Author: nigreenways
This is one of the many default arguments against investing in the type of cycling infrastructure seen in the Netherlands or Copenhagen. Sometimes it’s worth looking at the urban landscape from a different perspective..
A quick whizz through the @nigreenways highlights of the year..
2013 began with a bang in Belfast – remember flegs? – and NI Greenways couldn’t resist getting in on the rush hour hysteria. Amid the rumours of roads being blocked and large roving protests popping up to cause maximum traffic disruption, canny commuter cyclists still had time to observe normal city life; and this commuter caused a mini panic among office workers at 5pm on a Friday night..
Crowd of thousands has descended on Albert Bridge, East Belfast – demands unclear at this stage #flegs pic.twitter.com/9NcRJvve
— NI Greenways (@nigreenways) January 11, 2013
Stand for a few moments in the centre of Belfast and you’ll see why many people think cycling is steadily rising here. Now official statistics from the Department for Regional Development (DRD) are beginning to support the anecdotes. The Northern Ireland Travel Survey (TSNI) 2010-12 released in July 2013 pointed to a spike in the number of cycling journeys, and now the detailed analysis lifts the lid off more headlines.
You can play your part in celebrating bicycle culture in Northern Ireland by voting in the 2013 Fréd Awards. The Fréd Festival in association with NI Greenways brings you the opportunity to choose the best (and worst) aspects of cycling in Northern Ireland.
Continuing a series of guest posts, Chris Ward shares his experience of cycling in Denver, from his perspective as a club cyclist and everyday bicycle commuter. What lessons can Belfast and Northern Ireland learn from one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the United States?
![By Matt Wright (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2006-07-14-Denver_Skyline_Midnight.jpg "By Matt Wright (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons")
As a city that sees over 300 days of sunshine every year (58 in Belfast) and less than 17 inches of rain (34 in Belfast) Denver, Colorado is particularly suited as a bicycling city. Due to its location at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and the all-year-round clement weather, Colorado is inundated with cyclists (both pro and amateur) wanting to test themselves on the infamous climbs. With Colorado already situated at over a mile high in altitude, this adds an extra dynamic to the challenge.
A simple illustration of the menace posed by people cycling on Northern Ireland’s roads. Something must be done..
People riding bicycles make up about 1% of journeys in Northern Ireland, yet only 0.045% of traffic offences. Damn, we’re a wonderfully safe, respectful, law-abiding bunch of #bloodycyclists, according to the police anyway.
We’re into the season of darker nights in Northern Ireland, and our prolonged warm spell has given way to frosty reality. The growing number of hardy year-round cyclists are into 5 months of treacherous road conditions, dark evening commutes, icy surfaces and seasonal diversions. It’s the time of year when political talk of cycling revolution sounds most hollow, as people travelling on bike are cut adrift when official support is most needed. While we prepare to experience another tough season, what can the authorities do to make winter cycling more desirable here?
A dangerous overtake by a Metro bus on Wednesday 23rd October 2013 left me shaken and angry. Metro have now responded to a complaint about the incident, which is as much a factor of poor road design as unusually impatient driving.
For many people cycling in from East Belfast, the Albert Bridge is one of the major hazard points. Roads Service engineers accept that as many as 50% of people cycling across the bridge take to the footway rather than face the horrible road conditions.
The most interesting thing to happen to Belfast cycling this year hasn’t happened yet. The new cycling unit in the Department for Regional Development will probably get up and running in early 2014. It promises a new approach to government investment planning, embedding cycle-proofing across all departments to -prevent missed opportunities. Of course, it also means our cycling future is in the hands of the Department that brought you Cyclesaurus.
So let’s get the new Cycling Unit off to a flying start with some practical ideas which can make a big impact. And while we’re at it, some ideas for Belfast City Council, active travel organisations, Translink and private businesses too. Regular cyclists’ practical expertise is undervalued, so feel free to pile in to the comments section. Here is your starter for ten..
Cyclegeddon, an impressive political focus on cycling, rumbled for the first five weeks of the 2013-14 Northern Ireland Assembly session. Cycling has risen up the political agenda like never before in Northern Ireland.
The early throes of #Cyclegeddon started with the encouraging announcement of a new DRD Cycling Unit to co-ordinate policy across departments. This seems to have made MLAs more eager to probe into past, current and future policy ideas from various Ministers.
The scale of the response from MLAs is remarkable. Within the first five weeks of the 2013-14 Assembly term, 118 questions on cycling issues have been asked. This surpassed the 100 questions asked in the whole of the last year at Stormont.
