Inadequate Ambitions for a Cycling Future, low on meaningful and measurable deliverables
4.4 CMATS Modal Share (Table 4.1) At a minimum 20% of trips in Cork City should be taken by bike by 2028. SO3, SO4, SO8 and SO9 (page 16) will not be delivered by moving to "electric" cars but by creating a built environment which prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists over private cars. Pedestrians and cyclists should not share space outside of plazas where pedestrians have priority. Similarly bikes and car should not share physcial infrastructue except where bikes have priority.
4.18 (Table 4.3) The Lee to Sea Greenway should be delivered within the life time of this plan. It is an essential way to imprive safety for comuters, residents and drive green tourism. The Healthcare Cycleway is a glaring omission from the plan and should similarly be completed by the end of 2022. The public support https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40115642.html for the Healthcare Cycleway seems to mean little at City Hall. While there have been some piecemeal improvements and the Schoolboy Lane work has been almost completed (to a very high standard) the roads and roundabouts around Wilton and CUH are objectively dangerous for cyclists. A counterflow cycleway on Glasheen Road to enable cyclists to access CUH is urgently needed as is the removal of kissing gates in CUH. There should be a protected cyclelane climbing the hill from Victoria Cross to Dennehy's Cross and onto Wilton. College Road needs protected bike lanes, cars and vans should be restricted to residents and deliveries. Speed bumps should be extended to Dennehy's Cross and traffic cameras installed to deter speeding. Orchard Road needs speed bumps and a climbing cyclelane.
4.40 - Cork City Bike Sharing Scheme; The City Council should penalize the company running the scheme for empty and broken stations and bikes. This should be publicized and measured so that improvements are incentivized.
4.41 - Safety Awareness Campaigns will not change driver behavior. The City Council should immediately install red light and bus lane cameras and work with An Garda Síochána to deter and punish drivers who run red lights and use bus lanes. Undercover Garda cyclists to detect and fine close passers would change behaviour in a week. Parking enforcement should focus on parking in disabled spots, cycle lanes and bus lanes includng couriers and delivery drivers.
4.42 - Safe Routes to School. While welcome a few hundred meters of cycle lane outside a school is meaningless unless children can safely enter it. What is needed is both cycle networks https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/cycling/guidance-cycling-projects-eu/planning-cycling-cities/cycle-network_en and enforcement of no parking, no drop off, and no idling zones. All of the on street parking outside Presentation College should be removed as motorists frequently cut across cylists and open doors into their path.
Complete the Lee to Sea Greenway and Healthcare Cycleway as a matter of urgency before building any new roads for cars
To enable everybody to cycle safely, get fitter and reduce pollution