History of cycling in Dublin

ezra_pound

Copenhagenize refers to Dublin as "Once the third great cycling city in Europe after Amsterdam and Copenhagen". in its most recent update of its index of cycling cities.

Just wondering if this is based on reality.

Interesting if it was and there was a golden era of cycling to look back to revive.

KingBrian2

ezra_pound wrote: »

Copenhagenize refers to Dublin as "Once the third great cycling city in Europe after Amsterdam and Copenhagen". in its most recent update of its index of cycling cities.

Just wondering if this is based on reality.

Interesting if it was and there was a golden era of cycling to look back to revive.

Yes I do believe we were a big cycling city.

tomasrojo

Never seen a citation to back up that claim, a claim he's made several times since the Copenhagenize Index started.

Maybe he means cycling capitals, which makes it somewhat less fanciful, as it removes from competition other Dutch cities, which surely had higher cycling rates than Dublin (e.g. Enschede).

KingBrian2

tomasrojo wrote: »

Never seen a citation to back up that claim, a claim he's made several times since the Copenhagenize Index started.

Maybe he means cycling capitals, which makes it somewhat less fanciful, as it removes from competition other Dutch cities, which surely had higher cycling rates than Dublin (e.g. Enschede).

Oh yeah the Dutch are major league cyclists. Motorists are not even in second place over there. Boats are. Cycling is so normal to everyday life while we are just getting used to it. London with Boris Johnson is also really big into Cycling. Not sure about other cities in Europe.

The Ging and I

I do believe it was. I have seen several photographs of large number of cyclists and very few cars.
One photograph in particular reply surprised me, it was a a P&T depot with what looked like 200+ bicycles left against the perimeter wall.
Guessing it was late 50s/60s.

Tenzor07

ezra_pound wrote: »

Interesting if it was and there was a golden era of cycling to look back to revive.

Ah yes, before the motor vehicle took over, people would get there by pedal power without fear of the speeding car... and leave the bikes outside shops and pubs without being stolen and or vandalised...

Deedsie

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Ah yes, before the motor vehicle took over, people would get there by pedal power without fear of the speeding car... and leave the bikes outside shops and pubs without being stolen and or vandalised...

And both the speeding car and the vandals & thiefs should be targeted more aggressively by the Gardaí. As should rogue, rule breaking cyclists. Maybe that would help make Dublin a cycling city once again. Maintenance and improvements to cycling infrastructure would also help.

tomasrojo

I don't doubt that Dublin had many more cyclists before (so did an awful lot of European cities). That's not the claim. The claim is that Dublin was third as a European cycling city. That could mean a few things, but I presume it primarily would mean Dublin's cycling rate (say, percentage of journeys made by bike) was the third highest in Europe, or some similar metric. That needs a citation.

I have previously seen Mikael Colville-Andersen create "facts" out of pretty close to thin air:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/11/back-to-prosperity.html
("Here's a cartoon from the US in the 1930's. Encouraging people to buy bicycles was seen as a way of kickstarting the economy in a time of economic crisis." The cartoon is not encouraging people to buy bicycles. Bicycles were not seen in the USA as a method of stimulating a depressed economy.)

tomasrojo

(I should say that I do share his desire for cities to be designed around humans rather than the motorised vehicles. I'm not criticising everything he does.)

Thargor

Dublin probably was a cycling city for years after everywhere else switched to cars because of poverty and recession.

ceannair06

The second cyclists realise that pedestrianised areas mean they CAN'T cycle there, they'll be welcomed.

This has to be the only city where you can be run over on the pavement.

CramCycle

ceannair06 wrote: »

The second cyclists realise that pedestrianised areas mean they CAN'T cycle there, they'll be welcomed.

This has to be the only city where you can be run over on the pavement.

MOD VOICE: Let's not go down that road (or footpad).

The Ging and I

Thargor wrote: »

Dublin probably was a cycling city for years after everywhere else switched to cars because of poverty and recession.

Spot on ! Hence the derisory expression "push bike".

KingBrian2

tomasrojo wrote: »

I don't doubt that Dublin had many more cyclists before (so did an awful lot of European cities). That's not the claim. The claim is that Dublin was third as a European cycling city. That could mean a few things, but I presume it primarily would mean Dublin's cycling rate (say, percentage of journeys made by bike) was the third highest in Europe, or some similar metric. That needs a citation.

I have previously seen Mikael Colville-Andersen create "facts" out of pretty close to thin air:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/11/back-to-prosperity.html
("Here's a cartoon from the US in the 1930's. Encouraging people to buy bicycles was seen as a way of kickstarting the economy in a time of economic crisis." The cartoon is not encouraging people to buy bicycles. Bicycles were not seen in the USA as a method of stimulating a depressed economy.)

tomasrojo a lot of commentators on that site are kinda assholes.

enas

tomasrojo wrote: »

I have previously seen Mikael Colville-Andersen create "facts" out of pretty close to thin air:

Indeed. Why he is given any credit at all is something I could never fathom.

My guess would be this claim has no substance, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.