How bikes took over Dublin

Jawgap

http://www.visualistan.com/2015/01/how-bikes-took-over-dublin-infographic.html

The graphic is pretty long.......

poochiem

Bit of conflation going on there between Dublin Bikes & Cycling in general. It uses figures from the Canal cordon and the N11 - I've never used a Dublin Bike, I commute along the canal and used to use the N11 and neither is the habitat of the Dublin Bike Scheme. The Bike-To-Work scheme initially triggered the increase in cycling generally as well as the ongoing recession forcing people back to cheaper modes of transport.

magicbastarder

there's a comment box at the bottom, fwiw.

Ole Rodrigo

Some of the numbers might be slightly skewed but its made a positive contribution to cycling culture in Dublin, no doubt about that.

magicbastarder

argh, the comment box is useless without a preexisting account on another platform.

Doctor Bob

poochiem wrote: »

Bit of conflation going on there between Dublin Bikes & Cycling in general.

It also takes figures from the CSO and states that these represent the share of all trips undertaken by bike. As far as I know, they only represent people who mainly cycle to work and education, so miss out on such things as cycling to a train station, cycling to retail/leisure destinations, etc, and they certainly miss out on almost all DB trips.

The modal share for cycling has definitely increased in the past few years, but not to the extent implied by this infographic.

poochiem

Might be of more interest - certainly easier to comment on - is Dublin City Beta project on modal points. I won't explain just have a goo and if you scroll down you'll see the experiment is set for the path in front of the old tax office beside four courts. https://dubcitybeta.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/leap-points/

GasBrakeHonk

I'm surprised that we are number 9 in the Copenhagenize Report, A couple of highlights from it

"Dublin is the Great Bike Hope among Emerging Bicycle Cities"

"30 km/h zones and bicycle infrastructure have combined to make Dublin the safest EU capital."

"With a modal share of 7.5%, the city centre can sometimes boast of double digits. An incredible rise over just six or so years. Dublin is the only city after Amsterdam and Copenhagen to retain their placement on the Index. They scored high on the bonus points. They remain an inspiration and a city to watch."

Are we really as good as that or are the rest just truly awful ?

Jawgap

GasBrakeHonk wrote: »

I'm surprised that we are number 9 in the Copenhagenize Report, A couple of highlights from it

"Dublin is the Great Bike Hope among Emerging Bicycle Cities"

"30 km/h zones and bicycle infrastructure have combined to make Dublin the safest EU capital."

"With a modal share of 7.5%, the city centre can sometimes boast of double digits. An incredible rise over just six or so years. Dublin is the only city after Amsterdam and Copenhagen to retain their placement on the Index. They scored high on the bonus points. They remain an inspiration and a city to watch."

Are we really as good as that or are the rest just truly awful ?

Dublin's fine, but there's no way it's 9th in Europe, probably not even 9th in the UK & Ireland - it may be down to the fact that, as far as I recall, the people behind the index were over here doing some consultancy work or touting for it.

tomasrojo

I haven't tracked down the source of "Dublin is the safest EU capital". Dublin did show the most improvement one year, but since AFAIK the metric is based on KSIs per 100k head of population suppression or discouragement of active travel by children and the elderly also would push you up the league table.

The Copenhagenize index gave Dublin unspecified "extra credit". It's not exactly rigorous, and Mikael Colville Andersen isn't really an expert either, more of a polemicist. Dublin isn't all that bad though.

tomasrojo

Jawgap wrote: »

Dublin's fine, but there's no way it's 9th in Europe, probably not even 9th in the UK & Ireland - it may be down to the fact that, as far as I recall, the people behind the index were over here doing some consultancy work or touting for it.

They did end up involved in some work that Roughan and O'Donovan did on cycle routes.

Tenzor07

I think the title of this work of fiction is misleading!

Orion

"The leading bicycle city in the Anglo-Saxon world got to where they are because of ballsy political decision-making"

What ballsy political decision making? The ballsy type that puts cycle lanes on paths? Or the one that thinks painting a section of path or road makes it a cycle lane? Or is it the ballsy type that doesn't give a crap apart from crocodile tears that 60 cyclists died on our roads last year.

Mec-a-nic

magicbastarder wrote: »

argh, the comment box is useless without a preexisting account on another platform.

If you're on reddit, it's self contained for feedback:

http://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/2rj1qb/how_bikes_took_over_dublin_infographic/

monument

Jawgap wrote: »

Dublin's fine, but there's no way it's 9th in Europe, probably not even 9th in the UK & Ireland - it may be down to the fact that, as far as I recall, the people behind the index were over here doing some consultancy work or touting for it.

Err... What 10 cities in the UK or Ireland have higher modal share than Dublin?

tomasrojo wrote: »

They did end up involved in some work that Roughan and O'Donovan did on cycle routes.

Yes and also spoke out against them when the Dodder Greenway report included lots of shared use paths.

tomasrojo wrote: »

The Copenhagenize index gave Dublin unspecified "extra credit". It's not exactly rigorous, and Mikael Colville Andersen isn't really an expert either, more of a polemicist. Dublin isn't all that bad though.

I think Dublin on the index was a mistake but lots of other cities around the same modal share also have major issues.

He says he gave Dublin extra credit for what is planned and the large growth in recent years. A lot of what is planned has stalled since and even with a lot of it going to planning, we're behind now.


As far as him being an expert -- he's not an engineer, but at this point he has more experience and knowledge of cycling cultures and cycling planning than 90% of the population.

Disclosure: I know him and am friendly with him.

magicbastarder

monument wrote: »

As far as him being an expert -- he's not an engineer, but at this point he has more experience and knowledge of cycling cultures and cycling planning than 90% of the population.

to be fair, i would expect 90% of the posters on this forum would have more experience and knowledge about cycling culture and planning than 90% of the population. i'm 90% sure of that.

Jawgap

monument wrote: »

Err... What 10 cities in the UK or Ireland have higher modal share than Dublin?




.

I didn't think the Copenhagenizer Index was solely based on modal share? I thought it was a more holistic assessment of the suitability & attractiveness of cities as cycling environments?

tomasrojo

I find the use of "Anglo Saxon" to mean "English-speaking country" deeply silly. However, I guess it can't be stopped.

monument, I'm genuinely sorry to say that Colville Andersen's general tone drives me nuts.

I think this sums it up:

https://twitter.com/copenhagenize/status/529412840541937665

Thanks for the extra information about the RO'D work. I wasn't aware of anything other than the bare fact that Copenhagenize people had been involved. I wasn't criticising any work they did, as I knew nothing about it.

HivemindXX

poochiem wrote: »

I commute along the canal and used to use the N11 and neither is the habitat of the Dublin Bike Scheme.

I'm surprised you don't think the canal is a Dublin Bike environment. Certainly on the Grand Canal I see tons of them.

poochiem

HivemindXX wrote: »

I'm surprised you don't think the canal is a Dublin Bike environment. Certainly on the Grand Canal I see tons of them.

Fair enough, I don't come across them on my commute but maybe theyre all during the daytime - I'm only morning and evening.

Lumen

tomasrojo wrote: »

I think this sums it up:

https://twitter.com/copenhagenize/status/529412840541937665

Mikael Colville Andersen, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of drivers who operate above the law. Mikael Colville Andersen, a lone crusader in a dangerous world, the world...of the Danish Hottie. One man can make a difference, Mikael.

Jawgap

Lumen wrote: »

Mikael Colville Andersen, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of drivers who operate above the law. Mikael Colville Andersen, a lone crusader in a dangerous world, the world...of the Danish Hottie. One man can make a difference, Mikael.

I would've said more Messiah than crusader - the whole wandering in the desert vibe!

Lumen

Jawgap wrote: »

I would've said more Messiah than crusader - the whole wandering in the desert vibe!

1980s TV cheese is my religion.

ted1

Love to see how next years hart looks after the government bring in their anti cycling laws

ezra_pound

ted1 wrote: »

Love to see how next years hart looks after the government bring in their anti cycling laws

There's not going to be any anti cycling laws.

monument

Jawgap wrote: »

I didn't think the Copenhagenizer Index was solely based on modal share? I thought it was a more holistic assessment of the suitability & attractiveness of cities as cycling environments?

Maybe I'm wrong but modal share is a reflection of how attractive a city is for cycling.

But the index is based on a mix of things.

magicbastarder wrote: »

to be fair, i would expect 90% of the posters on this forum would have more experience and knowledge about cycling culture and planning than 90% of the population. i'm 90% sure of that.

Ok, sure, I should have said something like 99% than.

How many of us regularly travel around the world to look at and talk about cycling? How many of our day jobs are just about cycling?

tomasrojo wrote: »

monument, I'm genuinely sorry to say that Colville Andersen's general tone drives me nuts.

I think you're entitled to your view and to like or dislike who you want.

tomasrojo wrote: »

Thanks for the extra information about the RO'D work. I wasn't aware of anything other than the bare fact that Copenhagenize people had been involved. I wasn't criticising any work they did, as I knew nothing about it.

No problem: he's fairly to the point on that issue:

http://irishcycle.com/2014/09/15/dodder-greenway-should-be-a-bicycle-superhighway-says-danish-experts/

ted1 wrote: »

Love to see how next years hart looks after the government bring in their anti cycling laws

On-the-spot fines? They are the norm in Denmark and the Netherlands, and even where they seem to be misused to an apparent large extent in NYC cycling is still booming.

Fines could help to more normalise cycling and allow for better discussion of cycling issues without as many distractions -- but that's hopeful thinking.

Jawgap

ted1 wrote: »

Love to see how next years hart looks after the government bring in their anti cycling laws

What anti-cycling laws?

Jawgap

monument wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong but modal share is a reflection of how attractive a city is for cycling.

But the index is based on a mix of things.

It's a good proxy, I wouldn't argue with that, but there are cities that are very attractive to cycling around but perhaps for other reasons (cultural, local political etc) their potential isn't fully realised.

Lumen

Despite the recent trend of negativity in the media/this forum (Januaryitis) I find Dublin to be a great place to cycle.

It's compact, flat and has a decent number of buslanes to help make progress, and I find other road users quite slow and patient compared to other large Anglophone cities I've lived in and visited.

And there are largely free Dublin bikes for running errands.

That said I cycle mostly on de nordside and I have found that driver behaviour gets much worse the further south I go. Money doesn't buy manners.

tomasrojo

monument wrote: »

How many of us regularly travel around the world to look at and talk about cycling? How many of our day jobs are just about cycling?

This is an extreme example, but
I think Lord Monckton is working pretty much full time on climate change issues, but he hasn't accepted anything in all that time that doesn't conform with the wold view he set out with.

But to be fair, MCA's work is full of interesting facts, fascinating people and lovely photography. I just can't get past the tone, but oplenty of people can. Also, he doesn't seem to ever correct anything he gets wrong, or seem to be forthcoming on the sources of some claims. That second trait is partly to keep the site non-wonkish, I'm sure, but the two traits are also the hallmark of a polemicist rather than an analyst.

That's ok too. Polemicists have their place.

tomasrojo

Dublin dropped to 15th place in the Copenhagenize Index for 2015, for those who take an interest.

(#bikeindex on Twitter)

EDIT:
http://copenhagenize.eu/index/
http://copenhagenize.eu/index/15_dublin.html
Comment about Dublin being a long way from anywhere interesting superbly patronising, in the patented Copenhagenize house style.

mmclo

I think it has just fallen in the Copenhagen index to 14th or soemthing, the new Royal Canal "greenway" may be eblematic, more gates and merging current off road cycling with traffic.

On Dublin bikes good luck to them and all but can't see how it achieves the stated piolicy ghaols about health, the environment and congestion. They are predominanltly short trips many of which could be walked and seem to involve a lot of tourists. Does no ahrm and raises the profile of cyucling but always felt pro commuter measures aimed at the 2-15k journey would be better

cdaly_

mmclo wrote: »

On Dublin bikes good luck to them and all but can't see how it achieves the stated piolicy ghaols about health, the environment and congestion. They are predominanltly short trips many of which could be walked and seem to involve a lot of tourists. Does no harm and raises the profile of cycling but always felt pro commuter measures aimed at the 2-15k journey would be better

Raising the profile of cycling is where it will make a difference. As cycling is normalised as a way of getting about, people are more likely to get into commuting by bike and there will accrue the health benefits.

Tenzor07

15th is still good considering... but shows that since being in the top 10 that any political will to keep pushing cycling as a means of transport and avoiding pollution and congestion in our City and towns has waned... expect to see a further slide...