South Dublin County Council (SDCC) manages an area of 222.74 square kilometres including Lucan, Tallaght, Rathfarnham and Clondalkin. The Census 2011 figures show that the percentage of commuters who travel primarily by bike in South Dublin is 3.09% up marginally from 2.77% in the previous Census. This compares with 7.5% in the Dublin City area.

Since November 2013 the Dublin Cycling Campaign has had a representative, Mairéad Forsythe, on the Strategic Planning Committee for Transport in South Dublin. We hope this will give us earlier visibility of developments related to cycling and a much greater voice to promote bicycle friendly transport.

Here are some routes that are under consideration by the Roads Department of SDCC:

• From Tallaght to Clondalkin via Belgard Rd. and along the Grand Canal towards Lucan
• From Tallaght to CityWest
• From Tallaght to Crumlin
• A new bridge at Ballymount
• Short routes to schools
• Improvements to cycling safety at Walkinstown roundabout - 5 options under consideration

For details of public consultations on cycle route developments see: http://www.sdcc.ie/services/roads-traffic/cycle-tracks

Other work includes:

• An ongoing programme of permeability improvement.
• The planning for the sections of the Dodder Greenway in the South Dublin area is well advanced and work could start in 2014
• Tallaght to Ballyboden route – work on the bridge over the Dodder is starting in 2013
• Money has been allocated for improvements in Templeogue Village
• Work on improvements to make the Spawell roundabout easier to negotiate for cyclists and pedestrians completed in December 2013
• NTA has given funding to try different types of gates/barriers on cycle routes
• SDCC is examining potential for working on Smarter Travel through schools, particularly where there are clusters of schools together

SDCC are investigating the possibility of a bike rental scheme, along the lines of the DublinBikes. This is likely to be a mini-scheme with 10 stations and 150 bikes within a radius of about 2km from the Centre of Tallaght. A Tallaght Rental Bike study carried out by SDCC was presented to the NTA in November 2013.

We are disappointed that as of December 2013 SDCC has not appointed a Cycling Officer or set up a Cycle Forum. This was requested by the Department of Transport, Smarter Travel division in March 2013. We have seen the difference a Cycling Officer made in Dublin City, and even if funding is not available for a full time officer, we believe a part type cycling officer would help to ensure a co-ordinated approach to cycling and would have a role in cycling promotion.