Limerick Bike Scheme

what_traffic · 20-11-2018 6:15pm

cgcsb wrote: »

Cycling in Galway is a travesty the roads are a disaster for bikes, needs serious investment. Hopefully busconnects Galway will deliver this.

True - yet way more people cycle here than in Limerick City. Why?
Read zulutango last few posts. (especially post #591)
I doubt busconnects will deliver based on what I have seen of it in Dublin.

When it is quicker to cycle than drive (which is often currently the case here in Galway City Centre) - then people who would otherwise drive will cycle.
It really is a shame the Bike Scheme was rolled out the way it was here, missed opportunity for it to be a real success.

cgcsb · 20-11-2018 6:27pm

zulutango wrote: »

That's my point. So long as it's easier to drive, people will drive.

Same all over the world, the path of least resistance will be followed. Mode change will only come with policy change. If there were better cycling facilities and driving was made expensive (parking or congestion charging) more people will cycle.

cgcsb · 20-11-2018 6:30pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

As Panda said on another thread, we need to stop talking about the Netherlands. This is Ireland and Irish people are very different to the Dutch.

Not really, the Dutch have infrastructure and public policy in favour of cycling and public transport. The Dutch were more car reliant than the Irish were 40 years ago in fact, they've just pursued different policies, they are not 'different' as a people.

what_traffic · 20-11-2018 6:33pm

cgcsb wrote: »

Not really, the Dutch have infrastructure and public policy in favour of cycling and public transport. The Dutch were more car reliant than the Irish were 40 years ago in fact, they've just pursued different policies, they are not 'different' as a people.

Very true - the Arab Oil Squeeze on the West in the 70's and Kindermoord movement started that change.

cgcsb · 20-11-2018 6:36pm

what_traffic wrote: »

True - yet way more people cycle here than in Limerick City. Why?

Galway has a much livelier City Centre and I would guess is more densely populated, at least in it's central area.

what_traffic wrote: »

I doubt busconnects will deliver based on what I have seen of it in Dublin.

How is that? BusConnects in Dublin is promising 200km of new cycle tracks, of the proposed 16 new cycle routes, the 4 published appear to be of very high quality for the vast majority of their running, I'm particularly impressed by the Blanch corridor cycle route.

Vanquished · 21-11-2018 9:51pm

cgcsb wrote: »

Galway has a much livelier City Centre and I would guess is more densely populated, at least in it's central area.

Limerick city centre is condiderably larger than Galway city centre though. Having said that the coverage of the bike scheme in Limerick is dreadful. No connectivity to trip generating locations such as UL, LIT, Thomond Park, Pairc na nGael, University Hospital Limerick, Crescent shopping centre etc etc. Unfortunately there appears to be no appetite to expand the scope of the scheme either.

thesimpsons · 22-11-2018 1:11pm

cycle approx 2/3 times a week to work/city centre. lost count of the amount of times I've requested the council to sweep the Condell Road, our only real stretch of commuter cyclepath. It would take few hours at a maximum to get the mechanical road sweeper out to it. Terrible upkeep and a very poor sign of priority placed on cyclists by the council. Similarily, potholes reported as a danger to cyclists in particular, are given a lump of tarmac treatment often leaving a dangerous bump instead of a dangerous hole

zulutango · 22-11-2018 3:05pm

thesimpsons wrote:

cycle approx 2/3 times a week to work/city centre. lost count of the amount of times I've requested the council to sweep the Condell Road, our only real stretch of commuter cyclepath. It would take few hours at a maximum to get the mechanical road sweeper out to it. Terrible upkeep and a very poor sign of priority placed on cyclists by the council. Similarily, potholes reported as a danger to cyclists in particular, are given a lump of tarmac treatment often leaving a dangerous bump instead of a dangerous hole

How do you feel about the vehicular speed limit being increased from 50 to 60kph?

Cookiemunster · 22-11-2018 3:23pm

thesimpsons wrote: »

Similarily, potholes reported as a danger to cyclists in particular, are given a lump of tarmac treatment often leaving a dangerous bump instead of a dangerous hole

That's is nothing against cyclists. That's the half arsed way the council fill all pot holes. They inevitably end up as larger potholes that need to be refilled again and again.

zulutango wrote: »

How do you feel about the vehicular speed limit being increased from 50 to 60kph?

Has that actually been passed? It's currently still 50kph.

phog · 22-11-2018 3:26pm

zulutango wrote: »

How do you feel about the vehicular speed limit being increased from 50 to 60kph?

Unless they're cycling into work at off-peak times the speed limit is close to irrelevant.

zulutango · 22-11-2018 4:13pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Has that actually been passed? It's currently still 50kph.

I don't think it has been. I'm not sure they can legally do it without providing segregated cycle lanes, which would cost a lot of money and provide a very limited benefit, so perhaps it won't happen.

thesimpsons · 22-11-2018 5:23pm

virtually no one travels that road at 50kph anyway, 60/70kph is the norm (I see this from days that I drive). concern is that by increasing it to 60km motorists will have free reign to travel at 80/90km. The inward cycle lane has a bit of comfort from having the virtually disused bus lane outside it. The outward lane takes a bit of confidence but I have found over last few months, traffic giving a wider space to cyclists.

Another problem with the cycle lane on inward to town section, are the walkers/runners who use it in the dark instead of using the proper path. Often they have earphones in and their back to traffic (often in dark clothing) and don't hear/see a cyclist coming up behind them. A feature of alot of country roads I know but here at least there is a proper pathway they could use.

barrymanilow · 22-11-2018 10:24pm

Isn't this model of scheme dead in the water anyway with the development of the dockless bikes/scooters that are taking off around the world ?

phog · 23-11-2018 11:32am

I see no great issue with retaining the current speed limit on Condell Rd but I also don't see an issue with increasing it from a cycling point of view.

I see lots of cyclists on national routes where the speed limit is 100kph and based on their behavior it doesn't seem to be an issue for them either.

LeoD · 23-11-2018 12:41pm

phog wrote: »

I see lots of cyclists on national routes where the speed limit is 100kph and based on their behavior it doesn't seem to be an issue for them either.

I doubt you've seen too many kids cycling on national routes with a speed limit of 100kph. It's not realistic to provide cycle infrastructure outside of urban areas but it would be a retrograde step to increase the speed limit on the Condell Rd. Apart from making it more dangerous and less appealing to cycling, it would also detract from what is a popular walking route. The road is badly designed - the long straight wide laneways are begging for you to go 80/90kmh along there. I don't know if the bus lane is ever (going to be) used but I'd narrow the road by removing the cycle lanes at either side and put a bi-directional cycleway behind a grass verge on one side of the road (probably the river side). Loads of space there to do it.

Cookiemunster · 23-11-2018 12:54pm

LeoD wrote: »

I'd narrow the road by removing the cycle lanes at either side and put a bi-directional cycleway behind a grass verge on one side of the road (probably the river side). Loads of space there to do it.

Ah come on now, that's way too common sense for LCCC to ever do.

LeoD · 23-11-2018 1:28pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Ah come on now, that's way too common sense for LCCC to ever do.

If we don't have hope, what's left?

phog · 23-11-2018 3:39pm

LeoD wrote: »

I doubt you've seen too many kids cycling on national routes with a speed limit of 100kph. It's not realistic to provide cycle infrastructure outside of urban areas but it would be a retrograde step to increase the speed limit on the Condell Rd. Apart from making it more dangerous and less appealing to cycling, it would also detract from what is a popular walking route. The road is badly designed - the long straight wide laneways are begging for you to go 80/90kmh along there. I don't know if the bus lane is ever (going to be) used but I'd narrow the road by removing the cycle lanes at either side and put a bi-directional cycleway behind a grass verge on one side of the road (probably the river side). Loads of space there to do it.

I don't see too many kids using the cycle lanes on Condell Road either.

I agree I'd have the cycle lanes behind the grass bank too but would cyclists use it? they're slow enough to use some of the cycle lane in this country, they seem to prefer to share the roads.

LeoD · 23-11-2018 4:17pm

phog wrote: »

I don't see too many kids using the cycle lanes on Condell Road either.

I agree I'd have the cycle lanes behind the grass bank too but would cyclists use it? they're slow enough to use some of the cycle lane in this country, they seem to prefer to share the roads.

You won't see many kids anywhere near public roads as they're all unsafe. The only place you see kids cycling now is in a park.

I don't mean putting the bi-directional cycleway behind the existing grass bank. The road is so wide, and straight, it encourages high speed driving. If the road was narrowed it might slow traffic down. This is just a very quick mock-up but the separation between cycles and motor traffic would make this a lot more useable to people of all ages and abilities. The cycleway could go at either side.

Cookiemunster · 23-11-2018 4:44pm

LeoD wrote: »

. If the road was narrowed it might slow traffic down. This is just a very quick mock-up but the separation between cycles and motor traffic would make this a lot more useable to people of all ages and abilities. The cycleway could go at either side.

The road is wide, but the actual lanes aren't. I don't think you could make them any narrower and still allow a HGV to use them while keeping the bus lane. However you only need another meter or so to provide the segregation and there is plenty of room either side (without encroaching onto the paths) to allow this plus the bus lane and both traffic lanes.

CHealy · 23-11-2018 5:14pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It's not just Limerick. The Galway and Cork schemes are a disaster too.

Each bike in Galway was used just 2.2 times per week in 2017 (23,758 journeys/205 bikes) — compared with 84 in Paris, and the average of 28-49 uses per week in regional European cities.
Each bike in Cork was used 17 times a week, and in Limerick the figure was just under three.
Galway members took just seven journeys per annum last year (23,758 journeys/3,485 members), in Cork they took 25 and there were only 10 in Limerick. https://www.thesun.ie/news/2449236/irish-taxpayer-spending-e85000-each-month-on-bicycle-projects-in-galway-cork-and-limerick-but-two-of-them-are-facing-an-uphill-battle/

Sorry but have to correct you on this, the Cork scheme has been a roaring success with nearly 1 million trips made in 4 years. I would say every 3rd or 4th bike I see in town is a Coke Zero bike and I use my own card 4 or 5 times a week. There has actually been continued calls to expand it to inner suburbs such is the success of the scheme. The large distances between Kent Station and UCC must be a huge factor in it popularity, but its just so handy for getting around town anyway.

Cookiemunster · 23-11-2018 5:23pm

CHealy wrote: »

Sorry but have to correct you on this, the Cork scheme has been a roaring success with nearly 1 million trips made in 4 years. I would say every 3rd or 4th bike I see in town is a Coke Zero bike and I use my own card 4 or 5 times a week. There has actually been continued calls to expand it to inner suburbs such is the success of the scheme. The large distances between Kent Station and UCC must be a huge factor in it popularity, but its just so handy for getting around town anyway.

It's more popular than Limerick or Galway, but the figures show that compared to the continent, usage numbers per bike are very low.

CHealy · 23-11-2018 5:28pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

It's more popular than Limerick or Cork, but the figures show that compared to the continent, usage numbers per bike are very low.

Its more popular than Limerick and Galway combined and multiplied by about 5. Its a brand new scheme in 3 cities in car centric Ireland, why you would want to compare it to continental towns is beyond me but the Cork scheme has been a massive success to date and the membership and bike rides continue to grow at a steady rate. Far far away from being a disaster which is what I originally wanted to correct you on.

zulutango · 23-11-2018 5:46pm

What are the parameters that define success in any case? Perhaps at the outset there was a target useage, but I don't recall any.

LeoD · 23-11-2018 5:56pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The road is wide, but the actual lanes aren't. I don't think you could make them any narrower and still allow a HGV to use them while keeping the bus lane. However you only need another meter or so to provide the segregation and there is plenty of room either side (without encroaching onto the paths) to allow this plus the bus lane and both traffic lanes.

Yeah it would be easy to slice a little bit off the verges at either side to make the overall carriageway wider if necessary - especially on the river side. The wider the separation between motor traffic and cyclists the better. It takes less space to fit one decent bi-directional cycleway that would allow people to cycle side-by-side (if no one is coming against them) than 2 single file one-way lanes.
Bi-directional lane: 2.75m
Single File lane: 1.75m

sioda · 05-12-2021 10:26am

I take it for granted the Coca Cola sponsorship is done as all the bikes are being rebranded along with the app.

Any news on new stations opening up?

phog · 05-12-2021 8:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271163#Comment_118271163

I'd say Coca Cola couldn't wait to disassociate themselves from the pile of crap that the Limerick Bike Scheme became.

breezy1985 · 05-12-2021 8:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118271163#Comment_118271163

There is a new stretch from LIT to King John's opening up at the minute.

Tim76 · 06-12-2021 10:37am

You would imagine with Covid & Climate driving every decision we make at the moment that new stations would be a priority.

I still can't understand why the likes of the Crescent and UL have not been included at his stage. Great news if LIT is getting one, they could pop one in at Thomond Park while they are at it!

breezy1985 · 06-12-2021 1:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118276091#Comment_118276091

The new TUS one is massive and it's right on the roundabout out the front so its dead handy for Thomond Park too

Limerick Bike Scheme

Comments