* Training every schoolchild in the country in safe cycling
* Providing safe cycle routes to schools, colleges and workplaces
* Re-prioritising existing roadspace in favour of cyclists and walkers and designing new roadspace with cyclists' needs in mind
* Rebalancing road traffic law to improve the lot of the cyclist vis-à-vis the motorist
* Ensuring that traffic engineers are skilled in providing properly for cyclists on the roads that they have every much a right to use as motorists
* Providing decent infrastructure for cyclists including secure parking and, where appropriate, proper and well maintained cycle lanes, unlike some of the shabby examples we all know of.

I would be dishonest if I were to promise the National Cycling Policy in a matter of weeks. Bringing it to life will require agreement between a range of Departments and agencies. It will also require to be explored with the cycling community. On this basis, my intention is to publish the Policy by the end of the year and earlier if I can.

In the context of exploring the draft cycle policy with the cycling community, Mike McKillen mentioned to me that the various cycling campaigns around the country are forming an umbrella organisation. I want to warmly welcome this development. I'll need all the help I can get if I am to overturn the prevalent view that cyclists are second-class road users. You are not and a powerful cyclists' voice is needed to counter the vocal motoring lobby groups.

At this point, I want to extend a special Céad Míle Fáilte to Dr John Parkin from the University of Bolton who is, correctly, the main attraction tonight.

As I understand it, Dr Parkin's presentation will touch on the factors that affect bicycle use and policies for creating bicycle networks. He'll also be dealing with the concept of permeability of areas to cyclists. These are all issues that will be listened to very attentively by my Department's representatives here tonight because they'll be crucial in the work that remains to be done on our National Cycling Policy.

<snip>

Finally, I'd like to thank the Dublin Cycling Campaign for organising tonight's and, indeed, previous years' events. These events are hugely important as we ensure that cycling the green and efficient travel mode strengthens its position in the hierarchy of travel options.

ENDS

daymobrew

Merging with other thread on the subject.

blorg

The Evening Herald had this on the front page today... as well as taking up all of pages 2 and 3. Pity they were only concerned with their "catching" Dempsey to protest the M50 toll though; not a mention of the lecture or the minister's policy announcement. (There was one line that said Dempsey was at a Dublin Cycling Campaign lecture.)

But then this would be to be expected of the Herald!

John_C

It was a very good lecture. If anyone on here was involved in organising it, thanks.

Victor

Does anyone have a copy of this?

Frank McNally in the Irish Times usually gives me a good laugh.Today's "Irishman's Diary" is about what was said at our lecture on Thursday. Enjoy!

monument

Victor wrote: »

Does anyone have a copy of this?

Here you go...

An Irishman's Diary

WE HEAR of too many things being "rolled out" these days. But it's hard not to be excited when that phrase is used in the context of Noel Dempsey's "environmentally friendly workplace travel initiative" - which, as reported yesterday, is to be "rolled out" soon from all Government departments, writes Frank McNally .

Surely this is a veiled reference to the abolition of the 4,000 free parking spaces still enjoyed by civil servants in Dublin - a major contributor to the city's traffic problems. If so, it is typically courageous of Mr Dempsey to tackle the issue and risk the wrath of bureaucrats; although, if anything, he may be verging on over-enthusiasm.

Only hard-line eco-warriors would insist on rolling the cars out of their free parking spaces. It would be a good publicity stunt, admittedly, and would send out a message about the Government's seriousness on climate change. But most environmentalists would settle for the cars being driven out in the normal fashion, so long as the owners promised not to bring them back.

Either way, it is to be hoped that the roll-out plan will include Leinster House. This would be a timely move. It seems apt that 2008 marks the 10th anniversary not only of the Belfast Agreement and the amendment of Articles 2 and 3; but also of the annexation of Leinster House lawn by a "temporary" car-park, whose occupation of the disputed territory continues to this day.

Now that the national question has been resolved, this lost area of pastureland has become for some patriots the new Fourth Green Field. Its period in bondage is not expected to end any time soon. But our sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers, etc; and perhaps through their efforts, Leinster House lawn will bloom once again, eventually.

THE MINISTER made his roll-out promise at the annual lecture of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, the report on which also featured a call from an environmental engineering expert for a "truly permeable network" of bicycle lanes in the capital. Necessary measures, the expert suggested, would include exempting cyclists from the need to turn left- or right-only at certain junctions, allowing them to travel contra-flow on one-way streets, and so on.

Some car drivers will complain that this would merely formalise current practice, under which bicycle users regard themselves as immune from all laws, with the possible exception of gravity. But as a cyclist who also drives, occasionally, I can see the argument from both sides.

When I'm behind the wheel of my car, yes, many cyclists do look like drug-crazed anarchists. Whereas, when I leave the car and join them, I remember that we bicycle users are a colonised people, expected to obey traffic laws that were made by and for drivers, while enduring Irish weather conditions - are also heavily weighted in favour of those in enclosed, air-conditioned vehicles.

Take the whole one-way-street concept, which is completely alien to our two-wheeled culture. No doubt it seems reasonable to drivers that, if they have to follow one direction only around St Stephen's Green or Trinity College, cyclists should be required to do likewise. But what is an effortless exercise in a car can be the Paris-Roubaix spring classic by bike. Which is why there is already a system of contra-flow cycling lanes in these areas, involving a combination of streets and footpaths.

Coincidence or not, Leinster House is central to Dublin's most concentrated scheme of one-way streets. As a result, a law-abiding cyclist trying to get from Merrion Square, on the eastern side to the Dáil, to Grafton Street on its west is subject to appallingly long detours, unless he or she dismounts and walks for certain stretches (an option that may sound reasonable to drivers, but again is not part of cycling culture).

If we are to have a "truly permeable network" for bicycles, the permeation could start right here. Think of it. By merely widening the front and back doors of Leinster House, the Minister for Transport could run a cycle lane through the lobby, thereby linking the former (and - tiocfaidh ár lá! - future) lawn and Merrion Square on one side with the greater Grafton Street area on the other.

The project would benefit, indirectly, from the famous pedestrian traffic light outside the Dáil on Kildare Street - the only one in the city that works fully.

Yes, it might seem odd at first, having bicycles breezing though the foyer of the old house, past the portraits of Michael Collins and Cathal Brugha. But Collins was a bike enthusiast too, remember. And after the initial shock, it might be a breath of fresh air for the building - literally. It could even have a knock-on benefit in the campaign for Dáil reform.

Ideally, the official opening would be in mid-June 2009, with well-known cyclist and Joyce enthusiast Senator David Norris leading a special Bloomsday bike rally though the doors en route to Davy Byrne's.

Of course, Leinster House and its gardens form an historic precinct, which is deserving of the utmost respect. I only suggest running a bicycle lane through it pending the transformation of Dublin into a cyclist's paradise - a new, improved version of Amsterdam - which is what the Minister plans. Thus it would be a purely temporary measure, just like the tarmac on the lawn.

fmcnally@irish-times.ie
© 2008 The Irish Times

cyclopath2001

John_C wrote: »

It was a very good lecture. If anyone on here was involved in organising it, thanks.

Call me cynical, but every time the government announces anything about providing cycling facilities, Dublin City Council usually removes one.

Clontarf/Fairview is still a mess, months after the last DoE announcement.