“We cannot see this being anything other than a mess when it is finished” said Campaign PRO Oisin O’Nidh. The cyclists say the city council should have used the loan request to impose design changes on the officials responsible. “Taking out the sections of raised cycle path and providing on-road cycle lanes the length of the road would solve many of the problems” stated Mr. O’Nidh. The cyclists say in all probability to would been cheaper and certainly easier to construct without the cycle paths. The cyclists have described some aspects of the design as “bizarre” such as the requirement that cyclists accessing Shantalla Rod must hop-up on the footpaths as part of the manoeuvre.

The Seamus Quirke Rd redesign has been controversial since it was announced in 2002. At that time the city council engineer responsible, Mr. Joe Tansey stated that cyclists would be required to “dismount and become pedestrians” at every junction. This design aspect was thrown out by An Bord Pleanala following an oral hearing into the scheme.

Comment: This shows the route the designers of the current scheme expect cyclists to take to access the Rahoon road/Shantalla Rd if coming from Knocknacarra – a normal right turn has been broken into four separate manoeuvres and potential points of delay – this includes a section where cyclists are supposed to take to a footpath to get around the corner.

The Cycle Campaigns Analysis is that many cyclists will just cross the road further up and cycle on the footpaths the wrong way. More confident cyclists will ignore the cycle paths and stay in the bus lanes since that provides a better “line” into the junction.

The issue is that, when turning at side-roads motorists are not accustomed to looking for cyclists coming from the wrong side at speed. Calling for vigilance from city motorists campaign PRO Oisín Ó Nidh stated “we have to remember that Ireland is a country where there is little history of cycle training or of educating cyclists in the safe use of roads, also the same goes for motorists – as a result many Irish cyclist’s have no idea of the limitations of these cycle facilities and are putting themselves in danger in the incorrect belief that they are actually safer. This is also the case for cyclists using the cycle path going with the flow of traffic. They also have an increased risks of collisions compared with being on the road” Addressing cyclists using the road he added “it may feel more vulnerable to stay in the main traffic lane but the evidence suggests you may be safer on the road where drivers are looking rather than on the cycle paths.”

The Cycling Campaign have previously expressed serious concerns about the current design for the Seamus Quirke road and view it as unworkable from the perspective of cycling as a form of transport and a highly questionable use of public money. In their analysis, when the road is finished, many cyclists will find it safer and more convenient to stay in the bus lanes and ignore the cycle facilities. PRO Mr Ó Nidh states “if cyclists ignore the cycle facilities it will also make the paths safer for pedestrians. The cycle path chicanes at the Bus Stops will lead to the increased risk of collisions between pedestrians and cyclists”

Sources:

Sweden: Leif Linderholm: Signalreglerade korsningars funktion och olycksrisk för oskyddade trafikanter ─ Delrapport 1: Cyklister. Institutionen för trafikteknik, LTH: Bulletin 55, Lund 1984, In: »Russian Roulette« turns spotlight of criticism on cycleways, Proceedings of conference »Sicherheit rund ums Radfahren«, Vienna 1991.
USA: A. Wachtel and D. Lewiston: Risk factors for bicycle-motor vehicle collisions at intersections, Journal of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, pp 30-35, September, 1994.
Denmark: S.U. Jensen, K.V. Andersen and E.D. Nielsen: Junctions and Cyclists, Velo-city ‘97 Barcelona, Spain .
Finland: M Rasanen and H. Summala: The safety effect of sight obstacles and road markings at bicycle crossings, Traffic Engineering and Control, pp 98-101, February, 1998

Examples of alternative guidance
* Local Transport Note 2/86 “Shared use by Cyclists and Pedestrians” UK DOT
* Local Transport Note 1/89 “Making Way for Cyclists” UK DOT
* Trevallian P., Morgan J. 1993 “Cycling in Pedestrian Areas” Transport Research Laboratory Report 15, Crowethorne
* Cycling England Design Checklist
* Cycle-Friendly Infrastructure: Guidelines for Planning and Design: Institution of Highways and Transportation, Cyclists Touring Club, 1996
* Lancashire the Cyclists County

Under the new Plan, which will be in place by January 2011, the City Executive will be committed to addressing the significant difficulties posed by roundabouts for pedestrians and cyclists. The Plan will compel the Council to explore remedial treatments, such as raised zebra crossings, in order to improve the safety of non-motorised transport users.

Roundabouts on national routes in Portlaoise and Limerick City have already been re-designed to include raised zebra crossings and zebra crossings, and hopefully Galway City will be next

said Oisin O’Nidh, PRO of the Galway Cycling Campaign.

Roundabout in Portlaoise town with two lane entries and raised zebra crossings

The new City Development Plan will also endorse the ‘Hierarchy of Solutions’ in the Government’s National Cycle Policy Framework. This document, which supports the remedial treatment of roundabouts, prioritises traffic reduction, traffic calming and road redesign over dedicated cycling facilities in order to create a pedestrian- and cycle-friendly urban environment. According to Mr O’Nidh,

The inclusion of the Hierarchy of Solutions will enable the City Council to do more to promote cycling ith less revenue. It is the perfect solution for Local Authorities in ifficult economic times.

However, according to Campaign Chair Shane Foran, Galway’s development as Ireland’s Cycling City could be undermined by the actions of Council Director of Services, Ciaran Hayes, who successfully opposed a motion that would have provided primary school children with a network of backstreet routes to school. Mr Foran said:

Cycling to primary school has been in steep decline in Ireland for the past 20 years – down 83% between 1986 and 2006. Proactive approaches such as safe routes to schools are needed to address the low levels of cycling among school children and to foster a culture of cycling for the future. By opposing such measures, the City Council Executive has missed out on a perfect opportunity to dramatically increase the number of young cyclists in Galway, and at the same time ease the chronic traffic congestion that the city currently suffers from during school term.

Groody roundabout Limerick on the N7 out of Limerick towards Dublin

The event is one of the highlights of Ireland’s National Bike
Week/Seachtain na Rothaíochta (13–20 June 2010). The bicycle treasure hunt
is an ideal fun activity to bring your kids to, this Sunday 13 June.
Not only will it give children and teenagers the opportunity to enjoy
some of Galway’s most scenic cycleways, it will also give them a fun
challenge in the process. All participants are in with a chance of
winning cycle-related prizes.

Families can choose from two different scenic routes: the Explorer
course is aimed primarily at younger riders and their adult
supervisors and will be completely traffic free, while the Adventurer
course will feature some short on-road sections around Galway’s canal
system. Participants will collect cycle-related trivia en route, which
will outline the benefits of cycling for the individual, the community
and the planet.

Last year’s event was hugely successful, with around 100 people
participating. Stewards will be on hand to man all the on-road
junctions, but it is recommended that participants under 18 be
accompanied by an adult. Registration is between 12 noon and 1 pm at
the Arts Millennium Building, NUIG. Light refreshments will also be
provided.

What better way to spend a lovely June day than on your bike cycling
along the beautiful River Corrib? If that doesn’t tempt you, then the
opportunity to win a prize should twist your arm. Bike Week is a
series of nationwide events organised by cycling groups, communities
and local authorities, supported by the Department of Transport.

Volunteers are always needed for events like this, so if you or anyone
you know are interested in lending a hand, you can contact the Galway
Cycling Campaign on 086 1611587 or e-mail info@galwaycycling.org. A
brochure listing the full schedule of Galway events is available to
download from www.bikeweek.ie.

As of 2007, the proposed design included an on-road solution for cyclists for the length of the corridor via a 4.5m-wide shared bus/cycle lane. The use of wide bus/cycle lanes is considered international best practice and is endorsed by the Government’s National Cycle Policy Framework. For instance, the Parisien “Mobilien” Bus Rapid Transit System has over 100km of shared bus/cycle lanes.

It has now been revealed that the Galway design has been dramatically changed without stakeholder consultation. The new design will incorporate a reduced bus lane of 3.125m width, and ramped cycle paths that will run alongside pedestrian walkways. Cyclists will be intermittently ramped up and down onto raised cycle paths (some as short as 60–70m) between junctions, and these cycle paths will swerve behind all bus stops along the route. The ramped cycle paths will not provide cyclists with access to the road on the approach to the Deane (Fort Lorenzo) and Browne (Corrib Park) roundabouts; as a result, cyclists will be forced to become pedestrians at either end of the corridor.

According to the Galway Cycling Campaign, the majority of cyclists will refuse to use the planned cycle paths due to the danger and significant inconvenience they will cause. It is the view of the Campaign that cyclists will stick to the safest and most expedient option and continue to use the shared bus lanes. With the formerly 4.5m-wide bus/cycle lanes being narrowed to 3.125m, public transport users will face significant inconvenience, as bus drivers will be unable to safely overtake cyclists (current city buses measures 3.1m in width). Through this dramatic redesign, the city council will impose an assumption that at times of traffic congestion, buses will have to travel at cycling speed. The Seamus Quirke/Bishop O Donnell corridor is a vital section of the City Council’s flagship Bus Rapid Transit scheme.

The Cycling Campaign believes that the use of €6 million by the City Council to effectively slow buses down to cycling speed, increase the risk of pedestrian/cyclist collision, and force cyclists to dismount at roundabouts, is a significant waste of limited funds.

Bendy or “articulated” buses are like two normal buses stuck together with a hinge. The bendy buses are 18m (60ft) long and have provoked controversy in Dublin and London. There are concerns that in historic cities with constricted road layouts, bendy buses increase risk for cyclists and pedestrians. There are particular concerns about drivers overtaking cyclists in constricted spaces or turning left at junctions. “Galway needs a first class public transport system based on local conditions and tailored to local needs,” said campaign PRO Oisin Ó Nidh. “It is hard to see how bendy buses could be part of that solution in Galway, which is already Ireland’s walking and cycling city.”  

In Dublin, following complaints by cycling representatives, Dublin bus stated that they have no plans to buy any more of the buses. In London, the buses have been particularly controversial with respect to the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. In his manifesto for the mayoral election, Boris Johnson pledged to eliminate the bendy buses from the city. The buses are now being phased out and the operators are offering them to other cities. Galway Cycling Campaign chair Shane Foran concluded: “If bendy buses are now being advocated for Galway, this would raise concerns that we are being used as a dumping ground for other cities’ failed experiments.”

ENDS

London Evening Standard newspaper

Scrap the bendy bus and bring back Routemasters, says Boris
By Paul Waugh, Evening Standard Last updated at 11:01am on 12.09.07
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23411785-scrap-the-bendy-bus-and-bring-back-routemasters-says-boris.do
 
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23399737-bendy-buses—the-fatal-facts.do
 
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23437742-accidents-surge-as-bendy-buses-take-over.do

Bendy buses for Brighton and Hove
http://www.bricycles.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89209&Itemid=52

BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7306526.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7306526.stm

WIKIPEDIA 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articulated_buses_in_London

Oisin Ó Nidh, Campaign PRO, says: “On the one hand, Cllr Terry O Flaherty is promoting cycling on footpaths by voting for these schemes in the city council, and then on the other hand she criticises cyclists for cycling on Shop Street. There is no consistency here. The city council and Cllr O Flaherty are sending out mixed messages to cyclists.” The Galway Cycling Campaign has consistently called for cyclists to use the roads in the past — only children should be cycling on footpaths, and if adults are cycling in areas like Shop Street they should only do so at walking speed.

The closure of Shop Street to cyclists has been controversial since it was first proposed in the 1990s. In 1997, a council-sponsored transport study showed Shop St to be a major route across the city for cyclists. The Galway Cycling Campaign brought this to the attention of the city council executive at the time, and the council was made aware of best-practice design guidance from Germany and the UK that specified that such schemes should incorporate provision for cyclists.

This was especially the case for Shop St, since it was a route for schoolchildren accessing the secondary schools concentrated in the west of the city. The city council executive ignored best practice and went ahead with a scheme that simply banned cycling across the city centre. This triggered a complaint to the EU, as EU funds had been used on the scheme. In response, the City Council Executive stated that they had identified alternative routes across the city for cyclists but neglected to indicate what those routes might be. According to the cycling campaign, the only routes are a multilane one-way system via the docks, or a long detour via the Salmon Weir bridge and Nuns Island. Leaving aside the question of cross-city traffic, for years the only cycle parking available was at Mainguard/Bridge St. This meant that cyclists coming from the east to shop in town still had to bring their bikes through the pedestrian zone to park them.

Campaign chair Shane Foran observed, “While we have no remit for inconsiderate cycling, the fact is that trying to shut down the major cross-city cycling route in a medieval university city was always likely to be unenforceable for the Gardai. Shop Street joins a litany of projects whose management by the council executive has been highly questionable.”

In the latest twist in the ongoing controversy over the consultants (AECOM) assigned to Galway City and Environs Walking and Cycling Strategy, the Council’s Director of Services Ciaran Hayes has argued that they do not have to have passed an approved cycling skills course. Last November, the Galway Cycling Campaign wrote to Mr Hayes to establish that the consultants had taken an approved cycling skills course, or had formal training that would allow them to assess roads used by cyclists. Objective 18.3 of the Irish Government’s National Cycle Policy Framework (NCPF) states: “We will also stipulate that all local authority roads engineers and any engineer wishing to tender for government road contracts should be required to have taken an approved cycling skills course”. Cyclist.ie, the national cycling lobby group, also state that completing an approved cycling skills course is a standard requirement for all consultants undertaking such work. Mr Hayes has responded that his interpretation of national cycling policy is that the undertaking of such training will not be mandatory for road design work. He has also argued that the consultants on the Walking and Cycling Strategy are not engaged in design work, and that there is no approved training course in place.

The Cycling Campaigners dispute Mr. Hayes’s interpretation on various grounds. Galway Cycling Campaign chair Shane Foran said, “The first thing this line of argument suggests is that the council have managed to employ cycling consultants who have never been independently assessed on their understanding of cycling in traffic. Why would they argue that the cycle skills training isn’t needed unless their consultants haven’t done it?” Although they reject Mr. Hayes’s line of reasoning, the cyclists point out that his own interpretation is undermined by the consultants’ brief which his office issued for the work. The brief states that the consultants must proof their work with regard to the NCPF: “If they are working to the policy document as part of their brief, this suggests that to fulfill their brief the consultants must have done the training,” continued Mr. Foran.

On the claim by Mr. Hayes that the strategy does not include design work, the cyclists point out that the consultants’ brief includes “retrofitting and making modifications to the existing travel routes, footpath and cycletrack linkages in all developments, integration with public transport, integration with public amenities and recreational facilities, and accessibility for people with disabilities”. “As far as we are concerned these are all design activities,” said Mr. Foran.

Finally, the cyclists reject Mr. Hayes’s argument that there is no “approved” cycling skills course. In fact, there is only one accredited cycling skills course available: the UK National Standard for Cycle Training, which is overseen by an official Cycle Training Standards Board and whose instructors must be inspected to obtain accreditation. The Irish Green Schools Travel staff, who work with 400 schools, have been trained as UK National Standard instructors. The Galway Cycling Campaign hold that this provides a reference cycling skills course against which the AECOM staff can be evaluated. “AECOM are based out of a main office in London,” the campaign PRO spokesperson Oisín Ó Nidh pointed out, “they are within a short distance of several accredited training providers who could do the course with them for around a few hundred pounds. You would think they would just go and do the course.”

Irish National Cycle Policy Framework
http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/11387-0.pdf

“NCPF 18.3 Training of Professionals

We will organise training workshops / sessions for all design professionals in understanding and using the new guidance produced.

We will also stipulate that all local authority roads engineers and any engineer wishing to tender for government road contracts should be required to have taken an approved cycling skills course, together with a course on cycling friendly infrastructure design.”