Dublin People - Get on your bike!

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Get on your bike!

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

ACCORDING to a recent Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) survey, rising petrol and diesel prices, coupled with increased levels of car ownership and congestion has resulted in Dublin’s motorists now viewing the use of alternatives to the car for trips around the city more positively.
The survey found that as fuel costs rise, using alternatives to the car such as cycling, provides excellent value for money.
Based on petrol prices alone, the average Dublin car commute costs e1,957 annually or e37 each week.
This figure excludes insurance, road tax and service costs. By choosing to take your bicycle, an average Dublin commuter could save over e250 each year.
John Henry, DTO director, says it’s clear that motorists are seeing the advantages of leaving the car at home.
“Rising petrol prices and increased awareness of the impact car use has on the environment are undoubtedly changing motorists’ attitudes to alternative ways of getting around Dublin,” says Mr Henry.
However, despite the clear advantages of taking the bike, Thomas Russell of City Cycles, Marino Mart, Fairview, reports that sales are very slow this summer.
“There won’t be any records broken this year,” says Thomas, who has been in the business for the last 14 years.
“We really are at the mercy of the weather as regards cycling in Ireland.
“If the weather is bad, then we don’t sell bikes, it’s as simple as that.”
Another problem is the amount of bicycles that are stolen in Dublin, and according to Thomas, this also has a major impact on the business.
“People aren’t prepared to spend big money on quality bikes just to have them stolen,” he reasons.
“People want somewhere secure to lock their bikes around the city.
“I’m talking about somewhere that is supervised and not just the steel bollard type structures we already have.
“I believe if we had a facility such as this, people wouldn’t mind paying a euro or two for it.”
To emphasise the point, Thomas recalls an incident that occurred in his shop recently.
“A chap come in to look for a trade-in of e60 against a new bike,” he states.
“He didn’t realise that the bike he had was worth about e1,200 because he had bought it so cheaply.”

The Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) works to encourage cycling and to represent the interests of everyday cyclists.
“We want to make the streets of Dublin safer for cyclists and to increase public awareness of the benefits of cycling,” said a spokesperson.
The DCC holds monthly meetings on the second Monday of each month, at the Whitefriar Community Centre, Aungier Street, Dublin 2, at 7pm.
Among DCC’s aims are to achieve a 30km speed limit in Dublin city centre and in all residential areas, and a restriction on Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) that create particular dangers to cyclists.
The DCC also favours a working group on bicycle theft being set up and it wants to ensure that all new cycle tracks are built to acceptable standards.
The encouragement of cycling and walking to schools in co-operation with An Taisce's Green Schools programme, and the provision of public parking for bicycles in the city centre is also top of the DCC’s priorities.
Paul McQuaid comes from a background that is steeped in bicycle tradition.
His father won the Grand Prix of Ireland in 1948 and for the following seven years, five of his brothers represented Ireland at the Olympics, while Paul won the Rás Tailteann in 1995.
Phoenix Park Bike Hire is Paul’s new venture, which in conjunction with the Office of Public Works (OPW) has become a major success over the last year.
People who wish to cycle around the Phoenix Park can rent from a fleet of 120 bikes at the Parkgate Street entrance to the park.
“Business, although dependent on the weather, is good at the moment,” says Paul.
“I got the idea of a bike hire facility for the area when I visited other big parks around Europe where it was a success.”
People can rent a variety of bikes from Paul including tandems, children’s bikes, hybrids (half mountain bike/half racer), carbon-fibre racing bikes and bikes with baby seats and tag-alongs.
“We have all kinds of people coming here and taking a bike,” states Paul.
“It’s great to see very young people involved and indeed elderly people. We give them a map of the park and they go off and explore.”
However, Paul admits he isn’t happy with the way the Government and local councils are approaching the whole issue of cycling in Dublin.
“People should be given tax incentives to cycle to work, as is the case in cities like Chicago,” he argues.
“This is a simple idea but it works. While the Phoenix Park is a relatively safe place to cycle, the same can’t be said of many Dublin streets.
“I voted for the Greens at the last election in the hope that real changes would come into being regarding cycling but it hasn’t happened.
“We’re years behind other European countries.”
Paul also raises the issue of bike theft and believes it’s a real problem.
“I’ve been cycling all my life and I never had a bike stolen until I moved to the Portobello area of Dublin, now I’ve had eight bikes taken,” he says.
“People will go out and buy a bike for a couple of hundred euro and then spend e15 on a lock; that doesn’t make much sense.”
But happily Paul has never had one of his bikes stolen from the Phoenix Park and he doesn’t charge any deposit.
“I believe in trusting people and it’s worked absolutely fine in the park so far,” he adds.

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