The advantage of cycling in Dublin
Cycling is one of the most reliable forms of transport because congestion has a tiny affect on cycling compared to how much it impacts on motorists and even buses. If you cycle you usually go door-to-door on a bicycle, so there’s no walking to or from a bus stop or train station and no waiting around for late buses or trains, and no spending ages looking for parking.
For individuals, a good commuting bicycle can be picked up between €350 to €500, or a second hand bike can be bought for less. For commuters, the cost of a bicycle can be recouped in a matter of months, saving on fuel or public transport ticket costs. After that, the savings continue. Cycling is cheaper than public transport or driving. Parking is free and ongoing costs are a fraction of the maintenance and running costs of cars.
Bike share options
Dublin has a number of bike share schemes where users can borrow bikes for short periods of time. This is a great way to test out cycling, as well as combining cycling with other transport modes to get around the city with ease.
Cycle Buddy App
The Dublin Cycle Buddy app is designed to be the ‘go-to’ app for Dublin cyclists, providing everything from safer cycling routes, updates on new cycle infrastructure in the city, as well as promoting cycling challenges to win prizes! It also includes real time data on all of Dublin’s bike-sharing options, and locations of cycle parking across the city.
The bad side of cycling in Dublin
Nicolas Roche has previously said that he finds cycling in Dublin to be a hair-raising experience.
“The roads are very narrow and some of them are very dangerous,” he warned. “It’s very hard to overtake someone – and when you do, you’re risking your life.”
This has brought to light the issue of narrow, uneven cycle lanes around Dublin which leaves many people too nervous to choose cycling over public transport.
Another factor to take into account is the weather. For many people waking up to a cold, wet day can turn them off cycling into work.
There also seems to be a constant struggle between cyclists and drivers with widespread parking in cycle lanes as well as close passing and failure to yield as some of the problems that many cyclists see on a daily basis.
Overall, even with the issues mentioned above, cycling is still a great way of getting around Dublin with many advantages. There is also a lot of development in the area of cycle lanes which means cycling around Dublin should become much easier over the next few years.