stiles - royal canal

comanche_cor

Hi,

Decided to change my commuter route (& bike ) from the road to the tow path along the royal canal. Am going from clonsilla to city center. Really enjoyed my first ride along it last night - really good fun on an MBT (glad I never tried it on my hybrid, would have shook it to bits).

However the stiles are really annoying & break any momentum. These are not very cycle friendly and don't really serve a purpose - if certain people want to bring scramblers/quads down they will find a way...

Is there anyone to contact about getting these changed? I am guessing Fingal Co/Co or waterways. Did local TD Leo Varadkar announce a cycle schema for the royal canal?

Thanks,

Hungrycol

Leave her be, she's lovely:

...beside I don't think Leo would have her number.

spokeydokey

I suspect that waterways Ireland might reply that it's not a cycle path and that cycling isn't allowed on it.
Hopefully this will change soon.

Jawgap

I'd start with Leo - if de Minister can't get it fixed for you, then it can't be fixed. A note to his constituency office might get the ball rolling

Of course Leo being Leo will think it's a great idea and replace the stiles with toll booths, then we'll all no who to blame for getting him on to it!

jaqian

Take it easy going past Broombridge in Cabra as there can be glass and nails near the lock.

monument

OP if you want to contact people make sure you let your feelings known to everybody -- ie councilors in Fingal and in Dublin City, the two councils as well, your local TDs, Leo, and Waterways Ireland.

The gates are "kissing gates".

Waterways have recently installed extra ones on one side of the canal near the city, beside Mountjoy. The result is more people cycling on the busier and narrower side.

The city council's Development Plan sees the canals as cycle routes, but the will overall and results so-far are mixed and the jury is still out on the again delayed south side city section.

comanche_cor

jaqian wrote: »

Take it easy going past Broombridge in Cabra as there can be glass and nails near the lock.

Will do thanks for the advise

comanche_cor

Thanks for all the names of people to contact, will get on to as many of these as possible and see how I get on

morana

Very enjoyable spin today.

I have always wanted to ride the full length of the royal canal so I did a test run today. I got as far as porterstown on my road bike. Very mucky and the roots on the bank at the "Deep sinking" was a bit tricky on 23mm tyres. From Castleknock train station its just a single track. At Porterstown it looked good but I didnt want to keep going.

The stiles finish just after Ashtown iirc

Surveyor11

Just to let you all know that the Fingal County Council submission closes at 5pm today:

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Planning/PlanningItemsOnDisplay/RoyalCanalGreenway-display17012013-14032013/

It's the upgrade from Ashtown to the M50 interchange at Castleknock. Will be emailing them about stiles, hope they don't repeat the debacle at the Lucan end with the gates (were they ever removed / replaced - don't cycle out that way).

emtroche

spokeydokey wrote: »

I suspect that waterways Ireland might reply that it's not a cycle path and that cycling isn't allowed on it.
Hopefully this will change soon.

As far as i know waterways ireland are very open to towpaths being used for cycling/walking.

Surveyor11

Emtroche, have a look at the above link - it's a collaboration between Fingal, Waterways Ireland and the National Transport Authority. The position was that it was in the bye-laws the paths couldn't be used, bu this must have been repealed / rescinded if they're developing the canal paths for co-use of cyclists & peds.

fiacha

The kissing gates do a lot to stop fly-tipping along the towpath, and as already mentioned the scramblers / quads are kept out. Before they went in around Ashtown, there was a steady stream of cars and vans dumping everything from household waste to building rubble.

The benefits far outweigh the small inconvenience they cause to me when cycling the canal.
I've lived close to Ashtown station my whole life and walk / cycle the canal every day. And in my opinion it's a lot safer and cleaner since the gates went in.

I wouldn't like to see them go. We are just one of the many people who use the towpaths, so having to dismount every now and again isn't a big price to pay for a cleaner / safer environment for everyone.

Just my 2 cents

monument

fiacha wrote: »

The kissing gates do a lot to stop fly-tipping along the towpath,

Stop please.... bollards will stop fly-tipping just as well as any gate.

fiacha wrote: »

The benefits far outweigh the small inconvenience they cause to me when cycling the canal.
I've lived close to Ashtown station my whole life and walk / cycle the canal every day. And in my opinion it's a lot safer and cleaner since the gates went in.

I wouldn't like to see them go. We are just one of the many people who use the towpaths, so having to dismount every now and again isn't a big price to pay for a cleaner / safer environment for everyone.

Just my 2 cents

That's great for you, but what about people with trailers, cargo bikes, trikes, fully loaded touring bikes, recombinants etc?

Iwannahurl

monument wrote: »

That's great for you, but what about people with trailers, cargo bikes, trikes, fully loaded touring bikes, recombinants etc?

Kissing Gates are the spawn of Satan.

They are intended to allow a minimum level of access for wheelchair users. Cyclists, particular those with larger or longer configurations such as you describe, are not taken into consideration at all.

My recommendation is to make a formal complaint to all the relevant authorities on the basis of universal access being denied.

fiacha

I see your point

West of ashtown has a full barrier (gate) in place which means you have to lift the bike over it or swing around the outside of the gate (on edge of water). Not very safe for anyone.
There has to be vehicle access there as some of the land along that towpath is privately owned. Permanent bollards would prevent the landowner from getting access with machines to maintain the drains / ditches on his land. Anyone seen the folding bollards in use on any other section of the canal ?
Interestingly enough, one of the landowners around Ashtown went to court to have that barrier removed as he couldn't always open it (locks changed etc). Never heard the outcome of that case, but I notice that it's unlocked a lot recently.

Not sure what solution will suit all the path users and be cheap enough for WI to install / maintain.

seeing_ie

fiacha wrote: »

The kissing gates do a lot to stop fly-tipping along the towpath, and as already mentioned the scramblers / quads are kept out. Before they went in around Ashtown, there was a steady stream of cars and vans dumping everything from household waste to building rubble.

The benefits far outweigh the small inconvenience they cause to me when cycling the canal.
I've lived close to Ashtown station my whole life and walk / cycle the canal every day. And in my opinion it's a lot safer and cleaner since the gates went in.

I wouldn't like to see them go. We are just one of the many people who use the towpaths, so having to dismount every now and again isn't a big price to pay for a cleaner / safer environment for everyone.

Just my 2 cents

+2 more cents.
Grannies, walkers, dogs, prams, joggers, kids...they're shared use paths, it's a small price to pay to dismount at the kissing gates which are quite effective at keeping the paths safe at all hours.
It's not reasonable imo to expect the tiny number of trailers to be catered for at the moment, although if numbers of cargobikes/trailers increase it should be looked at again.

Cookie_Monster

The Royal Canal Way is a National Waymarked Trail under the category: Walking/Hiking Trails and as such you shouldn't be cycling on it period.

Surveyor11

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The Royal Canal Way is a National Waymarked Trail under the category: Walking/Hiking Trails and as such you shouldn't be cycling on it period.

Not too sure about that Cookie Monster, this is being promoted as a joint cycling / pedestrian amenity.

Anyway lads got the submission in, have requested the kissing gates be replaced with something that prevents the issues they're there to prevent. Bollards will surely go a long way? Stops cars and motorbikes if they're close enough together?

CramCycle

seeing_ie wrote: »

+2 more cents.
Grannies, ... prams,

Elderly person may have limited strength, range of movement to move the gates with ease. Larger prams are also a tight enough/awkward squeeze.

If they removed the gate and just left the two half guard rails, it would be cheap, doubtful a Quad could get through, mopeds maybe but one or two speed cameras set to catch anything over 5km/hr to catch any vehicle with a with a license plate etc.

A large sign asking cyclists to yield to pedestrians, and thats most issues solved.

Iwannahurl

seeing_ie wrote: »

+2 more cents.
Grannies, walkers, dogs, prams, joggers, kids...they're shared use paths, it's a small price to pay to dismount at the kissing gates which are quite effective at keeping the paths safe at all hours.
It's not reasonable imo to expect the tiny number of trailers to be catered for at the moment, although if numbers of cargobikes/trailers increase it should be looked at again.

That's a crock, as they say in the States.

The pic I posted earlier was of a cyclist with a child in a trailer being denied access to a cycle path in a park.

Why would the number of cargobikes and trailers (non-polluting congestion-busting substitutes for cars) increase when local authorities are systematically discouraging their use at present and are showing little understanding of what is needed to promote cycling? Many of the engineers and officials making these decisions never cycle themselves. They drive to their offices, sit behind a desk and issue decrees with scant regard for the effect on people who are out there making an effort by switching from the car to the bike whenever and wherever possible.

One reason commonly given by the local authority mandarins for the use of kissing gates is that these devices exclude motorbikes from certain areas. Yet, according to Census 2011, there are five times as many cyclists in Ireland as there are motorbike users.

monument

seeing_ie wrote: »

+2 more cents.
Grannies, walkers, dogs, prams, joggers, kids...they're shared use paths, it's a small price to pay to dismount at the kissing gates which are quite effective at keeping the paths safe at all hours.
It's not reasonable imo to expect the tiny number of trailers to be catered for at the moment, although if numbers of cargobikes/trailers increase it should be looked at again.

What are you talking about??? How are you going to count cargo bikes / trailers / touring bikes / recumbents / etc when they are blocked from accessing the paths? ... And at the moment baby seats on normal seats are hard to get passed the kissing gates and other barriers -- there's already 100s of those around Dublin.

At what stage is it a problem? 10 people denied access? Or 50? 100? 500?

Hopefully the redevelopment will leave access for all cyclists, prams and wheelchairs.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The Royal Canal Way is a National Waymarked Trail under the category: Walking/Hiking Trails and as such you shouldn't be cycling on it period.

Your view does not seem to be supported by Waterways, DCC, FCC, etc.