Rise in number of cyclists in Dublin

Dr Crayfish

Hi all. I cycle to work every day, but this morning I was in Fairview/North Strand at around 0830, I'm usually later, and it was amazing to see this constant stream of cyclists going into town. I hadn't seen this many cyclists on the road since my days in London. I guess they are all the people who start work at 0900 in town.
So in front of me and behind me I could see a stream of cyclists as far as I could see. Pretty impressive.
The negatives were though that especially when you get to the Fire Station at East Wall onwards, there's no room for the bikes and everyone is basically fighting for space and squeezing through the little room there is between the cars and busses and the side of the road. It's not pretty and probably dangerous although I've never had any accidents in years on this route.
Surely with the amount of cyclists on the road, this route and others should be improved for cyclists? Think of the amount of cars that are off the road because of them.
They are currently upgrading the coast road around Clontarf to accommodate cyclists - is this not pretty much a recreational route? Surely there were other priorities?
Anyway - do we have room to improve the roads for cyclists and what can be done? Thanks.

AngryLips

Isn't there an ongoing upgrade to a dedicated cycle greenway along the entire Dublin Bay route?

magicbastarder

there's work being done on the coast road past st. anne's park, but that's about all that's happening at the moment.

Roadhawk

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Surely with the amount of cyclists on the road, this route and others should be improved for cyclists? Think of the amount of cars that are off the road because of them.

Surely with the amount of cars that are coming off the roads there is more space for cyclists?

Danjamin1

I made the mistake of driving in to work this morning - took an hour to go the 10km distance to the office.

I'll be cycling tomorrow for sure but will most likely not use the off road infrastructure due to poor condition (for the most part).

The room is there on the roads to cycle as you please already but it means mixing with other traffic. OP, are you suggesting room for development of off- or on-road facilities? I generally find the bus lanes around Dublin provide reasonably decent infrastructure to cycle on.

monument

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

Surely with the amount of cyclists on the road, this route and others should be improved for cyclists? Think of the amount of cars that are off the road because of them.

It's planned to have a segregated or semi-segregated cycle route along the Aimes Street - North Strand Road - Fairview route. The details are currently under review but the work is apparently ongoing and not one of the projects which were paused.

Work has already started on the new pedestrian bridge over the canal which will allow for more space for cycling on the existing bridge.

Roadhawk wrote: »

Surely with the amount of cars that are coming off the roads there is more space for cyclists?

There will be more dedicated space for cycling when some space is taken from cars.

Dr Crayfish

monument wrote: »

Work has already started on the new pedestrian bridge over the canal which will allow for more space for cycling on the existing bridge.

Ah, is that what that is? That whole stretch there could do with improvement yes.

Seaswimmer

I've posted this before and not very scientific but last full year of counting on the cycle counter on the Rock Road was 2013. It was crashed into in 2014 and not fully repaired until a couple of months into 2015 so this year (2016) is its first FULL year of operation since 2013

31st Dec 2013 it just broke the 200,000 barrier

as of today we are at about 256,000 so we have a 25% + increase in 3 years.

So the increase in cycling numbers is real and substantial.

07Lapierre

Roadhawk wrote: »

Surely with the amount of cars that are coming off the roads there is more space for cyclists?

A Lot of those cyclist may have commuted via Dublin Bus or Train? A lot of them could be new commuters who were school/college kids last year etc. etc.

Not all of them are Motorists that have "Seen the light".

hytrogen

monument wrote:

Work has already started on the new pedestrian bridge over the canal which will allow for more space for cycling on the existing bridge.

Any link to this project? It'd be interesting from a boat owners perspective if they'll cut off the grand canal airdraft so severely as they did down by the Convention centre where the road/luas crosses..

Danjamin1

I should also mention I'd be all in favour of decent on-road development such as providing wider lanes & better facilities for cycling, but if the investment would be for more km's of the same poor excuse that's been provided so far then it'd be a waste of money. That's an argument that's been around the block before though.

Carawaystick

There's a plan to use the royal canal from the North strand to Guild st/Sherrif st junction as a greenway, with a bridge over the rail line Newcommen curve.
Which would take an amount of traffic to the ifsc, and south docks area away.
The route through Summerhill is wide enough to accomodate bike tracks, iff the nettle of on street parking is grasped.

Ciaran_B

I cycle all year round and I'd normally see a drop off in numbers in the Winter months. But that hasn't happened this year. I see the same people on my commute I've been seeing all year.

My anecdotal opinion is that there is a definite increase of people commuting on bikes in Dublin. Long may it continue.

magicbastarder

well, it's a bad head cold keeping me off the bike this week. i hear it's doing the rounds.

Dr Crayfish

It's lovely weather for it right now, as long as you're covered up. Still by the time I get to town I have to start taking off hats and scarves etc as I'm too hot.

Bray Head

I cycle daily to work in Dublin and the growth in numbers is a good thing.

But the other day I took the bus which goes up the Rathgar Road. The bus was even slower than usual because of the amount of cyclists in the bus lane. They were cycling three abreast in some cases. They were overtaking each other very slowly and it was very difficult for the bus to safely overtake them. 

Cycling is great but buses still move a lot more people in Dublin.

Some kind of thinking needs to be done about the bus lanes. Shared use by buses and bikes is not really working now that there are so many cyclists. 

On the behaviour side slower cyclists should pull over from time to time to let buses past. I almost never see this.

On the legal side we might need to think about the concept of bike-free bus lanes on busy commuter routes.

We all need to get around. Road space is scarce. We need to think about how well it can be shared between everyone.

schemingbohemia

3 abreast whilst overtaking each other I would presume? What solution would you suggest for Rathgar Road? Rather than remove cyclists from the bus lane, how about removing parking from sections of that road that impede the bus lane? If cyclists were removed from that bus lane, the bus would get a tiny bit quicker to the pinch point at the church in Terenure, no real time saving at all.

There are separate bike lanes on the N11 which is one of the busiest bus routes in the city - the quality isn't brilliant in some places. I don't think there's room on the Rathgar Road for separate cycle lanes.

Bray Head

schemingbohemia wrote: »

3 abreast whilst overtaking each other I would presume? What solution would you suggest for Rathgar Road? Rather than remove cyclists from the bus lane, how about removing parking from sections of that road that impede the bus lane? If cyclists were removed from that bus lane, the bus would get a tiny bit quicker to the pinch point at the church in Terenure, no real time saving at all.

There are separate bike lanes on the N11 which is one of the busiest bus routes in the city - the quality isn't brilliant in some places. I don't think there's room on the Rathgar Road for separate cycle lanes.

I agree, the bike lanes along the N11 are poor quality which is why many cyclists don't use them. For Rathgar I would agree with removing on-street parking where possible.

For the Rathgar road, the cyclists were moving very slowly and this meant a bus with 80 people on board was slowed down. This is perfectly legal and perfectly inconsiderate all at the same time.

I am trying to think of a solution that works best for the system as a whole. I'm a default cyclist but often a motorist and occasionally a bus passenger too.

Seaswimmer

Bray Head wrote: »

I agree, the bike lanes along the N11 are poor quality which is why many cyclists don't use them. For Rathgar I would agree with removing on-street parking where possible.

For the Rathgar road, the cyclists were moving very slowly and this meant a bus with 80 people on board was slowed down. This is perfectly legal and perfectly inconsiderate all at the same time.

I am trying to think of a solution that works best for the system as a whole. I'm a default cyclist but often a motorist and occasionally a bus passenger too.

You probably have a point but what about all the easy fixes to speed up buses.

1. Try and reduce dwell times. (less cash, middle doors ect ect)
2. Enforce the bus lanes. Cyclists are probably the least of the problems for buses. Private cars, large volumes of taxis and parking/stopping in the bus lane are all much bigger issues.
3. Give the buses more priority at lights. This happens at some junctions but should be expanded.
4. Make it law possibly that buses have to be let out when indicating.
5. Let motorbikes and mopeds use bus lanes. Looks counter intuitive at first but would probably get a lot of people out of cars freeing up road space.

After all this we could possibly look at cyclists.

Bray Head

I agree with all of these ideas Seaswimmer. Dublin Bus's very own inefficiency is by far the biggest problem of course.

But cyclist behaviour has a (small) part to play in reducing congestion too.

josip

This morning by 8:45 either 7 or 8 cyclists had passed the Killiney Towers roundabout heading into town.
There isn't any bike counter but I could hazard a guess based on the number of tyre tracks in the semi-frost.

Idbatterim

Surely with the amount of cars that are coming off the roads there is more space for cyclists?

the space simply fills with more traffic... its the same with roads in a congested city like dublin...

Danjamin1

Deedsie wrote: »

I use the N11 cycle lanes everyday and they are in a shocking state both North and South bound. I don't want to be in the bus lane but for some sections I have no choice. Anyone who doesn't believe me I challenge you try cycle from Nutley lane to UCD in the cycle lane. The surface is shockingly bad and that's not even the most dangerous section. Leafs and glass and litter strewn sections are far worse.

That's a disgraceful section & you're liable to be run off the road by Aircoach, Bus Eireann & less frequently Dublin Bus drivers for staying in the bus lane which is only in marginally better condition! I don't cycle this route anymore thankfully.

I think the cycle path northbound isn't in too bad condition until you come to UCD but the layout is terrible the whole way, you have no priority or visibility with traffic & run the risk of being left hooked if you stay on the off-road cycle path as far as Colaiste Eoin. Once you pass UCD you're fighting for space with buses, taxi's & more than anything else private cars in the bus lane all the way to Donnybrook. It get's particularly bad going past the Dublin bus depot where there's always a line of cars in the bus lane waiting to take the left turn.

I used to cycle & drive that route in to town for work, I don't miss it at all. It'd rival the M50 for the worst commuter route in rush hour.

cython

Seaswimmer wrote: »

You probably have a point but what about all the easy fixes to speed up buses.

1. Try and reduce dwell times. (less cash, middle doors ect ect)
2. Enforce the bus lanes. Cyclists are probably the least of the problems for buses. Private cars, large volumes of taxis and parking/stopping in the bus lane are all much bigger issues.
3. Give the buses more priority at lights. This happens at some junctions but should be expanded.
4. Make it law possibly that buses have to be let out when indicating.
5. Let motorbikes and mopeds use bus lanes. Looks counter intuitive at first but would probably get a lot of people out of cars freeing up road space.

After all this we could possibly look at cyclists.

To be fair on the bolded, by the letter of the law, these classes of vehicles are not permitted to use bus lanes, but in practice probably more of them use bus lanes than do not around Dublin, at least in the city centre such as on the quays, so I don't necessarily think this would have as much of an effect as you imagine.

Carawaystick

Bray Head wrote: »

But the other day I took the bus which goes up the Rathgar Road. The bus was even slower than usual because of the amount of cyclists in the bus lane. They were cycling three abreast in some cases. They were overtaking each other very slowly and it was very difficult for the bus to safely overtake them. 

Is that because there were loads of cars in the overtaking/general purpose lane lane? Which were moving slower than the bikes, and so the actual cause of the slow busses.

magicbastarder

i have my posts per page set to a non-default value - what's the post you're referring to?

RobertFoster

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055947068&p=101841689

monument

Creatures who live under bridges waiting for goats to trip trap overhead are best taken lightly.

lucernarian

I've been finding East Wall Road to be far more unsafe than the likes of Fairview, as far as Dublin 3 goes.

The numbers are rising there and the road layout is one of the most bike-unfriendly I've seen in the Dublin area. With the inevitable result that people are cycling on the paths, endangering pedestrians instead.

It's thoroughly unsatisfactory and there is definitely enough road space to do something about it.

Hrududu

lucernarian wrote: »

I've been finding East Wall Road to be far more unsafe than the likes of Fairview, as far as Dublin 3 goes.

The numbers are rising there and the road layout is one of the most bike-unfriendly I've seen in the Dublin area. With the inevitable result that people are cycling on the paths, endangering pedestrians instead.

It's thoroughly unsatisfactory and there is definitely enough road space to do something about it.

East Wall Road is terrible. A lot of drivers have taken to coming down the Alfie Byrne road and taking a U turn to go right. More than once I've seen cyclists coming the opposite way almost get clipped by cars doing this.

lucernarian

Hrududu wrote: »

East Wall Road is terrible. A lot of drivers have taken to coming down the Alfie Byrne road and taking a U turn to go right. More than once I've seen cyclists coming the opposite way almost get clipped by cars doing this.

Ive only seen issues after dark about this, and without instigating another discussion, there are quite a lot of bikes in the area without lights or adequate ones. That is one huge benefit to the Dublin Bikes scheme, which isn't in the area.

Many cyclists are heading to or from East point around there. Anyhow, I think the squeezing of two lanes of cars into the one lane is a far more dangerous driving behaviour for the consequences it has for cyclists. Doing a U turn isn't illegal and the petrol station would still make it effortless to make that kind of manoeuvre.

Hrududu

The only time I've seen issues are in the morning so it's not a lights issue. My theory is the drivers making the turn are checking to make sure no cars are coming towards them and as they are looking for cars don't notice the bikes. Doing u turns may not be illegal but I'm pretty sure you can't do a u turn right into oncoming traffic.

Twice I've seen a car come down the Alfie Byrne road and turn right immediately without waiting to see if anything was coming.

Using the petrol station to make the turn is what lots of people do but others are more impatient and inattentive