Busiest City Centre Commuting Routes

Rewind

What do you ladies and gentlemen think are the busiest routes/areas in Dublin city? I am looking to collect some data and make observations for a major undergrad thesis about urban design, planning and gender all in relation to bicycle usage in Dublin city centre.

Ideally looking between 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

edit. I didn't specify, but I'm concerned with cycle traffic.

Darkglasses

Rewind wrote: »

What do you ladies and gentlemen think are the busiest routes/areas in Dublin city? I am looking to collect some data and make observations for a major undergrad thesis about urban design, planning and gender all in relation to bicycle usage in Dublin city centre.

Ideally looking between 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Grand Canal cycle path around Portobello bridge is a busy spot.

Rewind

Darkglasses wrote: »

Grand Canal cycle path around Portobello bridge is a busy spot.

Perfect, should get loads from that area. Thanks

Anybody know the best route for the IFSC crowd? I was thinking around Fairview/North Strand area.

Looking to see if I can get as many areas as possible to be honest.

Cheers

Skrynesaver

There seems to be a lot of traffic on the North-Circular Rd.>Portland Row>Seville Place>Samuel Becket Bridge seems the busiest section of my journey in the morning.(Assuming you mean cycle traffic here)

Rewind

Hey Skrynesaver. That looks like another ideal route, thanks for your response. Sorry for not making it clear, but you're correct, Im looking for busy cycling routes.

Cheers
Dáire

Lawrence1895

What about Grace Park Road? They have a new road surface, before that it looked like a mine field. But since they have ramps all the way, it takes even longer to use the road.

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Lars1916 wrote: »

What about Grace Park Road? They have a new road surface, before that it looked like a mine field. But since they have ramps all the way, it takes even longer to use the road.

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Do you think Grace PArk Road would be busier than say Drumcondra Road? I must check out the new surface. Apparently Rathmines was done recently also.

Lawrence1895

Rewind wrote: »

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Do you think Grace PArk Road would be busier than say Drumcondra Road? I must check out the new surface. Apparently Rathmines was done recently also.

Both roads are quite busy, but it's more crucial on Grace Park Road, since it is more narrow than Drumcondra Road, and the locals see it as a short cut, imo

Rewind

Lars1916 wrote: »

Both roads are quite busy, but it's more crucial on Grace Park Road, since it is more narrow than Drumcondra Road, and the locals see it as a short cut, imo

Cool, its on my list. Thanks again.

Lawrence1895

No problem...and good luck with your project

check_six

This is about commuter races isn't it?
Someone is trying to take a few easy scalps!

Bikerbhoy

Rathmines Road Lower

tomasrojo

Main street in Ranelagh used to be very busy at rush hour. I assume it still is.

billyhead

Drumcondra/dorset street?

Rewind

check_six wrote: »

This is about commuter races isn't it?
Someone is trying to take a few easy scalps!

You found me out!

Bikerbhoy wrote: »

Rathmines Road Lower

Cheers, will have to be careful with that one due to its proximity to Portobello. Perfect spot though.

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tomasrojo wrote: »

Main street in Ranelagh used to be very busy at rush hour. I assume it still is.

Supriset at that, always found it very unpleasant to go through. Cars parked the whole way along the main street. Still, I'll check and make sure. Thanks

Rewind

billyhead wrote: »

Drumcondra/dorset street?

Might have to choose between there and Grace Park Road, I'll have to wait and see. Cheers

Wishbone Ash

If you do a check on STRAVA under "Segment Explore" it will provide route segments in the Dublin area it will give a leader-board and information such as "Ridden 1027 times by 218 people" (e.g. North Strand).

While I realise it's only applicable to those using STRAVA ,it should give a pro-rata indication of the popularity of a particular route.

Rewind

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

If you do a check on STRAVA under "Segment Explore" it will provide route segments in the Dublin area it will give a leader-board and information such as "Ridden 1027 times by 218 people" (e.g. North Strand).

While I realise it's only applicable to those using STRAVA ,it should give a pro-rata indication of the popularity of a particular route.

Thats a great tip! Really appreciate that.

monument

Short on time at the moment but....

As you may know, the city council do counts around the "canal ring" at the peak morning rush hour -- it records traffic crossing the canal into the city centre. More on that here, including one of the reports: http://cyclingindublin.com/2012/02/03/dublin-city-traffic-count-shows-15-increase-in-cycling-in-2011/

Oh, and here's the 2010 coins report too: http://cyclingindublin.com/dublin-city-council-canal-traffic-counts/

That only counts what cross the canals. Dublin Bikes stations are all inside the canal and it's likely there's not too much Dublin Bikes traffic being counted in the canal count.

There's also a large amount of areas which high cycling use inside the canal -- search cyclingindublin.com for 'census' and you should find posts and pages showing the details.

The city council also has a electronic counter on Grove Road (records traffic going along the Grand Canal). The city council were also due to install more without the fancy above ground displays and DLR Co Co also has a number of counters, only some of them have desplay at the location.

With the junction of Rathmines Road Lower and Grove Road (ie at the Grand Canal) you get heavy traffic in both directions, into town and towards the docklands-- including both directiona it's likely the busiest junction for cyclists in the city.

North Strand Road is the busiest in one direction but keep in mind it is so because it is a bottle neck.

Inside the canal when looking for to take photos of cyclists I found O'Connell Street southbound at O'Connell Bridge to be one of the busier ones in the AM peak (I was looking for clusters of cyclists -- many streets may have had as many but flowing better).

Overall at the PM peak the busiest I could find seemed to be Kevin Street / Wexford Street.

The north quays AM is an interisting one for how when you're cycling along it you notice how it quickly gains cyclists from diffrent roads but nearly as many head off in different directions before reaching O'Connell Bridge. Many people advoid the south quays after work -- there's been threads on here with a good few saying that from the Docklands they use the NCR to advoid the south quays..

Running out of time but the last thing I can think of quickly is you should keep in mind that some places with the canal cound would have higher numbers if it was not for nearby short cuts -- for example, Phibsborough has the Royal Canal Bank (runs partally to Phibsborough Road) as a short cut which is two-way for cyclists.

billyhead wrote: »

Drumcondra/dorset street?

It's way down the list.

tomasrojo wrote: »

Main street in Ranelagh used to be very busy at rush hour. I assume it still is.

It is.

Rewind

Hi monument. Thats an incredibly detailed response, you're very kind for taking the time. Thank you. I've followed the work on Cycling in Dublin for a while now, the guy involved is very impressive. Your point about the North Quays is very interesting, I'll have to be careful choosing a point if that is the case. Really the entire response is full of wonderful nuggets, cheers!

opti0nal

Rewind wrote: »

Anybody know the best route for the IFSC crowd? I was thinking around Fairview/North Strand area.
Cheers

Annesley Bridge in Fairview would be a good observation point although the IFSC people might be going by way of East wall, in which case you'd need to observe near Clontarf Garda station where some go straight for Fairview and others go left to East Walll where there's also some high-tech companies. But, then you'd miss traffic coming down the Malahide andHowth roads which normally heads on to Annesley Bridge.

Rewind

opti0nal wrote: »

Annesley Bridge in Fairview would be a good observation point although the IFSC people might be going by way of East wall, in which case you'd need to observe near Clontarf Garda station where some go straight for Fairview and others go left to East Walll where there's also some high-tech companies. But, then you'd miss traffic coming down the Malahide andHowth roads which normally heads on to Annesley Bridge.

Ha, I think you can see my potential problems alright. Not so straight forward ,I'll just have to explain it in the limitations. Thanks for your input, I wasn't aware of some of those areas.

BostonB

I find the Grand Canal a lot busier than the quays. But mainly around rathmines as was said earlier. Once you get past Harold Cross it starts to filter out.

smackyB

Rock road in the morning has a fairly constant flow of cyclists, there's also an electronic bike count sign just before the junction with Booterstown Avenue (heading north) that might be useful to you.

Cookie_Monster

smackyB wrote: »

Rock road in the morning has a fairly constant flow of cyclists, there's also an electronic bike count sign just before the junction with Booterstown Avenue (heading north) that might be useful to you.

as does the N11, elec sign just south of UCD inbound.

Mycroft H

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

smackyB wrote: »

Rock road in the morning has a fairly constant flow of cyclists, there's also an electronic bike count sign just before the junction with Booterstown Avenue (heading north) that might be useful to you.

as does the N11, elec sign just south of UCD inbound.

One outside the clonskea gate too. I would assume that there busy spots if those electronic meters are there

AdMMM

BX 19 wrote: »

One outside the clonskea gate too. I would assume that there busy spots if those electronic meters are there

The counter on Clonskeagh is just before the turn off to UCD itself so a lot of the figures are made up of students who'd never hit the City Centre at all.

Mycroft H

AdMMM wrote: »

The counter on Clonskeagh is just before the turn off to UCD itself so a lot of the figures are made up of students who'd never hit the City Centre at all.

But you would be getting a lot of traffic until that point. Not everyone has a destination of the city centre.

AdMMM

I realise that and in fact my own destination isn't the City Centre either but the OP is looking for busy routes in the City Centre which is why I pointed out that Clonskeagh counter may be misleading.

Rewind

smackyB wrote: »

Rock road in the morning has a fairly constant flow of cyclists, there's also an electronic bike count sign just before the junction with Booterstown Avenue (heading north) that might be useful to you.

Cheers, wasn’t familiar with that route.

AdMMM wrote: »

The counter on Clonskeagh is just before the turn off to UCD itself so a lot of the figures are made up of students who'd never hit the City Centre at all.

Yea, have to be careful with that one alright. Thanks

spoofilyj

My commute in the morning can be fairley busy, it starts on the n11 inbound, right at donnybrook church ans left at the RDS in as far as the Canal, then on to Macken street and down to the Sam Becket bridge, I'd saw I see/ pass am passed by 200 plus bikes on my journey.

Rewind

spoofilyj wrote: »

My commute in the morning can be fairley busy, it starts on the n11 inbound, right at donnybrook church ans left at the RDS in as far as the Canal, then on to Macken street and down to the Sam Becket bridge, I'd saw I see/ pass am passed by 200 plus bikes on my journey.

Sounds busy alright. Its now on my list. Thanks