NOTE : The FILM NIGHT has beed postponed until SUNDAY
Kildare County Council has organised a number of events in the county to celebrate Bike Week 2023. Maynooth Cycling Campaign wishes to support Kildare County Council in its efforts to promote cycling in the county and has organised a number of additional events. The programme is as follows .
On-street parking may be a given for cars, but for bikes, it is not an option due to the threat of theft. Most homeowners will wheel their bikes around through the side gate for storage in a locked shed, but what are residents in terraced houses or apartments with perhaps shared or first floor entrances to do? The answer is either to store the bicycles in the house, wheel them through living areas or lock them to an outside railing and hope for the best.
For the recreational weekend cyclist, wheeling a very light bike through the house is not a problem, but for commuting cyclists, perhaps with multiple bikes for the school run, this is not feasible to do twice a day.
One solution that has been rolled out by Dublin City Council and more recently by Waterford Council are bike hangers (which are also known as bike bunkers). These hangers are designed to fit in a parking space, have space for eight bikes, and enclose bikes in a lockable hood to allow access to only those with a key.
A solution for Maynooth?
In Maynooth, most housing estates do come with side access, but there are a few areas of terraced housing and high density apartments that this solution is tailor made for. Maynooth Cycling Campaign have approached Councillors with a proposal for a trial installation at Leinster Cottages, just behind the Main Street, with the Councillors and area engineer responding positively with possibly the main barrier being the administrative burden.
There are other bicycle storage solutions in Maynooth at both Tesco and the train station; the one at Tesco is operated by a private company and so is pay by the hour, so unsuitable for long term habitual storage. The train station lockers are based on a similar model. Both of these models allot a large enclosed storage area for a single bicycle tenant, and so are aimed at the owners of expensive bicycles, as the alternative of chaining the bicycle to a rack is riskier but free of charge. They are not a suitable model for households which may have multiple kids bikes and need to store overnight, every night.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign are currently looking for other suitable locations around the town with terraced houses or apartments without street access to a garden. If you have need for a bike hanger and think that there is a suitable location near you, please let us know at maynoothcycling@gmail.com.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes Kildare County Council’s (KCC) recent upgrade of cycle facilities on the Meadowbrook Link Road. This will allow cyclists to proceed from Meadowbrook Road to the Straffan Road junction off road instead of being unceremoniously dumped onto the road halfway along.
The existing width of cycle track on the Meadowbrook Link Road is 1.5m. While the Council maintained that width where space was limited, Maynooth Cycling welcomes that where space was available the Council increased the effective width to 2m. However, it was noted that the Council omitted to provide a kerb on the road side of the cycle track with the result that the quality of workmanship is poor in places. It was also noted that the original 1.5m width has been reduced to 1.4m due to the encroachment of grass. It would have been nice had the Council took the opportunity to cut back the grass.
It is regrettable that the Council maintained the shared path at the Straffan Road junction. Shared paths are opposed by both cyclists and pedestrian groups due to potential conflicts. Designs in Dublin, which now allow Dutch style protected junctions and separate path for pedestrians and cyclists, are long overdue in Kildare.
The Council also wasted an opportunity to do anything about the poor quality of the workmanship on the cycle track at the entrance to Hayfield Estate. Maynooth Cycling Campaign has complained about the flooding after every shower of rain but the Council failed to do anything about it. The Council’s response was to the effect that repair works are required but there are no plans for the Council to do anything soon. The bigger question is why was the developer allowed to leave it in a substandard state.
At the end of August, Kildare County Council invited Maynooth Cycling Campaign to take part in Bikeweek. We proposed a number of actions including advance publicity, two organised cycles around Maynooth and engagement with secondary schools in Maynooth, Celbridge and Leixlip as well as Maynooth primary schools. We submitted an estimate of costs and added a percentage to cover the cost of our insurances and time in preparing and running the events. We also looked for clarification on a number of conditions but as we did not get a reply, we reluctantly decided not to proceed. Maynooth Cycling Campaign has been involved in Bikeweek since 2012 and have used Bikeweek funding to buy from local shops so we were disappointed not to be able to do so again this year.
Although Bikeweek is funded by the Department of Transport and organised in conjunction with the local authorities, voluntary groups are expected to pay the cost of insurances. Furthermore although prompt payment legislation ensures that invoices must be paid promptly, Kildare County Council has forced Maynooth Cycling Campaign to wait two lengthy periods – 8 and 11 months before being reimbursed for costs. As Maynooth Cycling Campaign does not have its own bank account, we informed Kildare County Council that we wanted funds to be temporarily transferred to us via Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG/Cyclist.ie (rather than an individual’s private account). Dublin Cycling Campaign CLG/Cyclist.ie is a company approved by the Irish Charity Regulator and the intention was to improve the campaign’s cash flow. When Kildare County Council failed to reimburse Maynooth Cycling Campaign in a prompt manner, the effect was therefore to effectively retain money intended for a charity.
We commend the recent report by Seán Ó Broin on Survey of Car Parking and Bicycle Facilities in Maynooth and agree with many of his conclusions. However, we strongly oppose his suggestion that
There is no point in the Local Authority incurring expenditure on the provision of additional lane facilities within Maynooth in the absence of adequate facilities at starting ……. and finishing points
While the provision of cycle parking is an essential element in enabling cycling, the cost of an individual parking stand is minor compared to the cost of providing high quality cycle infrastructure. It remains the single most important element in enabling everyday cycling.
Car and bicycle parking is available at the following locations:
Table 1: The Availability of Car & Bicycle Parking in Maynooth
While most of the locations have a lack of adequate / suitable parking facilities, parking is sufficient at a number of the remaining places. Specifically, it is our opinion that
Parking is normally dealt with as a conditions of planning and the County Development Plan lays down a minimum standards of provision for the parking of both cars and bikes. However, while parking for cars is rigorously enforced, parking for bikes is often overlooked and no enforcement action is taken to ensure that planning conditions are met in full.
Another year over and another year with a continuing upward trend in cyclist fatalities.
With a 3% level of cycling in Ireland, it is expected that the number of cyclists fatalities would be statistically insignificant from year to year ie it would follow a random pattern with fatalities increasing some years and decreasing other years. The number of fatalities (solid line above) confirms this pattern.
The trend line (dotted) looks at longer term patterns and show a continuing increase in cyclist fatalities. Admittedly, using a different baseline, say 1990, would show a different picture but the graph above uses a baseline of 2010 as that is the year with the minimum number of cyclist fatalities and minimum level of cycling as measured by the 2011 National Census.
From the 1970s when the Netherlands prioritised cycling and began to provide high quality infrastructure, cyclist fatalities dropped despite increased cycling. Irish local authorities have still to recognise the link between high quality infrastructure and the safety of cyclists. Despite increased cycling during the pandemic, the removal of “emergency” cycle infrastructure and opposition to reallocation of road space shows that we have quite a way to go.
Last January, the WHO declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a global health emergency. When it spread to western Europe in February and March, most governments imposed lockdowns, and encouraged people to avoid crowds and observe social distancing. They also encouraged people to walk or cycle where feasible and provided funding to improve facilities for active travel.
By the end of March, the Dutch engineering consultancy Mobycon, had produced guidance Making Safe Space for Cycling in 10 Days: A Guide to Temporary Bike Lanes from Berlin. The title came from the time required for a German local authority to provide temporary bike lanes.
During the summer, the Irish government through the National Transport Authority provided funding to improve facilities for walking and cycling and invited applications for suitable schemes. Kildare County Council were awarded funding for a number of schemes for Maynooth and other Kildare towns which included temporary cycle lanes. The funding was conditional on the work being carried out by the end of November. (In reality, councils knew that they have until the end of January to complete them.) However, in the four months since July, no Covid works have taken place in the town. In contrast, Dublin City Council publishes progress reports on Covid-19 schemes on a monthly basis.
One would hope that in the case of an invasion, that the army in Kildare will react faster to an emergency than the council.
At the recent meeting of Cyclist.ie to develop future strategy, there was discussion on the role of Cycling Officers in local authorities. Some of the comments showed a lack of awareness of Cyclist.ie’s position on the matter so this article was designed to clarify the subject. Cycle campaigners agree that there should be Cycling Officers in all local authorities but what should their background be and what should they do?
Cycling Officers were explicitly mentioned in the 2009 National Cycle Policy Framework where their sole task was defined as setting up a Cycle Forum but, since then, most local authorities have ignored the Department of Transport calls to appoint one. Where they have been appointed, some have an administrative background while others have a technical background and the underlying grade of appointed Officers includes Senior Executive Engineer, Administrative Officer and Road Safety Officer with some working in “Sports Partnership” rather than “Transport”. In Kildare, the post of Cycling Officer was incorporated with the Road Safety Officer and the necessary qualifications uniquely included needing a driving licence but did not include being able to cycle.
In the past, the policy of Cyclist.ie was that the Cycling Officer should be appointed at an appropriate grade without specifying what that grade should be. At the October 2019 Council meeting of Cyclist.ie, a motion was passed that the Cycling Officer should be at Director of Services level and that the role of the Cycling Officer should be:
(1) to achieve an increased level of cycling and
(2) report progress or lack of it on an annual basis.
In large part, this was because in local authorities no-one is responsible for increasing the level of cycling. It also avoids the question of whether the required skillset should be technical or administrative. What is more important is the enthusiasm of the person for the job!
In 2005, following a road traffic crash in County Meath in which five schoolgirls were killed, safety procedures changed radically when Directors of Services in local authorities were given responsibility for new road safety procedures. This was a radical departure and led to an increased emphasis on health and safety in the upper levels of local authority senior management. In (most) local authorities, an equivalent radical departure is required in relation to cycling. Cycling Officers at Director of Services level with responsibility for increasing the level of cycling would be one step in ensuring that high quality is an integral part of new cycling infrastructure as low quality will not attract a high number of users.
Since the passing of the motion by Council, the Cyclist executive has raised the issue in its Pre-Budget submission to government but the Department of Transport has given no indication that it accepts Cyclist.ie’s position. Under it does, efforts to improve quality of cycling infrastructure will be handicapped.
In 2019, with the assistance of parliamentary questions by TDs of all parties as well as independents, Cyclist.ie estimated that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) spent 1.4% of its capital budget on cycling in 2018. This article carries the results of a similar exercise for 2019 funding. Again it focuses on the DTTAS and ignores the funding of cycling by other government departments such as the Departments of Health or Education.
DTTAS funding for cycling is generally provided under the heading of Land Transport but additional funding for cycling (greenways) was also provided under the heading of Tourism.
The principal source of data for Land Transport funding was the National Transport Authority (NTA) 2019 Annual Report Sustainable Transport Measures Grant. The NTA lists all scheme according to the implementing local authority or other recipient. Some of their schemes are cycle only, while others are for more than one mode of transport. The proportion allocated to cycling was estimated on the basis set out in the following table:
The main categories of multi-mode projects were – greenways, shared paths, shared space and BusConnects. Greenways and shared paths were divided on the basis of 50:50 expenditure while shared space was divided on the basis of 331/3 : 331/3 : 331/3 . BusConnects was more problematic as its proportion of cycling can vary significantly. However, it was decided to proportion 10% of funding for cycling for a number of reasons. In particular, the primary objective was the need to reorganise the bus service but It was considered reasonable that a proportion should be allocated to cycling as the project includes segregated cycle facilities. It was decided to proportion 10% for cycling as that was the 2009 government target for cycling. There are grounds for arguing that 10% is too high and other arguments that 10% is too low but as BusConnects is a new project, it was decided that 10% was reasonable until its outcome in terms of provision of quality cycling infrastructure is clearer.
The NTA reported that in 2019 total expenditure on sustainable transport schemes was €39.6 million. Each NTA scheme was considered in turn and the appropriate percentage was applied in accordance with the type of scheme. In this way, NTA expenditure on cycling was estimated at €17.9 million or 45% of NTA STMG grants. Tourism allocated €9.8 million to greenways, of which €4.9 million was deemed to be for cycling. Other cycling related spending by the DTTAS and NTA at €1 million included Cycle Right and Bikeweek, and was assumed to be 100% cycling related. Green Schools spending, with a budget of €2 million, was assumed to be 331/3% cycling related. Combining Land Transport and Tourism funding, total DTTAS expenditure on cycling in 2019 was estimated at €24.48 million.
The total Land Transport capital expenditure for 2019 was €1493 million. In calculating the appropriate amount, this figure was increased to take into account the Tourism expenditure on greenways so the overall total figure for expenditure by the DTTAS was €1,503 million. On this basis, the estimated proportion of DTTAS expenditure on cycling increased in 2019 from approximately 1.3% to 1.6% – a modest increase, which with ex-Minister Ross’s record, should surprise no-one.
APPENDIX 1 ESTIMATE OF CYCLING RELATED NTA GRANT
| Ref | Grant Recipient | NTA Grant | Cycling Related NTA Grant | % Cycling related/NTA Grant |
| CCC/ | Cork City Council | €6,808,976 | €3,048,419 | 44.8% |
| CCO/ | Cork County Council | €1,327,678 | €138,104 | 10.4% |
| DDC | Total | €15,956,908 | €7,929,682 | 49.7% |
| DCU | DCU Cycle Parking | €62,104 | €62,104 | 1 |
| DLRCC | Dun Laoghaire Rathdown | €1,413,278 | €956,874 | 67.7% |
| FCC | Fingal County Council | €2,292,155 | €1,143,944 | 49.9% |
| GCC | Galway County Council | €620,140 | €280,757 | 45.3% |
| KCC | Kildare County Council | €728,138 | €380,136 | 52.2% |
| LCCC | Limerick City & County Council | €3,327,944 | €1,290,217 | 38.8% |
| MCC | Meath Coiunty Council | €2,650,571 | €245,323 | 9.3% |
| NTA Regional Bikes Capital Costs | Capital Costs | €309,854 | €309,854 | |
| SDCC | South Dublin County Council | €1,758,660 | €1,174,077 | 66.8% |
| An Taisce | Greenschools Cycle & scooter parking | €124,617 | €62,309 | 50.0% |
| UCD | Ped Cycle facility | €119,884 | €59,942 | 50.0% |
| WCC | Wicklow County Council | €399,077 | €138,974 | 34.8% |
| WDCC | Waterford City and County Council | €1,722,907 | €701,068 | 40.7% |
| Grand Total | €39,622,891 | €17,921,782 | 45.2% |
APPENDIX 2 SUMMARY OF DTTAS EXPENDITURE ON CYCLING
| Year | 2018 | 2019 |
| Gross Voted Capital* €000s | ||
| DTTAS – Dept Total Gross Voted Capital | €2,005,308 | €2,343,869 |
| DTTAS – Land Transport Total Gross Voted Expenditure | €1,660,507 | €1,934,981 |
| DTTAS – Total Land Transport Gross Voted Capital | €1,242,591 | €1,493,523 |
| DTTAS – Tourism Greenways Gross Voted Capital | €3,255,000 | €9,798,000 |
| DTTAS – Total Land Transport+Greenways Gross Voted Capital | €1,245,846 | €1,503,321 |
| * Source Databank | ||
| NTA Expenditure on Cycling | ||
| NTA Annual Expenditure STMG | €34,700 | €39,622 |
| % Cycling | 45.2% | |
| NTA Cycling Expenditure | €17,921 | |
| Walk/Cycle | €21,600 | (€26,850) |
| Bus | €4,100 | (€2,600) |
| Traffic Management | €6,900 | (€7,480) |
| Alternative Estimate of NTA Expenditure on Cycling* | €13,205 | |
| *Note – NTA expenditure on cycling was calculated differently in 2018 and 2019. | ||
| Other DTTAS/NTA Expenditure | ||
| Cycle Right/Bikeweek | €1,000 | €1,000 |
| Green Schools | €2,000 | €2,000 |
| Greenways | €3,255 | €9,798 |
| Other DTTAS/NTA Expenditure | €3,288 | €6,559 |
| Total DTTAS Expenditure on Cycling | €16,492 | €24,480 |
| % Total DTTAS Expenditure on Cycling* | 1.3% | 1.6% |
At a recent meeting of the Transportation, Safety and Emergency Services SPC, Committee members heard about the plans for the winter salting in Kildare. It was proposed to allocate €690,000 in 2020-21 from the Council’s own revenues with the balance of €35,000 coming from Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
However, when asked about salting of Main Streets (to facilitate shoppers accessing shops), around schools (to facilitate children walking or cycling to school) or cycle track (to facilitate cyclists), the response was that no funding had been allocated for any such areas.
The Design Manual for Roads and Streets (DMURS) sets out a road user hierarchy which prioritises pedestrians and cyclists at the top and with car drivers at the bottom. Kildare County Council has lots of policies and reports which refer to promoting cycling and walking and their financial, health and environmental benefits but when it comes to the commitment of resources, there is only one priority.
Maynooth Cycling Campaign 