Maynooth Cycling CampaignWorking to change our streets
← All newsletters

Design · 6 September 2016

Maynooth Cycling Campaign – September Notes

Who Benefits from High Quality Cycle Facilities?

This is a simple question – cyclists obviously benefit from cyclist facilities but who is a cyclist? The common perception is a male of a certain age dressed in lycra and helmet and riding a bike  with dropped handlebars but who really benefits from good quality cycling facilities?

               Families                                                         Dog walkers           Man cycling in the rain with two young children on his bike, both under umbrellas, on a Dutch cycle path   Person cycling along a brick-paved Dutch path while their dog trots alongside on a lead

                        Disabled                                                                Skaters                                                                        Cyclist on a wide red Dutch cycle path with a walking frame mounted on the front of the bike          Woman riding a kick-scooter along a quiet Dutch town street               

         Elderly                                                    Grandparents     

Older couple riding a tandem bicycle on a Dutch road past a junction  Older woman cycling with a toddler in a front child seat through a Dutch town

                                              The Mobility Impaired

   Person riding a three-wheeled mobility scooter along a street beside a hedge  Older person riding an adult three-wheeled tricycle with a cushioned basket on a Dutch road

Those on the School Run                                         

Children and teenagers on bikes waiting at a red traffic light on the school run   Several children cycling together across a junction on their way to school

              Those in a Rush                             Those Getting a Lift from a Friend          

Man riding a streamlined yellow recumbent velomobile along a cycle track       Two young people sharing one bike, one riding on the rear rack as the other pedals

                Travellers                                                               Lovers

Bicycle with a wheeled suitcase strapped on, parked in front of a Dutch windmill          Couple cycling side by side holding hands on a red Dutch cycle path

Everyone benefits from high quality cycle facilities. These picture from the Netherlands show high quality cycle facilities attracting a wide cross-section of the population. This same wide cross-section is starting to appear in London with the opening of the high quality superhighways. For the first time, parents feel subjectively safe in cycling  with young children and mobility scooters and skaters have started to appear without causing conflict with pedestrians.

It must not be forgotten that pedestrian too gain from this. Cyclists have a safe place to cycle away from pedestrians. Shopkeepers benefit if people do not have the expense of a second car. Finally motorists benefit – if people have the option of short trips by bicycle, the roads would be freed up for those who have no choice but to travel by car. This is our vision for Maynooth.

Maynooth Cycling Campaign is a non-party political cycling advocacy group. Further information on meetings and  activities is available on our website. We are affiliated to Cyclist.ie, the Irish Cyclist Advocacy Network and through it to the European Cycling Federation.

← All newsletters