Contact councillors for Liffey Cycleway today/tomorrow

RayCun

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Another reply, this time from Andrew Montague to say that while he's not on the committee said he would support option 7 over option 8 when it comes around to a council vote.

yes, same here

mcgratheoin

HivemindXX wrote: »

It would also be nice to find some existing location that has the same sort of conflict between pedestrians and cyclists that option 8 will create and see what they think of that. Leeson Street bridge springs to mind but perhaps there is a better (worse) example.

A few places where I always keep to the road rather than use a bike lane or where I see pedestrians and cyclists impeding each other (not going to call it conflict). They are usually examples of where infrastructure has been built without actual regard given to the needs of bike users. The attitude of - "Option 8 is giving the cyclists everything they want" is far too prevalent - it assumes that cyclists are primarily interested in the construction of new and segregated facilities rather than the overall experience of cycling. I would imagine that many cyclists (definitely myself for one) would rather cycle in a safe shared space than have this idea that everyone needs their own little corner of the road.

• Crossing point from Westmoreland street to O'Connell Bridge - pedestrians regularly take on traffic there.
• Sean O'Casey pedestrian bridge and how it interacts with the segregated cycle lanes on both sides.
• Where the Grand Canal meets Gd Canal St. Upper and Lower - shared bike lane and footpath with segregated cycle paths crossing each other.
• Samuel Beckett bridge - bus lanes both directions with very few buses - but the cycle lanes share off-road space with pedestrians and boundaries get blurred at busy times - I always use the bus lanes.
• Phoenix Park - when you park a car there you have to cross a grass verge to get to the cycle path, you then have to cross a low fence and more grass to get to the footpath - people are going to walk on the cycle path - particularly families at the weekend with kids/buggies etc..

Chuchote

HivemindXX wrote: »

I don't know about everyone but he certainly seems to be replying directly to multiple people here including me. In fact he sent me three mails yesterday since I replied twice with the last one being around midnight. I cannot fault his work ethic or willingness to engage with the public. I don't make a habit of emailing public representatives but I have done so a few times over the decades and this is the first time I remember getting a reply that didn't seem to be a form letter or a formulaic brush off written by a secretary. "The minister values your concerns and is working to...blah blah blah".

I sympathise with his position. He has been trying to get this thing done for a very long time now and this looks like the final version. One that is finally acceptable to the residents of Stoneybatter etc and the car fans in Dublin Town and the car parks. This should be enough to get past councillors like Mannix Flynn and Nial Ring who seem to just hate cyclists.

It is difficult to accept and perhaps difficult to notice, but the forces arrayed against this plan, who were always against it, have chipped away at it and option 8 may be acceptable to them but it is no longer acceptable to the people it is supposed to be helping. They need to go back to the drawing board and start again, or back to a previous idea like option 4 and try to make that work. If they can't then they should drop the idea completely. Maybe in a few years (who am I kidding) the idea of a congestion charge will be acceptable and Stoneybatter will accept taking cars off the quays in combination with a big reduction in car traffic via the congestion charge. The people behind Dublin Town can eat a bag of dicks.

Interesting piece about Nial Ring from two years ago:

http://irishcycle.com/2015/08/03/councillor-objecting-to-cycle-route-on-mental-health-ground-is-a-serial-objector-to-cycle-paths/

hansgruber at gmail.com

Any chance of this being resurrected? It would be ideal for my commute if I decided to cycle in - which I do want, but the Quays at the moment looks a bit busy for a newbie.

Moflojo

hansgruber at gmail.com wrote: »

Any chance of this being resurrected? It would be ideal for my commute if I decided to cycle in - which I do, but the Quays at the moment looks a bit busy for a newbie.

There's talk of another Liffey Cycle demonstration next month, either for World Bicycle Day on June 3rd, or for Bike Week, which runs from the 8th of June.

hansgruber at gmail.com

That's great news. How long until they decide on it again I wonder if the demonstrations are successful...

Corca Baiscinn

hansgruber at gmail.com wrote: »

That's great news. How long until they decide on it again I wonder if the demonstrations are successful...

Sorry to tell you HansGruber that even if the demonstrations are successful it will be some years yet before we have a segregated Liffey Cycle Route. 7 possible routes have been suggested so far but somebody or other disagreed with each of them so the NTA was asked to review all the routes and come up with a final version. That report wont be out until the end of June and even when a route is proposed there will be all kinds of objections. Some of the people who objected toprevious suggested routes were Car Park Operators, Business Owners, Schools, Motoring Organisations, Cycling Organisations, Heritage Organisations, Councillors.

Then even when everybody finally agrees the money will have to be found!

So I'm afraid you wont be cycling on a segregated route for some time. In the meantime I have seen people on Boards post their commute and ask for advice re the best options for cycling and somebody who cycles from that direction ususally has good ideas of the safest route. Not sure what thread i saw those queries in but you could start your own!

Getting any kind of progress on cycling infrastructure is very slow and frustrating. In Dublin the Dublin Cycling Campaign and I Bike Dublin are working hard for people who cycle.

hansgruber at gmail.com

Great post. Thanks.

That’s a pity it’s going to prove so difficult yet again to come to a decision on a route. I’ll definitely keep an eye the progress.

I will check out those other threads regarding best/safest routes this week. Thanks again.

cdaly_

Consider cycling the luas route. Goes all the way from Heuston Station to the Point off road though you have to watch out for tram tracks and stray trams.

hansgruber at gmail.com

Ah cool! I didn't think you were allowed to cycle on those. Thanks.

tomasrojo

hansgruber at gmail.com wrote: »

Ah cool! I didn't think you were allowed to cycle on those. Thanks.

You're not, but enforcement is lax.