"Dublin commuters hopping on their bikes"

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Does not state percentage increase, from RTE.ie:

Dublin commuters hopping on their bikes
Dublin city commuters and students are increasingly using bicycles with a 74% increase over the past four years according to the latest traffic figures.


The Canal Cordon Count conducted by Dublin City Council found nearly 7,000 people using pedal cycles in 2009 between 7am and 10am.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0219/transport.html

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The year-on-year cycling increase from 2008-2009 was 12%.

From The Irish Times today:

The council’s figures show a huge increase in cycling. Over the 10-year period from 1999, the number of cyclists commuting into the city in the morning increased by 27 per cent. The greatest increase was in the 2004-2009 period where numbers increased by 74 per cent from 3,941 to 6,853. From 2008 to 2009, there was a 12 per cent increase in cyclists.

Again, this counts those passing the canals between 7am-10am.

That's a large total increase between 2004-2009.

seamus

And this is despite a series of the wettest summers in decades. Indicates that the "weather" excuse is exactly that.

Although I'm not a fan of the movement, it does seem to show that there's actually something of a "critical mass" required to get people onto their bikes.

Certainly where I work, there seems to be this slow uptake of people getting on bikes purely because they see other people doing it and think, "If that fat bastard can do 10k into work every day, I can easily do 5k".

Traffic has gotten so bad now that when faced with three options:

1. Sit on a bus for an hour
2. Sit in your car for an hour
3. Cycle in 20 minutes

People are gradually realising that option 3 is the most logical, from a number of aspects.

Although it does seem to be mostly men taking it up as far as I can see - there's a lot of resistance from women due to the impression that it's dangerous and the excuse that they'd have to redo their makeup when they get into work.

tomasrojo

seamus wrote: »

Although it does seem to be mostly men taking it up as far as I can see - there's a lot of resistance from women due to the impression that it's dangerous and the excuse that they'd have to redo their makeup when they get into work.

I guess that's the value of those "cycle chic" websites and articles. Helps people realise that you can do 5km or so with minimal effort in nice clothes.

Dublin Bikes must be helping too. Nothing like actually cycling occasionally on someone else's nickel to realise that cycling is less hassle.

tomasrojo

I'm noticing more interest in cycling now myself. I seem to be regarded less as an eccentric now among friends and family and more a useful source of information.