Cyclists overtake trains, Luas and the Dart

IT’S not the fastest form of transport – but it is the fastest growing.

And such is the popularity of the trusty two-wheelers, they have overtaken the combined numbers who use trains, the Dart and Luas. Cycling has increased from 1.2% of all trips in 2012, to 1.7% in 2016. Meanwhile, the Dart and Luas have remained at 1.3% of all journeys.

This represents a 40% increase in the number of cycle journeys.

As one Dublin cyclist said yesterday: ‘Coming down the Blackrock Road at eight in the morning, it’s like the Tour de France: there are a lot of bikes.’

The growing numbers were revealed in the Transport Trends 2017 report which looks at how we get around as a nation.

The report also shows the total number of bikes provided through four public bike schemes in 2015 was 2,240.

The schemes are in place in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick. The number of journeys on the bike service in Dublin increased by 7% in 2016 to 4.4million.

Cars are still the number-one mode of transport, but it’s the ‘explosion’ in the number of people who are returning to the bicycle that has caught the eye.

Cycling enthusiast Al Maxwell, of the Bike Rack in Deansgrange, south Dublin, said: ‘Cycling in the last five to eight years has really exploded.

‘Certainly as a leisure activity, that’s where we see it – the weekend rider and that sort of thing. There’s been massive growth and the numbers of people at cycling events has doubled and tripled over the last couple of years. The Dublin Bike Scheme makes it so normal and accessible and the facilities are improving all the time, although the bike routes could do with a lot more investment, – but it’s getting there. You have to walk before you can run.’

The Dublin Bike Scheme has also helped people realise the benefits of two-wheeled transport as they do not need to ride all the way into central Dublin from the suburbs, but can use a bike to get around the city quickly and easily.

Cycling Ireland’s membership was 4,000 during the Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche ‘cycling-boom’ era in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Ireland was top of the sport internationally – but now membership has ballooned to 22,000.

Meanwhile, use of the Leap card – a prepaid pass that can be used on buses, the Dart and the Luas – has grown massively in Dublin from 12.6million uses five years ago, to more than 82million last year. It also speeds up journeys, as trips are automatically debited from the card so passengers are not holding up the driver buying tickets and finding the right change.

Bus and rail travel also grew, with 10million extra passenger journeys in 2015.

However, cars are still king when it comes to getting around. Almost three out of every four journeys were made by private car in 2016, according to the report.

It was also found that bus trips made up 4.2% of all journeys last year, while walking represented 14.6%, with cycling at 1.7%.

The longest average journeys in the country were in the midlands, at almost 21km each. The shortest journeys were in Dublin, at nearly 10km.