Report on our public meeting about the impact of Luas Cross City on cycling.

Dublin Cycling Campaign held its monthly public meeting in the Central Hotel, Exchequer Street on Monday 11th December. The topic of the meeting was the impact of the new Luas Green Line extension on cycling in Dublin city centre. There was a decent attendance at the meeting, despite the arctic temperatures, and the Q&A session at the end drew some interesting and enthusiastic contributions from the floor.

Dublin Cycling Campaign invited a representative from the National Transport Authority (NTA) or Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to speak at the meeting but the invitation was not accepted.

There were two presentations during the meeting: The first presentation was by Dublin Cycling Campaign chairperson Paul Corcoran, who outlined the background to the Luas Cross City project and what engagement Dublin Cycling Campaign has had with the relevant authorities to date. The presentation included:

• A review of the old, extensive Dublin tram network which was removed in the years after World War II (or ‘The Emergency’).

• The submissions that Dublin Cycling Campaign made during the consultation process ahead of the construction of Luas Cross City.

• Dublin Cycling Campaign’s engagement with TII in January 2017 to try to create preferred cycling routes across the tram tracks - There has been no follow-up to this testing process.

• An outline of the many injury reports which we have received from people who have fallen while cycling on the tram tracks.

You can see the slides from Paul’s presentation here.

Kieran Ryan then gave a presentation on how Dublin Cycling Campaign could proceed in relation to the Luas tracks issue. The presentation can be summarised as follows:

• There are three primary approaches: Awareness, Consultation, and Direct Action.

• The Awareness approach would involve identifying the most dangerous streets, junctions & locations, and coming up with solutions for each. We would then highlight the problems and solutions to the relevant parties; primarily cyclists and vehicle drivers. This can be done through an online, social media, and face-to-face awareness campaign.

• The Consultation approach would involve meeting with the relevant authorities, expressing our concerns, and demanding solutions are put in place as soon as possible. The proposed solutions would include: Removing “Cyclists Dismount” signs, investigating engineering solutions, asserting the position of cyclists using signage & paint markings, warning signs for drivers to give space to cyclists, and fast-tracking alternative cycle routes on parallel streets.

• The Direct Action approach would involve using any method available to us to draw attention to the issues and enable changes. This includes, but is not limited to: Protest cycles and rallies, ‘Bike-to-Rule’ protests such as dismounting en masse at the Cyclists Dismount signs, and “hacking” the streets using guerilla engineering to improve conditions for people on bikes.

The slides from Kieran’s presentation can be found here.

There was a lively and engaging discussion after the two presentations with many great contributions from the floor. More than two-thirds of attendees also expressed an interest in getting actively involved in the proposed campaigns outlined in the presentation. (If you would like to get involved in our Luas & Cycling campaign please email us at info@dublincycling.ie or contact us via Facebook or Twitter.) Some of the ideas that were suggested from attendees included:

• Clothing/Vests for cyclists with text on the back saying “If you can read this you’re too close!”

• On-street awareness campaigns targeting both drivers and cyclists.

• Publicise a minimum stopping distance for drivers to stay behind cyclists - potentially 4 bike lengths.

• Collate data on cycling collisions around Luas tracks - possibly using Dublin Inquirer’s Bicycle Collision Tracker.

Our public meetings are held on the second Monday of every month at the Central Hotel on Exchequer Street in Dublin city centre. Anyone is welcome to attend.