[Article] Cyclists make Dublin the new Amsterdam

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article7078978.ece


IT’S a vélolution: Dublin is following Amsterdam’s example with plans to launch the first “park and wash” for cyclists and the city council commandeering space in car parks for two-wheeled transport.



The number of cyclists in the capital is now at its highest level since Dublin city council began recording figures in 1997. About 6,853 people cycled through the city on a given day last year — an increase of 11.6% on 2008 and 74% on 2004.



The council has responded to this surge in popularity and the demand for places to lock bikes by creating the city’s first off-street parking space.
At least 16 car-parking slots have been removed from a Drury Street car park and replaced with space for 192 bikes.



Build a Bike, a new shop off Capel Street, is also responding to the surge in cyclists with an even bigger bicycle lot and the city’s first “park and wash” facility.



When it launches next month, two-wheel commuters will be able to leave bikes at the shop’s warehouse and take a shower before going into work. The service will cost €1 a day.



The shop will initially have space for 300 bikes, with room to expand. It has already approached several large companies, such as Eircom and Bord na Mona, about providing a company-wide service.



“We’re not looking on the showers as a profit-making enterprise, but rather we want to create a hub for cyclists in the city and a networking centre. We have enough auxiliary stuff to take care of the profit side of the business,” said Darren Walsh, a co-founder of Build a Bike.
Mike McKillen, chairman of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and a lecturer at Trinity College, said that instead of relying on commercial ventures, the city should be making the inclusion of showers and dry rooms mandatory for new office buildings.



“It doesn’t even have to mean the introduction of a law,” he said. “The council could make it a condition of planning permission.”
Dublin’s pro-bike initiatives have spread to Galway, where the city council is making cycle paths and hoping to tender for a service similar to the free bike scheme operating in Dublin.



The city council is also planning to introduce a 30km per hour speed limit in the city centre this year, as has been done in Dublin.
Jim Molloy, a senior executive engineer at Galway city council, said it would not be imposing the limit on the quays, however, as the city had “learnt from Dublin’s mistakes”.



Galway city is planning to use its various pro-bike initiatives to increase the percentage of cyclists in the city from 5% to between 10% and 15%, over a five- to 10-year period.



“We have a large student population and a lot of them have gone from cycling to driving their own cars. We want to reverse that. We’ll be targeting the first-years next year and we’ll be working with the National University of Ireland Galway and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology on that,” he said.



Cork city is also reporting an uptake in cycling which it has encouraged through events such as a bike fashion show and Rebel Pedal, a cycling parade.