CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
"10% of Dublin City residents are choosing bicycles as their main commute mode"
(16 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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My question is, what are they doing to cause this?
Posted 6 years ago # -
If I were cynical I would say 'digging up the city centre' as the Luas works have completely snarled up some of the most important city roads making driving and to a large extent even buses a nightmare for the past few years. But there are some really nice segregated routes as well e.g. along the Grand Canal. dublinbikes seems to be well used and surely have contributed. Generally Dublin CC have been making lots of right noises eg about a car-free city centre.
I do wish they'd introduce the red-and-amber phase though. Irish drivers are fast out of the blocks.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Last time I was over, two years back, noticed the increase. The dubs hated the Luas when it was being built but now want the second Tram line. Most cyclists looked Young to me. Maybe I am just old. The bike scheme is so well used they were running out of spaces at popular docking stations. The cyclists I saw were mixing it with city centre traffic which is quite intense in Dublin.
The data comes from their census returns I think, rather than a separate study on cycle commuting?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@piosad
So, straight away, we have 2 things Edinburgh doesn't have:
#1: Segregated bike lanes (if you ignore the random 300m of segregation on the South side).
#2: Bike hire scheme.
I knew there'd be some reason. There always is. Every Western city with high bike use has done something to earn it.
Posted 6 years ago # -
"#2: Bike hire scheme."
No doubt Edinburgh is still looking at the most expensive version to match the tram.
Now CEC plans (well it's been the 'plan' for years...) will be on pause to see if the newer dockless schemes are the way forward.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I'm a Dubliner now living in Edinburgh. Every time I go home to Dublin I notice more and more cyclists on the road.
Living expenses in Dublin have recently sky-rocketed plus car ownership is prohibitively expensive (in particular for young newly qualified drivers) - insurance can be anywhere between €2000 and €3000 per annum. The barrier to car-ownership coupled with high living expenses must surely be acting as a boon for cycling and cycle-commuting. If you couple all that with the compact nature of the city centre and its heavy rush hour traffic - its easy to see why people are switching to bikes.
Of course the bike rental scheme was a bit of a catalyst - with it came increasingly better bike lanes and cycling infrastructure.
Increasing cyclist mortality rates in the country are also adding pressure to cycling infrastructure development.
Still issues once the infrastructure is in place:
illegal parking and more illegal parking.Posted 6 years ago # -
"Of course the bike rental scheme was a bit of a catalyst - with it came increasingly better bike lanes and cycling infrastructure."
Mmm, why do I think CEC couldn't/wouldn't coordinate/afford bikes and suitable infrastructure ?
Posted 6 years ago # -
My memory of Dublin is that the bike rental scheme came first - created the critical mass of cyclists- and then came the meaningful infrastructure improvements. These improvements are still coming - slowly - but coming.
What's that expression about eating an elephant?
Posted 6 years ago # -
As I mentioned above, the young cyclists I saw were not using any segregated infra, but mixing it in heavy traffic.
I think ivangrozni has linked into one of the big factors in London/Dublin - cost of getting about
I would push for infra over bike scheme if money not available. There is of course an abeliio bike hire thing as I see one person hires and takes along the canal I think to Heriot Watt
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Gembo - Does this look familiar? Its true that much of the city is lacking any segregation but things are improving.
I would also prefer infra over the bike scheme - but a bike rental scheme does create a critical mass and opens up cycling to everyone. The Abellio scheme is tokenism at its best (or worst)!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Edinburgh version, total gridlock yesterday.
I got off and pushed along the pavement.
Posted 6 years ago # -
If you average out the Edinburgh cycle modal share statistics for the last two years available (2014 and 2015) then you get a cycle commuting modal share of 10% (Bike 8.1% in 2015 and 11.8% in 2014). Taking the two year average helps smooth out sampling variabilities.
Details available in the Local Area Analysis publications: https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/statistics/#42764
Posted 6 years ago # -
Bus /tram / parking too cheap in Edinburgh to get more than 10%? Discuss?
Or we have 10% how much more could we get with segregated infra? Discuss?
Posted 6 years ago # -
"parking too cheap in Edinburgh to get more than 10%?"
Probably not.
BUT
If the Government (SG not CEC) is serious about encouraging active travel, it needs to tax workplace and supermarket parking provision AND not sanction large city-centre developments with masses of underground parking.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I'd say this is mainly due to a very large proportion of the city's population being young people.
Ireland has quite a young population compared to many European countries.
Posted 6 years ago #
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