[sustran] Cycling in cities

[Brendan Finn]

From: "Ramon" <bayk at quickweb.com.ph>
Sent: 03 April 2002 10:26

> I also believe that we should rather advocate that those $hundreds per
km., or whatever is
> the cost for building "cycleways," be put to better use, such as training
and
> education for proper riding, parking and shower/changing facilties,
widening
> the outside lane, fixing the potholes,  "sharing the road" campaigns,
better
> law enforcement, and other practical measures that actually matter to
> cyclists' wellbeing. No more useless infrastructure!

I'm agreed on all these points. A little money spent wisely goes a long way
for cyclists.

I should have pointed out that much of the cycle facilities in Dublin have
been in the suburban areas, and are effectively sharing the pavements with
pedestrians in clearly marked strips. Since in suburban areas there are
usually grass verges (1-2m) between the kerbside and the pavement, this has
not been too difficult to achieve, or taken away too much space from the
pedestrians. The main target here is schoolchildren, allowing them to use
their normal route but with a safe path for moderate speed cycling, guiding
them to signalised crossing points, but without making them use
out-of-the-way or deserted facilities. Of course, the more schoolchildren
that cycle, the less parents are bringing them to school by car (creating
death-traps around the schools, using the perverse logic that it's too
dangerous to let them go any other way).

The "grown-up" cyclists generally won't use these facilities and prefer to
mix it with general traffic. For them, the quality of the road paving,
especially in the metre closest to kerbside, the orientation and recessing
of drains, and the removal of obstructions (illegally parked cars, skips,
etc.) are key to safe cycling. On some streets, especially the main
arterials to the city centre, a coloured strip reserved for cyclists has
been laid down in this kerbside area.

It's a beginning, and each new cyclist is also a voter and potential
lobbyist for further changes and better balance among the modes. There are
still serious problems for cyclists in general traffic, and a lot of driver
education needs to be done. Unfortunately since the 1980's era of Sean Kelly
and Stephen Roche, we haven't had world-class cycling athletes to give
profile and shape perception, but there's a few new guys coming through now
with potential. I think this does make a difference.

As previously suggested, visit the Dublin Transportation Office at
http://www.dto.ie or contact them directly. They can give far more
information than I can, and can also provide some results and impacts data
(I hope). You can also see where cycling fits in to the overall
transportation strategy.

With best wishes.


Brendan Finn.
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