The Dublin Cycling Campaign is an independent, voluntary lobby group that has been working to improve the city for all cyclists for over a decade and a half.
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Newsletter - Winter 1998
A Nice Christmas Present ?
The perfect gift for that cycling friend of yours must be a years membership of the Dublin Cycling Campaign. What they get for your £10 includes, quarterly newsletters, regular updates, membership badge and that great feeling that they are doing something practical for cyclists in the city. Send £10 and their details to the DCC, 12 Millmount Grove, Dublin 14.
Strategic Policy Committees
A recent meeting of the Campaign heard from Eamon Ryan on the reorganisation of local government to include Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs) which deal with areas such as housing, transport and so on. The DCC do not have a representative on the Dublin Corporation Roads and Transportation SPC as such. Eamon Ryan was nominated as chair of the committee, however. Members Lucy Sutton, Brendan Ryan and Paul O’Donoghue reported on their experiences of the formation of SPCs in Fingal, South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown.
We understand that the clerical staff in the local authorities are not cooperating with the new SPCs due to an industrial dispute so progress has stopped in this area for now. (BS)
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Borough Buys Bikes
Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown County Council have acquired a number of bicycles for their employees to use to get between the various County Council buildings. The bikes have been painted in the council livery, an eye-catching blue and yellow, and have the Council crest painted on them. Very smart they look too; they were on display the day the Safe Routes to School Project was launched. (RV)
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CTC Report
The Cyclists’ Touring Club has produced a report on Light Rapid Transport and Cyclists. For more information contact CTC Ireland, 14 Meadow Park, Dublin 14.
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Contact Information
Dublin Cycling Campaign, An Feachtas Rothaíochta Átha Cliath, c/o 12 Millmount Grove, Windy Arbour, Dublin 14, Voicemail 7000312
DCC Exhibition
A sub-committee of the DCC recently met to design and produce an exhibition on cycling in Dublin and its advantages for the city. A great deal of the initial design has been done and some of the production has begun. It will take some time to finish the project and all help would be gratefully received. We hope to put the exhibition on in places such as ENFO, local Libraries, at relevant conferences and at our own public meetings. Ring 7000312 with all offers of help.
Home-based Activists
Activists, yes, but time for it, no! As parents of two small kids, the wonderful Spins and Phoenix Park cycles get little attendance from us. Rather than despair at the small numbers who might attend events, think instead of the home-based support the Campaign enjoys - in our house, at least.
We are actually a true cycling family, in that we don’t have a car. The two kids are four and one, and our mode of transport is the bicycle. We claim Dubliners don’t need cars as much as they claim they do. Our lifestyle wouldn’t be for everyone, but it does suit us.
Your suggestions to write letters and contact TDs and Councillors are very workable ideas - we usually participate with these. (ANS)
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Disclaimer
The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Dublin Cycling Campaign.
The winter edition of Campaign Spokes was brought to you with the help of Brendan Ryan, Aofin Ní Sheathain, Damien Ó Tuama, Eamon Ryan, Brendan Sheehan and Rachel Vaughan.
Did you hear about...
We did not have room in the Autumn Newsletter to include this cycling-related story covered in the British tabloid press.
Police in Paris stopped a cyclist going down a one-way street the wrong way. When questioned, the cyclist admitted that he was on his way to buy drugs. He added that the reason he was armed was for self defence as he knew the area where drugs were sold to be dangerous.
Oh, yes, the cyclist also admitted that he was an off-duty member of the police.
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G-r-i-d-l-o-c-k
The recent unofficial strike by train drivers highlighted the capacity for gridlock in Dublin City. As usual no mention was made by the media that cyclists - the faster and quieter commuters - continued to get to work and college on time. There is a need for cyclists to ring into radio and TV programmes to remind them that we are here, that we continue to grow in number and that we continue to represent an environmentally sound, economical and quick way of getting around the city. (BS)
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Honey, I shrunk the Newsletter
The more observant among you will have noticed that the Newsletter seems to have shrunk. It has done so for a very, very good reason - and not just to preserve trees. No, the newsletter has shrunk because we have to produce so many copies now, due to the increase in membership, we needed to streamline its production.
There’s even more news and information in this issue and it’s just as well produced, if we say so ourselves. However, if you’d really like a larger version in future, let us know (7000312) and it will be but the work of a moment to produce one. (RV)
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New Venue For DCC Meetings
The Dublin Cycling Campaign recently changed our meeting place to the City Arts Centre, Moss Street (facing Matt Talbot Bridge). Everyone has declared the move a success. The venue is quiet, central, has ample parking for bikes and plenty room for members to attend. It does cost money, but it is within our budget and it is a short walk to the nearest pub. If you haven’t been to a meeting for a while please come along to the next meeting - we think that you will be impressed!
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Not on a (Mala)hiding to Nothing
We reported in the last Newsletter that the Dublin Cycling Campaign had examined the Malahide cycle route to see if the negative reports circulating about it were justified. It seems as though much of what was said about it was true. Niall O’Cleirigh took photographs of inadequate signposting, non-marked or ambiguously-marked stretches of route, and of cars halted in the Advance Stop Lines ("bicycle boxes"). These pictures were used to illustrate a report from the DCC which was sent to the Corporation. The Campaign has recently received a detailed, very positive and appreciative reply from Steven Margolis, of the Environmental Traffic Planning Division.
Where we pointed out that signs were missing, these have been erected: where we pointed out that road markings were ambiguous, this has been rectified. Where it was pointed out that cycle track markings had deteriorated, the corporation has promised to maintain them adequately in future. Where there are Advance Stop Lines, information signs are being erected telling road users how to use them. Our complaints about poor surfaces were met with the assurance that the materials were still being assessed - it’s still early days - and that the materials used will be monitored ‘with a view to ascertaining their suitability on future schemes’.
It’s very reassuring to be reminded, every now and then, that the DCC is not baying at the moon and that our campaigning has a very real and immediate effect.
A sub-committee has been set up to do a similar report of the Stillorgan dual carriageway cycle route: if you are interested in being involved, please call 7000312 and let us know.
Hold the Front Page!
Just before going to press, we hear that the Official Opening of the Malahide cycle route is due to take place on Friday 4th of December at 8am. Dublin Corporation has been in contact with the DCC inviting members to take part. (RV)
Dates For Your Diary
The campaign meets on the second Monday of every month in the City Arts Centre, Moss Street. Please come along at 7.45 for a 8pm start. The forthcoming meetings are on...
Monday December 14th
Monday January 11th
Monday February 8th
Do check the voicemail at 7000312 as other meetings will also be arranged to prepare for the St Patrick’s Day parade.
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Our Man in the City
Eamon Ryan writes:
In September this year I was co-opted on to the City council. I have a particular interest in the traffic and planning issues.
The Corporation seems determined to proceed with the ten QBCs and cycle routes as rapidly as possible. Cyclists in the Fairview, Finglas and Cabra areas will be able to see the start of that work. The other routes are due to be commenced early in the New Year. We will have to make sure that the initial public dissatisfaction at the disruption caused during the construction period does not mean that the design for the cycle routes and QBCs is not compromised at the last minute.
At the traffic subcommittee in October it was agreed to approve a traffic calming scheme for the south city centre area. An example of the proposal is that motor vehicles will not be allowed to take a left turn at the bottom of Dawson Street on to Nassau/Suffolk Street. Through traffic will also be taken out from South King Street, and will be diverted along York Street instead. Work on the scheme has started in the South William Street area and the results should be a great improvement for cyclists in the city.
A further proposed road scheme was the new Coombe relief road which seems to make the best use of the derelict wasteland that the Corporation’s initial road widening scheme had created. However, the Council also voted in favour of the North King Street road scheme which will lead to a new bridge over the Liffey at the junction with Blackhall Place. The dual carriageway design will only encourage more traffic and divide the local community in the same way in which the Patrick Street road widening isolated the Ivy buildings from the rest of the Liberties. Another major setback was the decision by Labour, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors to reintroduce a plan for an Eastern Bypass under Sandymount Strand, linking the Northern Port Tunnel with the Southern Cross Motorway.
I was appointed as Chairman of the Corporations Strategic Policy Committee on Traffic and Transport in October and will obviously be pushing the bike as the solution to many of our traffic problems as much as possible. (ER)
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Safe Routes to Schools
In September the Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown County Council launched its Safe Routes to School Project.
As part of the project, a cycle path on the Upper Kilmacud Road from Stillorgan Wood to St Benildus School was opened. The cycle route serves several schools in the area and it is hoped that it will both encourage students to cycle to school, and encourage their parents to permit them to do so.
In a presentation to the Joint Committee on Education and Science from the Dublin Cycling Campaign on the 17th November 1998 Eamon Ryan, City Councillor and Chair of the DCC, outlined the seven principles for creating safe routes to schools, originally developed by Sustrans in Britain.
- Safe routes should follow those currently by pupils as far as possible.
- Reducing conflict with traffic is crucial. Traffic calming, traffic free routes or a combination of the two can be used.
- Routes should be as wide as possible. Children prefer to travel in company and the short times of peak school travel means pavements and cycle lanes are likely to be crowded.
- Measures which deter cars from using safe routes will tend to make routes safer and also serve to reduce school escort trips.
- The location and design of specific safety measures should take account of children's and parents’ fears.
- Routes need to be continuous and extend far enough from the school in several directions to serve the majority of pupils.
- Routes should be designed to permit secondary and older primary school pupils walk or cycle along them unaccompanied.
The DCC also recommended that the Safe Routes to School programme, as established in the South Dublin County area, be used as a model for other local authority areas; that a specific target for numbers of pupils cycling to each school should be set and that the modal split should be measured on a regular basis to see if these targets were being reached.
We think that it is essential that the Department of Education puts pressure on the Department of the Environment to ensure that funding is made available to local authorities for Safe Routes to Schools projects.
Eamon’s presentation to the Department contained a considerable amount of research material and statistics. If you are interested in more details about this please contact Eamon via the Campaign at 7000312. (RV/ER)
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Sec.’s Change
DCC Secretary, Damien Ó Tuama has gone to work in Brussels for several months. However, Brendan Ryan has stepped nimbly into Damien’s shoes, agreeing to act as Secretary at least until Damien’s return, for which the Campaign is very grateful. Damien has promised to keep in touch and file frequent reports about cycling in Belgium and the activities of - wait for it - the Brussels Cycling Campaign. (RV)
Bicycling in Belgium
Although only about 100 km from the Netherlands, the land of abundant bicycles, Brussels is definitely not a bike friendly city. There is a much smaller bicycling population than there is in Dublin, a less sympathetic attitude amongst drivers towards cyclists and very few good quality cycle lanes. As well as competing with the heavy morning and evening traffic, cyclists must also tackle the very bumpy cobbled roads which are crisscrossed by tram tracks. Cycling over wet cobblestones and tram tracks when motorists are flying alongside you demands great concentration and bike handing skills, and particularly so at night.
Perhaps the scariest aspect of cycling around Brussels is negotiating the very large junctions which are dotted around the city. Picture the Walkinstown roundabout tripled in size, the central grassy area removed, and trams running through the middle in several directions. This what you are frequently faced with as you try to cycle across to the other side in one piece. On a more positive note, there is in Brussels a reasonably efficient integrated metro, bus and tram system and there are some fine pedestrianised areas, particularly in the main centres of shopping. Last week, I spotted workmen out spraying cycle lane markings on one of the busier boulevards. This, taken with the large number of new cycle stands is reason to think that the times may be a-changing.
A trip to Ghent, in the Flemish speaking northern part of Belgium, is a most enlightening and heartwarming experience. The centre of the city is mainly car-free with only trams, buses and bikes to be seen - hundreds of them including tricycles, recumbants and families with babies on board. The train station, with its adjoining fields of bike parking spaces is a shrine to a sensible transport policies. The most striking aspects of the city are its quietness, its clean air and the very relaxed feeling of not having to weave through car-jammed streets. To top it all, the police cruise around on spectacularly high-tech mountain bikes dealing with any illegally parked vehicles or other problems.
There is much to be leaned from a city like Ghent which is applicable to Dublin: first and foremost, that a car-free city centre is a must. Dublin’s cyclists should only give up campaigning when we have a city where it is completely safe for a whole family to cycle through the centre - young kids, swirling around on baby bikes and all - without fear of being run down. If it can be done in Ghent, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen at home. (DOT)
Damien Ó Tuama will give an update on what the Brussels cycling campaign have been up to in the next newsletter.
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St Patrick’s Day Parade 1999
The DCC seems to spend a long time each year talking about St Patrick’s Day. It’s a rare Campaign Spokes that doesn’t mention it. This is because it has become almost a tradition for the Dublin Cycling Campaign to have a float in the parade. We have always thought it worth the huge amount of work and cost to put on the best show we can because it’s one of the few days in the year that cyclists can take over the streets. It is said that the Parade is watched by over a quarter of a million people and as such the Campaign has a unique opportunity to become known.
In 1998 our piece in the Parade involved sixty witches dumping cars in a mobile cauldron and was as usual great fun. However the organisers have been cautious about letting the DCC enter in the 1999 parade for reasons that are not entirely clear - they say we are not big enough, that we lack colour, that we don’t interact with the crowd much. Contacts are being made to see if things can be smoothed out.
The DCC has always been keen to have bike-centred pageants. We have favoured human-powered floats as part of that and all the work is done by volunteers. Let us hope that as the Parade becomes more professional that they don’t eliminate community-based amateurs. (BS)
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The Revenue visits DCC
The Revenue Commission came to the meeting of the DCC in October. However, secure in the knowledge that Rita Dalton, our treasurer, keeps meticulous books we were unfazed when they revealed themselves. It turned out that they were two environmental officers from the Energy and Environment Unit (EEU) of the Service. They were working on ideas to encourage the use of bicycles by the Commission’s several thousand employees - to get to and from work, as well as at work - to reduce energy consumption. The provision of showers, bike parking and a mileage allowance for bikes are all on the EEU’s wish list. (RV)
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Who? Me?
Cyclists come in all shapes, sizes and attitudes. For instance, your Average Cyclist is like your Average Christian, dependable, tax-paying, law-abiding and sober. He cycles to work at a constant 8.5 mph on his three- or five-speed in all weathers and couldn’t care less about cycle paths, the Tour de France or Shimano.
The Born Again Cyclist bursts on to the scene with the cherry blossom in May, doing 24 mph on his expensive machine, dressed in psychedelic Lycra and equipped with the latest technology. Serious stuff, this! Then comes a wet and windy week and he’s blown off the road with the cherry blossoms, and is not heard of again until October when you see his bike and gear for sale in Buy and Sell.
The Theologians know it all. They peruse, for free, the cycle books and periodicals in Easons and the brochures in cycle shops. They know their stuff all right and proclaim it out loud as they strut up and down among the stock in bike shops with a knowing "Um" here and a learned "Ah" there. Then as they depart they shout, for all to hear, to the owner: "Hey, Dec, let’s know when you get in the new range of S and S coupling bits". Impressive, what?
The Evangelists are the élite among us. You find them in Dublin Cycling Campaign, CTC and such. They hold meetings, do surveys, quote statistics and attend seminars. Nobody pays them much heed, but they don’t mind as they are quite happy to plug away. Their happiness shows in their smiling faces: they are the ones with the flies on their teeth.
The Sisters - ah yes, the Sisters on their little three-speeds, see them wobbling nervously at 5 mph. But hang on there! More and more of them now pass me out on the roads and even on hills. I heard one the other day in a bike shop ask casually and confidently for a Chain Link Extractor and a six-inch adjustable wrench. Phew! Threatening times!
The Foreign Missionaries regale us with tales of one-in-six gradients in the Alps and travelling at 50 mph down the switchbacks in the Rockies; they pour scorn on the Maracycle and the Wicklow 200. How they bore us with the touring photos and slides and their lean and tanned bodies.
The Heathens in our ranks ride recumbants, tandems, tricycles and pedicabs. This lot can’t be taken seriously, though. A bike is a bike, isn’t it?
The Agnostics give us decent cyclists a bad name. The cycle much faster than we do in spite of their rattling mudguards, dry squeaking chains and broken spokes. They seem to jeer at our lights and helmets. And you never see them getting punctures. Makes you wonder.
And Saints? there are none - on bicycles, anyway! (BR)
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