Author: nigreenways

Regional Development questions: cycle lanes and 20mph zones

Posted on by nigreenways

Safer roads were on the agenda at Stomont on Monday 19th November 2012. Questions to the Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy included the topics of Conall McDevitt’s forthcoming Private Members’ Bill on 20mph zones, and a subject currently close to the heart of the NI Greenways blog, illegal parking in cycle lanes.

Excerpts from the Official Report of Assembly Business:

Judith Cochrane, Alliance MLA for Belfast East - Parliamentary copyright: image is reproduced with the permission of Northern Ireland Assembly CommissionMrs Cochrane asked the Minister for Regional Development what action his Department is taking to address illegal parking in cycle lanes. (AQO 2876/11-15)

Mr Kennedy: I want to begin by saying that I fully appreciate the concerns and frustration of cyclists caused by vehicles that park in cycle lanes during their operational hours. Motorists should be mindful and considerate towards cyclists when using our roads and should not park illegally in cycle lanes.

Roads Service has advised that a traffic attendant can issue a penalty charge notice to a vehicle that is parked on a mandatory cycle lane. However, a penalty charge notice cannot be issued to a vehicle that is parked on an advisory cycle lane, unless other parking restrictions apply; for example, clearway restrictions or bus lanes. When a traffic attendant observes a vehicle parked in a cycle lane in contravention of a restriction, the appropriate enforcement action will be taken.

NI Greenways comment: While welcoming the question, this answer does little to address what Belfast cyclists see as a persistent problem which still isn’t being “tackled” with focus or priority. A July survey by commuter cyclists showed that for every km of restricted lane in Belfast there are 4.5 vehicles illegally parked during rush hour. Advisory cycle lanes with urban clearway restrictions are the dominant form of cycle space in Belfast, with mandatory lanes few and far between, with no recurring reports of illegal parking problems. Refusing to recognise a special problem in some areas of the city means the issue can continue to be largely ignored.

Mrs Cochrane: I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he also give us an update on the parking enforcement awareness programme that was due to commence on 30 October?

Mr Kennedy: I am grateful to the Member. Obviously, the Department encourages cycling. We are committed to providing safer roads for the growing number of cyclists and pedestrians. We have done that through a range of measures such as road safety engineering, traffic calming and the enhancement of the pedestrian and cycling network. All these initiatives, including those brought forward by Travelwise, are key elements of the sustainable travel options involving cycling and its promotion.

Conall McDevitt, SDLP MLA for Belfast South - Parliamentary copyright: image is reproduced with the permission of Northern Ireland Assembly CommissionMr McDevitt: I thank the Minister for his ongoing commitment to cycling. Given that it is the beginning of road safety week, will the Minister indicate to the House whether he is willing to strongly consider the merits of introducing 20 mph zones on a statutory basis or to support the private Member’s Bill due before the House in the coming months that will do so?

Mr Kennedy: I am grateful to the Member for his supplementary question. I know that he is a keen and very active cyclist. I am aware of the private Members’ Bill and of the representations made by those in favour of introducing 20 mph schemes. Although I am not opposed to such schemes, the issue seems to be one of enforcement: how such limits are to be enforced, whether the PSNI can commit the necessary resources and whether responsible motorists and vehicle users will be prepared to accept the restrictions that are placed upon them. That is an ongoing discussion that I am having with my officials, and we will see what emerges.

NI Greenways comment: The level of commitment from MLAs to seeing this important measure gaining passage through the Assembly remains uncertain. The issue of enforcement is one that pops up time and again in 20mph zones debates, and is dealt with along with other weak arguments against on the 20’s Plenty For Us website.

Bin lane users call for action on cyclists

Posted on by nigreenways

Business owners using Belfast’s only mandatory bin lane are calling for action to combat problem cyclists.

The bin lane on Upper Arthur Street is used every day by many commercial bins from retailers and pubs. But bin owners say the level of illegal cycling, by people mistaking it for a mandatory cycle lane, is getting out of hand.

Another reckless cyclist in the bin lane

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One local business owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said “It’s just getting ridiculous, every day we have people flagrantly cycling up the bin lane, with no regard for the safety of our bins.”

The local council have promised to get tough. A spokesperson said “These cyclists need to wise the bap and respect the bin lane rules. What message is it sending out to shoppers, tourists and binmen if these bins can’t be left in peace in the middle of the street, 24/7?

“We’ve had almost three reports of bins very nearly being hit by cyclists in the last month. A lot of money has been spent on this bin lane, and it’s a stain on the city that these yobbo cyclists are ruining it for everyone.”

How a busy bin lane should look – but cyclists are forcing users to block the pavement

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Business owners are so frightened of cyclist collisions, and potential scrapes and minor dents, that some bins are being moved to the relative safety of the pavement. The anonymous business owner said “Blocking the pavement for pedestrians, including vision-impaired and restricted-mobility users, is a small price to pay for bin safety. Blame the friggin’ cyclists.”

During 20 minutes spent interviewing locals, I counted five cyclists speeding down the bin lane. The council are promising harsh new measures such as clamping and towing errant cyclists. “We’re proud of the increase in bin usage of this lane over the last year – just go down any day and you’ll see bins there all day long. The sooner we get cyclists off the streets of Belfast the better.”

NEXT WEEK: Amelia Street – cyclists must understand it’s a taxi lane

Belfast cycling can go Dutch

Posted on by nigreenways

Belfast cyclists who’ve visited cities in the Netherlands can’t help but be impressed by the dedicated, separated cycling infrastructure. We despair at the state of our own urban roads, with funny green coloured car parks called cycle lanes, and the ‘shared space’ of bus lanes about to be opened up to taxis. When we suggest Dutch-style separated cycle tracks, we’re told there isn’t enough road space, it’s too expensive, or there isn’t the demand.

Aaron Coulter’s fantastic mini series on Bicycling Belfast argues that some of Belfast’s roads are quite narrow, and to expect a fully separate network across the city isn’t realistic, at least in the short term. Certainly in Northern Ireland’s car-dominated society, with alternative urban transport spending being mainly focused on buses, priority for cycling isn’t currently on the agenda.

But these broad generalisations about space and cost mask something important. What about roads where space is not the main issue? Are there opportunities to actually implement sections of high quality separated cycle tracks in areas of Belfast?

Belfast ignoring Dutch cycling lessons

The following video shows a junction on a dual carriageway in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), with a typical separate cycle track.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYjUHKlH9k]

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There are a few things to note here:

  • the location is quite central in Den Bosch
  • the speed limit on the dual carriageway is 50kph (31mph)
  • the majority of cyclists are school children as this is a Friday afternoon
  • there is a pedestrian pathway on the right hand side of the road

What strikes me about the scene is the space and priority given to cyclists during interactions with vehicles. Cycling on the track appears to be quite a serene experience. No-one has to pedal hard to keep up with vehicular traffic, and people are able to chat and relax. Vehicles accessing the side roads wait patiently for prioritised cyclists to pass. Not anything you would associate with road cycling in Belfast. You’d have to use the Comber Greenway, Lagan Towpath or Lough Shore routes to get close, but these are rarely complete A – B routes, and are not cycle tracks developed in parallel with the road network, save for a 1km section on the Stranmillis embankment.

What was really striking was how similar the road looked to somewhere in Belfast – the Upper Knockbreda Road. This is part of the A55 Outer Ring road in the city, providing a strategic link for traffic to the south and east of the city to avoid the centre for longer journeys.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&panoid=KVWInB5n9XFFd6BfkGdz2g&cbll=54.577064,-5.875565&cbp=13,64.67,,0,4.08&source=embed&ll=34.994004,4.746094&spn=21.525048,105.46875&z=3&output=svembed&w=600&h=150]

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Some of the noted similarities:

  • Dual carriageway with a reduced urban speed limit (40mph in Belfast)
  • Turning junctions crossing the carriageway
  • Sections of off slips at junctions
  • Bus stops
  • Nearby schools (Knockbreda High, Lagan College, Grosvenor Grammar, Newtownbreda High)
  • Dedicated cycling provision*
  • Similar width (approx 30m Belfast, 35m Den Bosch)

* Yes, the Belfast road has dedicated cycling provision! In fact, cycle lanes were first put on stretches of this road over 10 years ago. So how does the experience of cycling this dual carriageway stack up against the Den Bosch example? I took a journey with my video camera on a 2.6km stretch from the Castlereagh Road to the Saintfield Road:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t85wvEE1xI]

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This cycle route has been classically bolted on the existing road and pavement, with minimum thought or budget given to the actual needs of cycle users. The confusing jumps between shared pavement (two-way) and on-road (one way) cycling betrays a lack of care in planning. When on-road, cyclists are too close to fast moving traffic for comfort. When on the shared pavement, hazards include road signs, uncertainty about give way markings, and conflict with pedestrians – usually the understandable complaint of pedestrians intimidated by fast moving cyclists.

The arguments will rage over priority and demand – obviously far more people travel on this road in motor vehicles than cycle or walk. The classic argument is that people make rational choices on their method of travel, and if motor vehicles are the dominant mode, they must have priority.

Of course, as this road and most in Belfast show, the choice between cycling and driving is not an equal choice. The comfort and (perception of) safety of a car for a short journey will usually win out over fear of physical danger on a bad cycle route. Fear of traffic is a major barrier, and is not addressed properly in this example. People are not encouraged to cycle on this route so much as tolerated.

While on the periphery of the city, there are several important destinations along the Outer Ring which would greatly benefit from being connected by a high quality cycle route: the schools mentioned before, the Comber Greenway, the Lagan towpath, Belvoir Forest Park, the forthcoming Connswater Community Greenway, Cregagh Glen, the Forestside shopping complex, Knockbreda Healthcare Centre, and many more community connections and key arterial corridors.

Building unnecessary compromise into the network from the start, dooms proper development of cycling as a viable transport form. As we see from the Dutch video, good design principles of separation would see a cycle track ‘behind’ areas of conflict such as bus stops, or traffic signals like the one on this dual carriageway in Belfast:

[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=m&layer=c&panoid=fg0apcjHMzTbSrUO37Ea-w&cbll=54.576167,-5.87766&cbp=13,14.27,,0,11&source=embed&ll=4.039618,15.117188&spn=66.155769,210.9375&z=2&output=svembed&w=600&h=200]

The difficult areas in the video, when encountering (very low frequency service) bus stops, or cycle lanes on the inside of off slips, show extremely poor design. Taken from the viewpoint of making the least difficulties for general traffic, they are understandable choices – where space is judged too tight, pedestrians and cyclists lose out to traffic needs.

My own view is that separate cycle tracks are actually easy to achieve, given the right budgetary conditions and road space. It’s all of the other aspects of Dutch cycling which prevent road engineers here from implementing them – junction priorities and design, crossings, roundabout design, and strict liability principles. The design manual is either sorely lacking, or there is no willingness think creatively.

Roads Service blind to best practice

As with many of Belfast’s investments in cycling – mainly unenforceable advisory cycle lanes – this is a wasted opportunity. This section is part of a 4.7km project, with cycle lanes or shared paths mostly on both sides of the dual carriageway. The total project spend was just £77,000, very modest when compared to European norms, but money spent nonetheless – and now lost to inadequate infrastructure.

These excerpts from the Roads Service Progress Report to Castlereagh Borough Council (where this road is located) in August 2006 highlight the aspirational rhetoric on local cycling infrastructure, which isn’t matched in reality:

“Whilst usage levels of these routes are not high, they were intended to separate cyclists from other vehicles on heavily trafficked roads to increase safety.”

By any measure, the Upper Knockbreda Road is a fast and busy dual carriageway, despite the 40mph limit. Putting a mandatory cycle lane on the road is not separation, and cyclists would struggle to feel safe here.

“Other cities in GB and in Europe (including those with climatic and topographical characteristics similar to our own) have changed the transport habits of their citizens and achieved proportions of journeys made by bicycle many times higher than here. It is clear that if good facilities are provided and marketed, people will be happy to use them in very significant numbers, to their own benefit, and to the benefit the environment.”

Roads Service are keen to reference best practice from Europe here, and even go some way to knocking down a tired argument about climate being a unique barrier to cycling uptake in Belfast. But it is disingenuous to place this in a report, when the cycle facilities provided do not come close to European best practice. Interestingly, despite this being one of Belfast’s longest mandatory cycle lanes, and on a key strategic transport route, there are no cycle counters installed to measure usage. Belfast has a number of these, which have shown an overall increase of 152% during the time this particular route has been operating. But usage here remains unrecorded.

Belfast cyclists are becoming more aware of the attitudes within Roads Service to cycling as transport, ranging from indifference to hostility, laced with a lack of understanding of cycle users’ needs. Recent initiatives such as Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes are demonstrating that even our inadequate infrastructure isn’t available when it should be.

However Roads Service must maintain the appearance that active travel is core to it’s investment. The June 2002 report to Castlereagh Borough Council was fronted by an image of the redesigned Knock dual carriageway, as a high profile example of cycling needs being catered for. It speaks volumes for the understanding and importance of cycling to Roads Service that no-one had the wit to notice the two cars illegally blocking the mandatory cycle lane. This was clearly during the afternoon school run, at the very time the cycle lane should be used most (if you’d feel happy letting your children use the lane).

How long can Belfast ignore the Dutch?

There are plenty of areas in Belfast with no cycling infrastructure at all which need urgent attention. It is unreasonable to ask for a Dutch-style cycle track to be built on this road in the short term – in many ways the cycling ship has sailed on this road. For future projects with adequate road space, Roads Service need to understand that there is a better way to design cycle infrastructure. Public money is spent by Roads Service on cycling measures which are designed to fit in where possible, leaving a disjointed, confusing and muddled network, unfit for use by all ages, and failing to provide safe high quality cycle tracks to attract more people out of their cars.

Roads Service need to be directed, and empowered, by pressing targets and dedicated budget to design projects with the needs of cycle users at their core. We can’t afford to keep missing opportunities like this.

It’s no mistake that cycling levels and safety are so good in the Netherlands. It is a mistake to think that we can ignore best practice, and try to design successful cycle networks which cater for motorists’ needs rather than cyclists. While we continue down this path we waste good money, and waste chances to make a real impact on Belfast cycling.

Reclaim Belfast's Cycle Lanes November 2012

Posted on by nigreenways

Fed up with your cycle route in Belfast being blocked by illegally parked cars? Is your daily commute is made much more dangerous than it should be? Take part in a unique survey to highlight the problem! Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes 2 hits the streets of Belfast on the week beginning Monday 5th November 2012!

Last time..

The original running of Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes was in July this year. Nine volunteers found that a typical rush hour cycling journey in Belfast was blocked five times by illegally parked vehicles, or 4.5 blocks for every kilometre of restricted lanes. One journey even had 36 cars blocking a single cycle lane! The evidence shows right across Belfast, people cycling during rush hour are facing dangerous road conditions.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyUXs3YkDGw]

This was a unique effort of independent civic action between private individuals – people who choose to travel between work and home on a bike – and researchers at the Centre of Excellence for Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast.

The report made it into the press, and following engagement with Belfast councillors, MLAs, Roads Service, the DRD Minister and the Regional Development Committee, the issue got….absolutely nowhere. If you weren’t sure how Northern Ireland’s politicians felt about the problems of cycling as transport, the indifference is very clear to see.

In response to the first survey report, Roads Service maintain that cycle lanes mean rush hour “cyclists effectively have their own road space. This makes cycling safer, and at times of congestion, allows cyclists to make time savings.” Does this match your experience of Belfast’s cycle lanes?

So we must keep the pressure on! It’s November, it’s cold, it may be wet, but many hundreds of commuter cyclists will still be on our roads at rush hour. This time we need to expand the number of volunteers, and the route coverage to see what the problem is like across the whole of Belfast.

More and more people in Belfast are choosing a bicycle as their main form of commuting, and are encountering problems on our roads. Cycling in Northern Ireland is becoming more dangerous. Parked cars on cycle and bus lanes may be just an inconvenience to most road users, but they pose real dangers to cyclists. Let’s pile up the evidence again, and start to shame the authorities into meaningful action.

How to get involved

Join a growing community of Belfast commuter cyclists in this unique research project, and participate in some constructive public action. Send an email to nigreenways AT gmail.com with your name and usual commuting route. You can download the information pack here, with more detailed instructions and survey sheet:

Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes survey sheet and information

You can help the effort by mentioning to friends or work colleagues who cycle at rush hour, and encourage them to join, Why not print off some copies of the information pack for others? You don’t have to cover every single day of the week, you don’t even have to be on a bike to help out – let’s all do what we can!

Let’s really get Belfast on the move, and help to put an end to illegal parking in cycle lanes!

Safer cycling with Belfast On The Move?

Posted on by nigreenways

Belfast On The Move, a series of road design measures to promote sustainable transport, has been causing controversy since the introduction of new bus lanes. Drivers have been experiencing some delays, while Translink report Metro services are running a more reliable service. The project has yet to complete, and there will be a natural bedding-in period while road users get used to the new system.

The project itself is mainly aimed at making the public transport network more efficient, allowing faster and more reliable bus services to permeate the city centre with greater ease. One of the ultimate goals is allowing a smooth introduction of Bus Rapid Transit sometime in the next few years.

But the project also claims to make improvements for cyclists and pedestrians. Certainly there are visible signs of the latter, with many new and improved pedestrian crossings springing up around the centre. As for cycling infrastructure, there is little sign of a vast improvement so far. There are rumours of a section of dedicated, separated cycle pathway to be added to the Linenhall Street one-way system – even if only it’s only a 50 metre contraflow. The project promises 3.6km of new cycle lanes, but looking beyond this headline, 2.6km of that is actually bus lane, which cyclists can share during operating hours.

May Street Belfast bus lane
New 4.5m wide bus lane on May Street Belfast

For my own commuting journey, I miss out May Street and the new stretch of 4.5m wide bus lane, which is apparently of benefit to cyclists hoping to overtake stationary buses. But I do pass beside a new bus lane which has been added to East Bridge Street, on the south side of St. George’s Market. The Google map below shows the configuration of the junction before the bus lane was added.

Coming off the bridge, two traffic lanes run outside a bus lane, which passes through a signal controlled bus gate, and then three traffic lanes continue on to the junction with Oxford Street. Past this junction, three lanes quickly split into six, with two turning south onto Cromac Street, one crossing into Hamilton Street, and three turning north towards the city centre – the inside of these three is now a bus lane.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=k&ll=54.595408,-5.92132&spn=0.001243,0.006437&z=17&output=embed&w=600&h=200]

What is confusing to many road users is the correct way to filter – there is no sign on the approach to the bus gate to advise how to ‘get in lane’ for the junction ahead. But the road markings are a little more instructive – the left lane after the bus gate appears to be for all southbound traffic, and the two right lanes are for northbound traffic.

This would be fine if not for two problems at work here – driver confusion over the layout, and the natural inclination for some people to ‘queue jump’. Quite often the traffic will be at a standstill around the bus gate, with many southbound vehicles trying to filter left. Many impatient drivers fly on past the stationary traffic, and then attempt to filter across at the last minute. This is where cyclists are experiencing  increased road danger.

As a cyclist trying to get to Hamilton Street, I pass through the bus gate, hold the centre of the ‘southbound’ lane, and then gradually edge right after Oxford Street. But when impatient traffic is queue jumping, and cutting across the bus lane and the Hamilton Street filter lane, the danger of collision is highest.

Here are just a few examples of the problems on this stretch of road:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6RZsb4Xlk]

Some thought needs to go in to the best way to manage this issue, before we start to see collisions happening. Prior signs to alert road users of the correct lanes may stop those who get themselves in the wrong position for the Cromac Street junction. But from the speed and traffic conditions shown in some incidents in the video, it’s clear that many drivers are choosing to filter at the wrong point. One solution may be to add soft bollards to the inside of the bus lane, to prevent vehicles making this dangerous move.

This is just a little stretch of my commuting journey which only grazes the Belfast On The Move changes. But when the project is being sold as ‘better for cyclists’, I can’t say it’s been my experience so far. How are you finding safety on the new bus lane system?

Belfast commuter cyclists' concerns get short shrift at Stormont

Posted on by nigreenways

Cyclists’ concerns of increasing road danger and wasted public investment due to illegal parking were put to the Regional Development Committee at Stormont this week. The Committee has a statutory oversight and scrutiny role for matters relating to roads, infrastructure and transport in Northern Ireland. Despite presenting clear evidence of the problem, and conclusions on the causes, the briefing on the Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes report was given short shrift, and harsh treatment.

Reproduced under Creative Commons licence from niassembly

Presented on behalf of the survey participants, the “10 minute presentation” was cut short at 6 minutes (the previous presenter ran to nearly 14 minutes, unchallenged). The first comment from Committee Chair Jimmy Spratt set a bizarre and disappointing tone:

“I often see cyclists, at traffic lights, and what have you, going through red traffic lights, and what have you, so, very often cyclists don’t exactly endear themselves to other members of the public in terms of road usage, and I have to say that that happens on a fairly regular basis. We take the points that you make in relation to parking and stuff like that…”

Listen for yourself, and to the response (File 5, 04:45 onwards)

Following criticism of not being an organisation (beware private individuals engaging in the political process) questions moved back to more constructive areas of road safety and parking warden deployment.

Roads Service officials were next up in front of the Committee to respond to the issues raised by the report, and received a series of very tough questions. Yet Belfast commuter cyclists may be interested to note that neither cycling nor cycle lanes were specifically raised in questioning. The issue of the day was the concerns of Lisburn Road traders and the impact of priority patrolling there – so cycling got a little lost.

What was of relevance to the survey was a Roads Service response to Jimmy Spratt’s welcome idea of equal coverage of parking wardens across Belfast:

“If we go to a road and there’s no traffic problems there, there’s no point in us wasting resources putting them there, if there’s no difficulty”.

So Roads Service don’t consider cyclists’ problems to be traffic problems, and don’t care that the report highlights we are facing difficulty each night, all across Belfast. Belfast cyclists are not motorised traffic and therefore don’t count.

Belfast commuter cyclists are fully aware, each day, of how valued they are on our roads – we see this in lack of infrastructure, dangerous junctions, and blocked cycle lanes. If Roads Service and the Department for Regional Development, and disappointingly the Committee which scrutinises their work, are not open to these concerns, where do we go?

With this in mind, the date for Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes 2 will be the week of 5th November 2012 – bigger, better, and a louder voice? Let’s see what we can do..

That briefing in full

You can also listen to the cut short briefing on the NI Assembly website (file 4, 26:00 onwards)

Thank you Chairperson, and I’d like to thank the Committee for the invitation to present this briefing today.

By way of explaining the origins of the survey, I’ll start with a little background on the NI Greenways blog. I started compiling it in April this year as a way of highlighting opportunities to open around 600 miles of disused former railways across the province, in the model of the Comber Greenway. My intention is to raise local awareness by mapping these potential traffic-free walking and cycling paths for commuting, leisure and tourism, and as a resource for Northern Ireland to combat our worsening obesity problems.

As a commuter cyclist in Belfast for over 10 years, the social media connections I made through this blog brought me to discussion on the daily issues people face cycling to work on our roads. Alongside criticisms of lack of quality infrastructure, and general physical dangers, the major gripe was around cycle lanes in Belfast being blocked by parked vehicles.

My own route has what’s termed as an advisory cycle lane running for 800m, yet every night during urban clearway operation it is blocked by anything from 10 to 30 vehicles. In June I raised a complaint with Roads Service, but received a less than encouraging response. In the 12 months to April, just 11 Penalty Charge Notices were issued on the affected section of my commuting route. To my experience, and as the survey would later bear out, this is the level of illegal parking per night. Roads Service informed me that records are not kept of deployment of patrols per road, leading to obvious questions about how they evaluate the level of illegal parking across the city, and therefore the effectiveness of patrol deployment.

The idea for a city-wide survey came from Mark Tully, a lecturer in Public Health at Queen’s University, who unfortunately cannot be here today due to a prior commitment.

Put simply, we could draw on the time and experience of commuter cyclists to record the number of illegally parked vehicles in cycle lanes, and bus lanes, during their morning and evening commutes. Safety was paramount and volunteers were encouraged to mentally note the figures, and jot them down at the end of their journey. Volunteers were also reminded not to challenge or single out people who were illegally parked, to avoid any unhelpful confrontation or aggravation. Some participants also took cycle camera video recordings both as evidence of the accuracy of figures, but also to allow our unique point of view to be experienced, and some footage is available to view through the blog.

We set the survey for 5 working days on the week beginning 23rd July, and managed to get 9 volunteers. It should be noted that 4 of the participants were female, not a bad percentage for the survey, given that 2001 census figures put female cyclists at just 0.2% of all commuters in Belfast.

At least one arterial route in each geographic quarter of the city was covered.

After analysis by the team at Queens, the results for 69 qualifying journeys were released in the report which you all have a copy of. For a typical journey in Belfast, a cyclist will face 5 illegally parked vehicles blocking restricted lanes, or 4.5 for every kilometre of the city’s cycle and bus lanes. The worst performing route was the Springfield / Grosvenor Road corridor, with 26 vehicles illegally blocking cyclists on a typical journey.

Evening journeys were worse than mornings – typically 6.2 per km or 7 per journey during evening rush hour against 2.9 per km or 4 per journey in the morning. It’s difficult to draw conclusions about this difference, but some of the factors at work may be more shopping trips to local stores on the way home, better driver understanding of bus lane rules, and driver confusion over the operation of the relatively new phenomenon of advisory cycle lanes on urban clearways.

The survey puts clear evidence of this problem into the hands of frustrated commuters – it’s not just another grumble about our roads which can be easily dismissed.

Why does any of this matter? The frustration of commuter cyclists is not due to any sense of entitlement to this road space but rather from the perception and experience of increased road danger which illegally parked vehicles create. Cyclists have to filter in and out of general traffic unnecessarily – the Committee will understand this is about to become a source of increased danger as we approach the winter months and dark journeys home.  Each parked vehicle is a potential door opening accident risk. Road sides which should be clear have illegal visual obstacles increasing the risk of crossing pedestrians coming into conflict with other road users. As we’re the slowest road users, mixing with general traffic leads to pressure on cyclists and many dangerous overtakes by equally, and perhaps understandably, frustrated motorists.

Recently released PSNI road casualty figures show a jump in cyclists killed or seriously injured in Northern Ireland, 49 in each of the last two years against a baseline measure of 28. Looking at the trends for all road casualties, road safety has significantly improved in Northern Ireland over the past 10 years, with casualties for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and motorcyclists all down. Cyclists are the only group to with an upward trend in casualties, a worrying and underreported development.

Just last week one of the survey participants was involved in a road collision with a car crossing a cycle lane through stationary traffic in Belfast. If they had been driving a car, this would have been a minor prang with insurance details swapped – it landed the cyclist in A+E and wrote off their main form of transport – luckily and importantly, no lasting damage was done to the cyclist. We are among the most vulnerable road users, and taking steps to eliminate a fairly straightforward problem such as illegal parking can make a big difference to the experience and safety of cycling in Belfast.

What should concern the Committee, and all road users in Belfast, is that cycle lanes which are blocked every day at rush hour represent wasted public investment. We have notional targets to increase cycling levels in Northern Ireland, yet when paint is put down to mark out a city cycle network, regardless of how fractured and inadequate it remains in reality, cyclists are unable to use it. It fails to provide the separation of transport modes it sets out to achieve, fails to improve safety for all road users – in fact does the exact opposite while this problem persists. And crucially fails to properly sell the benefits of an alternative, yet viable form of commuter transport in our small city.

To put Northern Ireland’s cycling under-investment levels into perspective, in 2010-11 just 0.16% of Roads Service budget was put into cycling measures,

CUT SHORT

or 18p per head of population. Compare this against The Netherlands where €30 per head is spent. Maybe it’s an unfair comparison to make – on another day I’ll make a forceful argument about increasing our spending on cycling – but how can we start that debate when our 18p is going down the pan?

The survey group contacted Minister Kennedy to highlight the report, and we received a letter from Roads Service, and Committee members should have a copy in their briefing papers. The resounding verdict from participants was that the response was inadequate given the nature of the issue raised. To receive an, albeit informal survey report, yet backed by analysis from Queen’s University, and to respond with five long paragraphs explaining what a cycle lane is, felt somewhat patronising. [Read that response in full here]

Indeed the letter became a little surreal when Roads Service stated that cycle lanes mean “cyclists effectively have their own road space. This makes cycling safer, and at times of congestion, allows cyclists to make time savings”. This is quite an absurd statement given the report which prompted the response. There was no acceptance that illegal parking is a major problem for cyclists, or that Roads Service bears some responsibility for ineffective enforcement.

What was encouraging from the response are the changes proposed under the new contract with NSL, which Committee members have heard about from Ciarán de Búrca and the Minister in the past few weeks. The new protocol and associated awareness campaign should go some way to tackling illegal parking. The new tow and clamp policy, while potentially seeming like another stick to beat Belfast motorists with, will probably sharpen minds in the short term. These and other measures are to be welcomed as evidence of proactive traffic management. But, there is still one major worry running through from my initial complaint, to the survey, to the official response, and the new NSL contract.

That is resourcing, and deployment – Roads Service steer clear of this point in correspondence, yet it is at the heart of the problem.

Where parking wardens do not patrol, illegal parking will take place. As a prime example, I took to the Cregagh Road during the survey week, along with an onboard video camera. My typical journey across that week had 9.5 illegally parked vehicles, except for Wednesday when there were just 3. The reason? Two NSL parking wardens patrolling the road. I doubt they needed to issue many tickets, but the mere presence of high visibility enforcement was enough to practically clear the road.

So, new towing trucks to move illegally parked vehicles – great. How many trucks? How will they be deployed? Will the current priority system remain in place, with constant patrolling of the Lisburn Road, and sporadic to no coverage elsewhere? The committee heard from Lisburn Road Traders last week, and I’ll add this one point to their criticisms – having 27% of all Northern Ireland’s clearway related tickets, on just one Belfast Road, is actually a damning indictment of the spread of enforcement across our city, especially given that it’s an arterial route supported by both the railway and motorway network.

Will there be more than the current 1 or 2 car-based warden teams, and 4 or 5 teams on foot, for a city of around 20 main road corridors? Will Road Service commit to providing a better level of service across the whole of the city, or will the status quo remain? Certainly since my original complaint in June, and 11 weeks since the survey report, my rush hour journey has not had a clear cycle lane on one evening – not one.

To conclude, all available evidence shows that cycling levels are rapidly rising in Belfast. Roads Service’s own figures from Belfast cycle counter locations show a 152% increase in cycle usage from 2000 to 2010. The DRD Travel Survey for Belfast commuters showed an increase in people declaring a bicycle as their ‘usual’ form of transport from 1% 2000-2002 to 3% 2008-2010. We now number in the thousands during rush hour across the Belfast, and if good, safe infrastructure can be maintained and promoted, people will choose to make the switch to the bike.

The volunteers, and other commuter cyclists who’ve supported us since the report, will monitor progress on this issue very closely. I appreciate the Committee’s time this morning.

Northern Ireland cycling injury rates rising

Posted on by nigreenways

Cycling KSI rates are rising in Northern Ireland

Official statistics in Northern Ireland appear to show a worrying trend in road danger. Headline figures show overall rates of people killed, seriously or slightly injured on Northern Ireland’s roads continue to drop. But one group of road users is facing rising casualty rates – cyclists.

Any death on our roads is one too many, and behind the headline grabbing figures, many more people suffer minor or serious injuries each year travelling in Northern Ireland. Government bodies such as Department for Regional Development (DRD), Roads Service, the Department of the Environment (DOE) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) work hard to create safer road conditions and awareness of road user behaviour which causes accidents.

Recently released figures from PSNI showed that in 2011 there was a slight reduction in road casualties, a 2% annual drop to 8,760. There were 59 fatalities in 2011, a slight rise from 55 in 2010 which was the fewest number since records began in 1931. Wesley Johnston analyses why, despite great reductions over the last few decades, people are still dying on our roads.

What grabbed the attention was a sharp increase in cyclists casualties, an annual rise of 19% to 255 in 2011. The only other group to show a significant annual increase was pedestrians, up 13% to 834.

Looking at two years in isolation doesn’t give an accurate reflection of road safety, so to find some more general trends, I took the Police Recorded Injury Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties figures for ten years from 2002 to 2011 for pedestrians, drivers, passengers, cyclists and motorcyclists. To give some context to the figures – factoring in changing travel patterns – I added data from the DRD Northern Ireland Travel Survey for the same modes, showing miles and journeys per person per year from 1999-2002 to 2008-2011. The travel survey is based on a rolling 3 year average – I matched the latest year to the same year for the PSNI figures eg 2011 road casualties against 2009-2011 travel levels and so on.

The figures appear to show a worrying trend in Northern Ireland – while overall safety continues to improve, the situation for cyclists seems to be deteriorating.

Cyclists

Cyclists in Northern Ireland appear to be the only group with a strong upward trend in casualties over the last ten years. This is coupled with a rise in the average miles cycled per person per year, yet it is difficult to draw a conclusion that the two are directly linked, especially when the opposite appears true for drivers.

Pedestrians

Pedestrian casualties have fluctuated over the last decade, with an upward trend from 2005, but overall the figures remain generally constant. What is perhaps more concerning is the steady decrease in the number of walking journeys people are taking.

Motorcyclists

The figures for motorcyclists throw up some interesting points. From 2006 there has been a marked decrease in miles per person per year, coupled with a reduction in number of journeys. Someone with more insight into motorcycling may have an explanation for this, but it may be that the downward trend in casualty rates is more to do with less motorcyclists on the road than anything else.

Drivers

The bigger success stories in road safety are accounted for by drivers and passengers. We see that driver casualties remain in a downward trend over the decade, despite miles travelled per person per year increasing over the same period. Naturally much of the focus of DOE Road Safety campaigns has been on drivers, and the causes of accidents, and it appears some progress is being made.

Passengers

Passenger casualties, like that of drivers, continues a downward trend over the decade. But both indicators for travel show a decrease as well – what is most interesting here is the suggestion that there may be a shift away from shared travel to individual travel, but this is only speculation at this level of detail.

Why is cycling bucking Northern Ireland road safety trends?

This is the worrying question which needs better analysis than I can provide. The two strongest upward trends for miles and journeys are for drivers and cyclists, yet the casualty figures are sharply divergent for these two groups. If it is true that cycling is becoming a more popular form of travel in Northern Ireland, then this may explain some of the rise – more cyclists = more accidents.

There is also the question of whether government is investing enough to match rising cycling rates. In 2010-11, Roads Service expenditure on cycling measures as a proportion of the total roads budget was just 0.16%, against a general modal share of about 1% (NI) or 3% (Belfast). If the figures and commentary presented above pass scrutiny, it raises difficult questions on Northern Ireland’s commitment to cycling as a form of transport, and the understanding of the dangers faced by cyclists on our roads.

The forthcoming Active Travel Strategy for Northern Ireland contains an ‘aspiration’ to increase cycling levels to 1.5% by 2020 (I know), but to achieve this may require a large urban centre such as Belfast to double its cycling levels. It is not unrealistic to suggest that Belfast may come close to a 10% modal share by 2020, but do our road planners and politicians have any idea what a 10% share would look like on our streets, especially if the current poor infrastructure provision is not addressed?

Arguments about road space reallocation are fraught with controversy, as we have seen with Belfast On The Move, and it may be unrealistic to call for sweeping changes at present, given the tiny proportion of modal share. But if cycling rates continue to rise in line with expectations, aspirations and the upturn we see every day, and government has no plan or inclination to invest in cycling-focused infrastructural safety improvements, cycling casualties may continue to rise.

New Belfast Tesco targets cycling shoppers

Posted on by nigreenways
Bicycle Parking sign at Tesco Castlereagh Road

New Tesco Superstore on the Castlereagh Road

The new Tesco Superstore on the Castlereagh Road opens on Thursday 4th October, but it’s hoping to attract more than the traditional supermarket customers. At the north entrance a sign has been erected to target passing cyclists. A lot of local supermarkets have developed facilities such as disabled parking, parent and child parking, but it’s the first time I’ve seen such a prominent advert for bicycle parking.

Bicycle Parking sign at Tesco Castlereagh Road

There are a number of reasons why this is a good move by Tesco. Beyond the anecdotal evidence of increasing numbers of cyclists on Belfast streets, the Castlereagh Road benefits from half decent cycling provision. There is a long city-bound bus lane for the morning rush hour, and an equally long advisory cycle lane with urban clearway restrictions running countrybound. Even if the cycle lane is usually just one long car park during rush hour, it’s a start.

Cycle lane by Tesco on Castlereagh Road

The cycle lane was first obstructed then removed during the construction phase, but has now been reinstated on the new widened road section – a huge improvement on the former bone-shaking surface. Although only an advisory lane, it has been afforded the rare position of a continual marking across the Tesco access and at Orby Link, hopefully improving driver awareness and caution when exiting these two junctions.

How many cyclists will stop by for groceries? Let’s be honest, not a great many, as Belfast doesn’t have more than 3% of journeys on bike at present. But this move sends out an important message to both local residents with bikes, and a challenge to independent retailers in Belfast – a short trip to the shops doesn’t always need to be by car. And Tesco will be more than aware of the unique position of the site, bordered as it is by the Loop River. The Connswater Community Greenway project will see East Belfast linked by a 9km linear park, running right past Tesco.

Connswater Community Greenway will run near Tesco

What’s slightly disappointing here is the continued use of an advisory cycle lane, the default position for Roads Service in Belfast. Roads Service doesn’t favour mandatory lanes as their “introduction…can be a contentious issue and would generally lead to a displacement of parking, often to other locations that are less able to accommodate it, such as residential streets in the general vicinity.” This doesn’t apply to this section as roadside parking is unnecessary given the large car park, and anyone parking here would create a danger for passing motorists, cyclists and crossing pedestrians. A bit of foresight, creativity and bravery from Roads Service could have seen some sections made mandatory, even kerb separated here to provide extra safety for all road users, and completely discouraging countrybound roadside parking.

Bus stop outside Castlereagh Road Tesco

To be fair, observing traffic movements since the cycle lane reopened, it seems to be working well enough. The new surface makes the road marking stand out, and the addition of a new pedestrian crossing just north of the bus stop will help to slow traffic flows around the usually fast bend.

Opening a large superstore in this relatively quiet arterial route will cause some increase in traffic levels and disruption, not to mention difficulties it will cause to local independent retailers. But by actively seeking out a new market, and encouraging local shoppers to go for ‘less car, more bike’, Tesco have to be commended.

Roads Service responds to Reclaim Belfast's Cycle Lanes

Posted on by nigreenways

In July 2012 Belfast cyclists joined together to highlight the problem of the city’s blocked cycle lanes. QUB researchers analysed the data from 69 journeys, with a typical commuter trip blocked 5 times, or 4.5 illegal blockages per km of supposedly parking-restricted lanes. The issue was highlighted in the media, to politicians, the Regional Development Committee at the NI Assembly and DRD / Roads Service. Now that Roads Service have provided their response it’s time to review a busy month for the Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes report.

Blocked cycle lane

The media response

The story was picked up by two big fish in the local newspaper market, the Belfast Telegraph under the headline Cyclists demand action on illegally parked car chaos  and also in the Irish News with their story Cycle lane investment ‘wasted public money’. In particular the Belfast Telegraph’s comments sections provided a great opportunity for feedback and discussion, and 40 comments here showed the depth of feeling – worth a read!

The lovely people at View TV Belfast ran with a report Cycle lanes a waste of public money including some actual survey footage from the Springfield Road, coincidently the worst performing road in the survey.

NI Greenways  somehow managed to blag its way on on to Radio Ulster’s Talkback show, where even black taxi drivers were phoning in to support cyclists!

Fortunate timing allowed the report this media space on its own merits, ahead of the two big roads issues of the past month, the taxis in bus lanes consultation and the growing pains of the Belfast on the move project.

The Twitter response

Debate on Twitter was lively as always, with generally positive comments on the survey and the potential of making a real difference to all road users. Some of the comments:

https://twitter.com/SteveLimmer/status/240468998544818176


https://twitter.com/DerSchwarzBaron/status/240825547607920641


https://twitter.com/ctokelly/status/239810163345870848

The political response

So far so good, but this report was designed with the sole purpose of making a real difference to the experience of commuter cyclists in Belfast. So the press releases were simultaneously sent to all Belfast City councillors (those with an email address), all MLAs from Belfast constituencies, the members of the Regional Development Committee at Stormont and DRD Minister Danny Kennedy.

The response, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been sluggish. Belfast councillors expressed the greatest interest in the report, with follow up questions and suggestions of a meeting – clearly with an eye on the Belfast Bike Hire announcement just days before. But just seven councillors from 45 contacted felt moved to respond.

Only six MLAs from 35 contacted have responded, with just one MLA following up with any real action – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which MLA that was. Assembly questions have already been raised on the report, and answered (sort by Regional Development). The Regional Development Committee noted our correspondence on 12th September, and on the same day even began to question DRD’s Ciarán de Búrca on illegally parked cars! There is yet hope!

The Roads Service response

The private office at DRD deferred to Roads Service Eastern Division for comment, and the full text is attached below. To summarise the main points:

  • Roads Service appreciates cyclists’ concerns
  • A new contract with NSL for parking enforcement will see changes
  • An awareness campaign on parking “Dos” and “Dont’s” will be launched to support a new protocol
  • Enforcement will move to ‘tow and clamp’ from early 2013

While these are interesting developments, the response itself is very disappointing. It reads like a stock response to a complaint from a member of the public. Despite five long paragraphs on the finer points of Belfast’s cycle infrastructure, the strange emphasis on mandatory lanes leaves the impression that Roads Service didn’t fully understand (or perhaps even read) the survey report. The vast majority of illegally parked cars recorded in the survey were on advisory cycle lanes during urban clearway operational hours, and clearly these rules are the most confusing for all categories of road users.

The report drew a clear conclusion that Roads Service failure lies in “inadequate parking enforcement coverage”. Roads Service and their NSL contractors have all the necessary legal instruments in place to enforce parking restrictions – it’s just that the resources to cover all of the city’s main roads during rush hour are not being made available. As this video comparison from the survey week shows, mere visibility of traffic wardens is enough to clear arterial routes of illegal parking. Roads Service completely ignores this criticism.

Indeed, while new measures are being brought in, to what extent will they cover the whole of the city? A tow truck risks adding to the impression of motorists being beaten with another ‘stick’, as seen with the current city centre bus lane controversy. But is it one truck or two, or more? If the new towing policy can only cover the same number of routes as are presently patrolled by wardens, the situation on cycle lanes may not materially improve.

So no acceptance that illegal parking is a major problem for cyclists, or that Roads Service bears some responsibility for ineffective enforcement. Just a very bland corporate line that Roads Service’s advisory cycle lanes mean rush hour “cyclists effectively have their own road space. This makes cycling safer, and at times of congestion, allows cyclists to make time savings” – a stunningly absurd statement given the report which prompted the response.

What the traffic wardens say

You learn more about the actual situation in Belfast by talking to traffic wardens. They report that perhaps five teams at most work the rush hours on arterial routes, with one or two “mobile” units with access to a car. Look at the map and make your own judgement on how many Belfast roads count as ‘arterial’, but somewhere between 14 to 22 urban roads carry clearway restrictions, many with advisory cycle lanes. To ensure a ‘spread’ of traffic wardens, priorities for coverage are assigned on a week-to-week basis. Lisburn Road is always priority #1 (which goes some way to explaining why 27% of all parking tickets in Northern Ireland are issued here) with the Newtownards Road usually a close second in importance.

If your commuter route is elsewhere, good luck to you – coverage is patchy or in some cases almost non-existent. This explains why some roads are blocked every day – many drivers are either unaware there are restrictions or have never encountered a traffic warden who might tell them otherwise.

Traffic wardens are also having fun with some new training being rolled out to volunteers – on how to use a moped. Yes, apparently 12 moped-riding red coats will form part of the new NSL arrangements in 2013, which leads me to wonder if this is evidence of people actually reading my blog?

From here to where?

While there has been a small yet significant response to the report, it highlights the problem of so many previous cycling awareness or campaign initiatives in Belfast. Alone it’s an interesting piece of work, which quickly fades from the view of a disinterested body politic. Only by keeping the pressure on at the relevant levels can Belfast commuter cyclists hope to effect real change to an issue that causes increased physical danger, greater general traffic congestion, and discourages cycling uptake.

With that in mind, the most effective way to keep the issue high on the agenda is to run the survey again – bigger and better. If you’re interested in becoming a participant, and helping us the achieve the goal of 100% coverage of Belfast sometime in the next few months, contact NI Greenways by email or on Twitter @nigreenways.

Thanks again to all the commuter cyclists who participated in Reclaim Belfast’s Cycle Lanes, whether cycling the routes and recording data or helping to spread the message in the media or on social networks – and huge thanks to Mark Tully and his team at QUB for the main analysis.

That Roads Service response in full

I appreciate your concerns regarding the frustration caused to cyclists by vehicles that park within bus and cycle lanes during their operational hours. Perhaps it would be useful if I first outlined the type of facilities and the restrictions that apply to them.

Bus lane restrictions derive from specific legislation and prohibit the use of lanes by private cars, vans, lorries etc, during their hours of operation. Any infringements involving prohibited vehicles parking in those lanes are enforceable by Roads Service, through its contractor, NSL. Infringements involving moving vehicles within these lanes are enforceable by the PSNI.

Cycle lanes may be either advisory (which do not have supporting legislation and are not therefore enforceable) or mandatory (which have supporting legislation and are enforceable, similar to bus lanes as above). Advisory cycle lanes may be on roads that are subject to other restrictions, such as urban clearway restrictions, in which case those restrictions also apply to the cycle lanes.

We would normally use advisory lanes on roads with urban clearway regulations, so that when traffic levels and the number of cyclists are at their highest, cyclists effectively have their own road space. This makes cycling safer, and at times of congestion, allows cyclists to make time savings over those using vehicular modes.

During times when traffic levels are at their lowest, and the urban clearway restrictions do not apply, it is legally permissible to park on/across advisory cycle lanes. During these off-peak times, the levels of traffic and cyclists are at their lowest and it is therefore considered that cyclists can successfully share the remaining roads space. This arrangement is intended to provide the best balance between the needs of cyclists and the adjoining businesses/properties.

Mandatory cycle lanes (which would be marked by solid white lines) would provide a clear route for cyclists and would also restrict vehicles, subject to certain exceptions, from pairing along the road. However, the introduction of waiting restrictions, or mandatory cycle lanes, can be a contentious issue and would generally lead to a displacement of parking, often to other locations that are less able to accommodate it, such as residential streets in the general vicinity. Therefore, Roads Service does not generally use mandatory cycle lanes on roads with a mixed business/commercial/residential frontage.

Roads Service’s new parking enforcement and car park management contract with NSL Ltd will commence on 30 October 2012. In advance of this we plan to run a parking enforcement awareness campaign.

This will include the distribution of information leaflets to drivers to remind them of the importance of parking restrictions and the benefits of effective parking enforcement. The leaflet will include a number of “Dos” and “Don’ts” for drivers, advising them of where they should and should not park and it will clearly inform drivers not to park in mandatory cycle lanes.

Roads Service will also be publishing a parking enforcement protocol to provide the public with detailed information on the various parking contraventions that can be enforced by traffic attendants. This will also include information specific to mandatory cycle lanes.

Additionally, Roads Service has decided to change its enforcement policy in relation to illegally parked vehicles on bus lanes and urban clearways. Currently any vehicles parked in a bus lane or on an urban clearway will only receive a parking penalty, meaning the lane is still blocked to traffic. Following the introduction of the new contract Roads Service will also remove vehicles that are illegally in these lanes so freeing up the lane. It is hoped this change will be introduced in early 2013.

NI Greenways response to taxis in bus lanes consultation

Posted on by nigreenways

Please consider sending your own views on this issue to DRD before the deadline of Friday 21st September 2012. Details on the DRD website:

Taxis in bus lanes consultation

More detailed analysis of the impact the preferred option may have on cycling in Belfast:

Taxis in bus lanes a backward step for cycling

Response

Northern Ireland Greenways is an awareness campaign to highlight opportunities to open more dedicated traffic-free pedestrian and cycling infrastructure across Northern Ireland. The Comber Greenway model informs the potential to reopen more of Northern Ireland’s 600 miles of disused railway lines as long distance traffic-free leisure, commuting and tourist routes. Northern Ireland Greenways also campaigns for improved urban cycling infrastructure based on international best practice, putting a fair level of investment into cycling proportionate to targeted journey share, pushing for Roads Service to ensure Belfast’s existing cycling infrastructure works as intended, and lobbying for hard targets, budget and commitment from the Northern Ireland government.

I welcome the opportunity to comment on the consultation document. I also welcome the changes to taxi licensing which has brought about this proposal. A simpler system should benefit all taxi customers in Northern Ireland.

I strongly disagree with DRD’s preference for allowing all taxis to access bus lanes. This stems from DRD’s particular understanding of what ‘access’ should mean.

There are two main criticisms of the consultation document and the reasoning behind the preference for ‘Option 3’. I implore DRD not proceed on the basis of flawed reasoning, which does little to account for the potential to impact on cycling levels and accepts that bus journeys will be slowed across the city.

1. Cyclists will be dissuaded from using bus lanes

There is scant consideration given to cyclists in this consultation. As a commuter cyclist for over 10 years, I have relied upon the relative calm of bus lanes as an incentive on my commuting route. Fast cars or stationary traffic do not affect me while in an operational bus lane. Permitted taxis are infrequent, as are motorcycles. Bus drivers are generally respectful and considerate towards cyclists. It is worth noting that most Metro bus services are scheduled to operate at and average of 10mph or less, meaning cyclists mix quite well with buses in Belfast. Bus drivers benefit from a level of training and professional development which is not required of taxi drivers.

However, the new taxi system would mean a vast increase in faster, competitive users of bus lanes. The added pressure of impatient taxis behind me, which the consultation document predicts may be a common (and multiple) occurrence on a typical cycling journey in Belfast, would make me seriously consider giving up cycling to work. I would struggle to justify taking the risk of cycling in a more dangerous road environment. If an experienced and committed commuter cyclist thinks this way, you can tell the policy is flawed.

The study figures which are presented in the consultation point to a potential doubling of traffic within within bus lanes. How is this attractive to someone who wishes to ditch the car and cycle to work?

It is very clear from Belfast urban development trends that separated cycling infrastructure is not on the agenda for DRD, at least not within the next 5 years (Answer to AQW 7074). Cycling development is driven by a ‘bare minimum’ and ‘fit it in where possible’ approach, both in terms of road space and budgetary priority. So bus lanes are marketed as cycling infrastructure, and it seems that advisory cycle lanes and bus lanes are as good as it’s going to get for cycling in Belfast. (See STEM information – headline of 3.6km of new cycle lanes is in fact 1km of cycle lane and 2.6km of bus lanes)

So then why make bus lanes a less attractive option for people who may consider modal shift from private car travel? The one thing that separates cyclists from car, van, truck, bus (excepting motorcyclists) is a perception of personal danger. It is a key barrier to utility cycling. An excerpt from Belfast City Council’s response to the recent consultation on the draft Northern Ireland Active Travel Strategy is instructive. A short council staff survey on attitudes to cycling (and walking) showed that “a lack of adequate infrastructure closely coupled to personal safety issues have been the primary barriers to the uptake of active travel in Belfast” and further pointed to the Department for Transport Local Transport Note 2/08 on Cycle Infrastructure Design which “recommends that traffic volumes and speeds should be reduced where possible to create safer conditions for cycling.”

The preference to allow all taxis in bus lanes flies in the face of these points. However this is not to suggest taxis should be completely restricted from bus lanes. This is where the consultation fails to provide real choice, and confuses two fundamentally separate issues.

2. Taxis do need ‘access’ to bus lanes, but not a full right of travel along their length

The choice of options, indeed the whole direction of the consultation document, revolves around point 7.5.

The thrust of the deciding argument is that all taxis must be allowed access to bus lanes to effectively ply their trade, picking up and dropping off fares in an otherwise restricted area. I fully agree that customers expect taxis be able to stop when hailed, but I am very disappointed by the restrictive nature of the options which DRD presents.

While Option 1 would obviously be of most benefit to cyclists, it must be recognised that it is unfair to taxi drivers.

Option 2 mirrors the present situation. Given the changes in legislation it is an unworkable solution which is open to great criticism and possible challenge. DRD do a disservice by presenting this as beneficial to disabled taxi users. If bus lanes are being identified as a facility which should benefit disabled road users, why are DRD not proposing opening bus lanes to private car owners with blue badges?

Option 3 is presented as the only workable solution. Yet all of the arguments presented in favour are on a very narrow focus – the need and right to access a lane to collect or discharge passengers at the roadside. But option 3 gives taxis much more than this – the full right to travel in bus lanes, as permitted taxis have now.

This would give a non-sustainable form of transport a speed advantage over private cars, while reducing the efficiency of bus services, and scaring cyclists off the road.

What surprises and disappoints me is that DRD do not seem to have considered a true compromise, which fairly balances the needs of all bus lane users – let’s call it option 4. Taxis need access to the roadside on operational bus lanes. They would have this anyway under option 3, potentially delaying other bus lane users during short periods of waiting. I agree taxis should be allowed the right to do this. Taxis however do not need the right to travel the full length of bus lanes, and indeed the consultation presents no arguments why this is necessary.

For the very few occasions (as referenced in the consultation) that a customer hails a cab from a roadside with an operational bus lane, the taxi can pull over to collect, and then vacate the bus lane and merge back into traffic.

Providing this legislative framework would satisfy all needs without the drastic compromises presented by DRD’s 3 options. Enforcement of bus lanes would remain quite straightforward, cyclists would not be put off by faster competitive traffic, and the right for taxis to ply trade would be fairly catered for.

If taxis were allowed full right of travel, about 50% of journeys will be without passengers, with empty taxis rushing to get to the next job (perhaps pre-booked) as quickly as possible. Although now a level playing field, many taxis will still be booked by phone, and this is a very competitive market. Taxi drivers can become impatient when ‘stuck’ behind cyclists, and this can lead to conflict and potential for collision. It is an uncomfortable and off-putting experience for a cyclist to be pressured by fast vehicles in bus lanes bordered by a kerb on one side and stationary traffic on the other.

Please give serious consideration to reviewing the options you have presented, and how ‘option 4’ could be the best compromise.

Finally I would like to ask DRD to listen seriously to the concerns of cycling respondents. Belfast and Northern Ireland suffers from a lack of leadership on cycling issues, and very little information on this consultation has been highlighted by local cycling or sustainable transport organisations to the wider public. The survey you highlight in the consultation shows that cyclists, along with other bus lanes users (save for taxi drivers) clearly do not want to see bus lanes overrun by taxis. It is difficult to prioritise the needs of cyclists when there are no hard targets for uptake, but DRD must recognise the damage which could be inflicted on Belfast as a cycling city if this preference is allowed to proceed.

Northern Ireland Greenways