On your Bike, Commuters...
The Government has announced a new National Cycle Policy Framework. The name covers a list of over 100 separate actions and initiatives which between them are intended to increase the number of people who cycle each day from the current – and frankly pitiful – 35,000 up to 160,000 in the course of the next decade. Is this enough to get you onto your bike?
A 400% increase seems ambitious but it is coming from a low base. In Copenhagen 36% of all commuters cycle. In Amsterdam they now claim that 55% of all short trips (7.5kms or less) are done by bike. The figures for Dublin and Cork hover at around 8%, depending on how you analyse the data.
The humble bike ought to have a lot going for it in terms of ease, convenience and sustainability. Ireland does not as yet have the same cycling culture that is found on parts of the Continent but there is no reason why that cannot change.
Included in the plans are schemes to retrofit all urban roads with cycle lanes and promises to introduce widespread traffic calming and bike friendly road designs. It also allows for the integration of bike use and public transport, allowing bikes to be carried on buses and trains. There are also bike sharing schemes, municipal bike schemes and programmes to make junctions safer.
Cycle facilities leave a lot to be desired at the moment. Anyone who uses them will tell you that cycle lanes running alongside buses and general traffic are intimidating even when they are not downright dangerous. Even where the cycle lane is good it frequently abandons you just as you approach a busy junction and doesn't resume until you are through to the far side.
Our record for cycling to school is also very poor with numbers dropping sharply over the last 20 years. In part this was because more and more families came to have second cars available to them. Parents will tell you however that it is not laziness on their part; the thought of entrusting their kids to a couple of painted cycle lanes on tremendously busy commuting streets is terrifying. One of the most important aspects of the policy will be the plan to install safe cycle routes to all schools.
Quite where the money is to come from to do all this is less clear. There is a provision for €14 million in 2009 for various schemes, some of them engineering works and some of them promotional, but nothing is fully committed beyond that. In most cases the measures will involve local government resources or moneys from the roads budget of the NRA.
It is a worthwhile initiative and we can hope that it succeeds. However it takes more than an announcement to make it so. Minister Dempsey has committed himself to a grand ambition, and if he makes any progress towards achieving it then he will have done well.
Main measures included in Cycle Policy Framework:
- 400% increase in number of cyclists each day by 2020
- Safe cycle routes to all schools
- New secure bike parks in bus and train stations
- Adapting trains and buses to carry bikes
- Shared bike schemes in all cities with a population above 100,000
- Traffic calming
- Redesign of junctions
- Tax breaks for workers who cycle
tell us what you think – If you have any views about cycling policy or other transport matters please let us know. The AA has considerable influence with government at local and national level and can press for member’s concerns to be acted on. Contact AA Public Affairs at publicaffairs@aaireland.ie.