Two wheels good as cyclists push for better facilities

FRUSTRATED cyclists are planning to invite city fathers to saddle up and bike through Cork as part of a campaign for improved cycling facilities.

The Two Wheels Forward lobby group said the invitation, due to be issued early next year, is designed to show councillors exactly what cyclists are faced with on the ground on a daily basis.

Spokesman and biking enthusiast JJ O’Donoghue said it was hoped the move would also encourage councillors to implement in full its own ambitious cycling strategy.

“The Cork City Cycling Strategy, commissioned by the council and drawn up by Arup Engineers, is now sitting on a shelf in City Hall,” he said.

“On paper it’s amazing. But it’s failed to deliver,” he said.

The six-page document proposed the creation of a massive network of cycle lanes crisscrossing the city.

It proposed bike lanes and pathways be developed to link University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork University Hospital, Douglas village, Mahon Point and Blackpool shopping centre by 2006.

A series of orbital cycle lanes and seven leisure routes - through Knocknaheeney Public Park, along the Glen River, the Old Passage Railway route, the Ballybrack River route, the Tramore River route, the Curraheen River route, and the Lee River route - were also proposed.

“This is clearly pie in the sky and won’t happen now,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

“The Cork City Cycling Strategy was part of the National Development Plan 2000-2006 but nothing has happened.”

He said some progress has been made with the provision of green bus routes.

“But these are only operational at peak traffic times. After that, it’s a free-for-all. It’s hard for cyclists to own a piece of road,” he said.

A number of advanced stop lines have also been developed at signalised junctions.

But Mr O’Donoghue said the council is just not serious about the strategy.

He said bike theft - 300 reported in Ireland this year - was also a huge problem.

“There is a perception that cycling is dangerous. But it’s not, it’s safe, fast and healthy.

“We hope our invitation will be taken up by councillors and that this notion of cycling being dangerous will be dispelled.”

Meanwhile, students on an entrepreneurs course in University College Cork have carried out studies with a view to introducing a European-style hi-tech bike loan initiative.

City Bikes is developing a system which would allow people to register by mobile phone to unlock bikes parked in the city centre, cycle them to wherever they want, and lock them again at a drop-off point for use by someone else.