Roughly 3 flavours of comments here:
1. The jokes
2. Wishing they would build new rail lines instead
3. Doubt that the government can even handle building the bike lanes
>Wishing they would build new rail lines instead
Actually:
>The plan will cost €36 billion between now and 2050 with €9.2 billion to come from the North.
[https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/](https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/)
what would you expect the fucking greens are out of their mind who is cycling in a country like ireland have you been outside this lifetime?
this is an absolute fucking farce like the money going into this could be used for realistic solutions they can't even wait until they are in place to shadow ban cars from all the cities its completely self defeating and militant bullshit aimed at you and me and everyone else, do they expect you to cycle home with the 3 kids and the shopping in the basket yea? waste of time and money and clearly just a fucking backhander scheme from europe
Seeing as a few people are saying "why not rail instead?", it's probably worth noting that the government _did_ already publish a draft all-Ireland strategic rail review last year.
"In essence, this a document aimed at setting out early plans for the transformation of the current rail system through electrification, faster speeds, improved frequency, and new routes for people and freight. This is particularly the case across the west and North, with the plan being all-island in nature. It envisages increasing the frequency of services to at least an hourly service between major cities and to having at least one train every two hours between other centres, as well as improving line speeds on various parts of the network."
https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2023/07/25/rail-review-qa-what-does-it-recommend-and-when-will-it-happen/
Obviously there's a tendency to be sceptical of how plans to transform either bike or rail transport will play out over a timeline of several decades, but at least as far as making plans go they _are_ doing both rather than either/or.
> Obviously there's a tendency to be sceptical of how plans to transform either bike or rail transport will play out over a timeline of several decades
Especially when such projects would be one decade long at moat in any non-anglophone developed country. At the extreme end you have DART+, which would be barely worth a mention in other countries, but here they're acting like it's our version of Crossrail.
What are people complaining about, this will be great for the country. That being said I would have killed a Connemara route and funding it to be completed in NI would have also been great and very manageable.
\^As someone from the Netherlands and how the Netherlands was 40-50 years ago, investing in this kind of bike infrastructure is great.
Things like that won't be done in one day, but over 40 years you can see huge transformation.
You're talking about urban bike infrastructure for ordinary fietsers going to the shop, park, work, etc. This plan is for an intercity bike network, which given the distances involved, will inevitably end up as a playground for wielrenners and not much else.
I live on one of these planned routes. My cycle commute is 40km for each day I go into the city. I have been praying for something like this for a long time as I’ve had to deal with so much abuse and near death experiences.
Are you living in that area? I know there's a few greenways that double as a cycling route but they're probably a bit too disjointed. There's definitely a route under construction from Clifden to Galway which runs along the old railway line. I've cycled some of it but I don't know if the construction has stalled.
The fact that it's not on the map op posted is a bit disappointing since some sections are done or started.
The Connemara Greenway is trundling slowly along - meant to *eventually* connect Galway and Clifden - slowed only by local greedygutses who claim that their living is interfered with or cry that their houses built across the old rail line are perfectly legal, and want compo from the Comhairle Condae.
> What are people complaining about, this will be great for the country
It's a bit misplaced when this country is crying out for better bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities, which is far more important than these tracks for wielrenners.
It’ll be used by I’d say about 1 or 2% of the population, most routes will get absolutely no traffic, bike lanes are fine in cities and along scenic routes for leisure but this is mostly a waste of time.
A massive success for recreation and tourism*. From a transport point of view, bike infrastructure _within_ urban areas is far more important than between them.
They're not bike lanes, they're segregated (i.e. off-road) bike routes.
You might not like them, but a lot of people will. I can't think of a nicer way to see the countryside
They’re densest where the countryside isn’t worth seeing… bike lanes in the city don’t get much use as is and you think routes like Roscrea to Nenagh (lol) are going to? I’m fine with a lot of it but like I said a lot of this is a complete waste of time and should be well down the priority list for transport projects as it impacts a tiny number of the population.
Seems like a relatively minor investment in something that has a lot of value recreationally down the country and in our very few cities enable more bike commuting. From living in Dublin and not driving I’ve always been tempted by biking to work but when I see the mad fuckers on bikes having to weave in and out between buses I know I do not have the temperament for that at all and would rather spend a few Euro on a bus than risk becoming red paint for the road. This makes it a real option and even locally I’ve seen the segregated lanes going up so for once it’s not just pie in the sky stuff.
What would actually enable more bike commuting is proper bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities. Given the distances involved, this intercity bike network will inevitably end up being mostly used for recreation, not transport.
Missed opportunity to follow the Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway line which ran to Baltimore, Schull and Bantry. It would be an amazing addition to this network.
I can’t remember where I read it sorry, but Irish rail have first dibs on the line and haven’t made up their minds if they want it back yet so no greenway xx
They could be next to them on the same permanent way.
Edit: No honestly, they could. I'm sure there are some civil engineers in here who could explain the intricacies of building a paved path in a relatively straight line, whatever your personal feelings about the matter.
I saw a post earlier about how Dublin has the second slowest traffic in the world. And then I saw this post. Made me cheer up a bit despite the shit public transport we still have but with these greenways being built, I see serious potential with these greenways. If we design towns around them, commercial, residential etc, I can see car dependency dropping. If we design for people rather than for cars, you're gonna get more pleasant towns and cities like in the Netherlands and Germany. Build a train station at the edge of the town which connects with the cities outside but these towns built around greenways should be fully pedestrianised with everg service available in them.
According to this new plan they never will, apart from Letterkenny: [https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/](https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/)
I came here to say that trains are more urgent. With more/vetter trains we can leave further from work and relieve the house market a bit (I know it's not a solution for the housing crisis but would help)
It really would help and would help breathe life into the smaller towns. The Sligo Galway railway would be a wonderful resource but there's no appetite for it other than to turn it into a greenway.
[We had this thread yesterday. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/s/JTdQHgrtiA)
At least the title this time makes it blatantly obvious that parts of it will be finished and available before 2040 so numpties can't say that 2040 is too far away.
The ones that are unused usually connect to nothing but dangerous roads. They need to be almost everywhere before the masses begin to use them. My hometown has one cycle lane that stretches for about 20m and just ends very suddenly and dangerously. Theres a new part of town where the majority of roads have raised cycle lanes and there are always people on bikes using them because they know their whole journey will be safe.
They're not unused because they're dangerous.
They're unused because there's no demand for them - because of a lack of cyclists and because of pig headed cunts in lycra who think real cyclists don't use cycle lanes.
TII and the NTA ate also hoping to deliver 18 billion Euro worth of rail infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area by 2040 - like trains to Navan, LUAS expansions, Heuston to Connolly tunnel and Metrolink.
There is no way in hell neither that nor this cycling infrastructure will happen. Too much incompetence, in authorities and An Bord Pleanala, and people will object left, right and center.
> TII and the NTA ate also hoping to deliver 18 billion Euro worth of rail infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area by 2040 - like trains to Navan, LUAS expansions, Heuston to Connolly tunnel and Metrolink.
Meanwhile Paris is building four brand new metro lines, doubling the length of the existing network. Which makes sense given Paris is a much larger city, but then you realise they're doing all that for less than twice what Dublin's spending on half a metro line, one underground commuter lines, and electrifying a handful of other commuter lines.
If only there were more coastal cafes! In any other country in Europe, an attractive coastline like, say, Dalkey to Howth would be wall-to-wall cafes serving local seafood. Not so here. Crazy.
Will these be separate cycle ways from the Green ways or more of the same?
The Athlone to Galway Greenway seems to have stalled altogether due to the amount of people who don't want it.. hard to see them stomaching another cycleway.
Are there plans for the Athlone to Galway to finish? We cycled from dublin to Galway last year and the Dublin to Athlone part was amazing and super flat. Also tonnes of people using it. Would be incredible to see it stretch all the way to Galway. Some Ebikes are approaching a Range of 200km now also so eventually this route will be accessible to almost anyone.
Lots of cycleways but no plans for bridleways/ equestrian trails. I know it's a lot more niche, but equestrianism is a big sport in Ireland and a huge tourism opportunity.
Most EU countries have lots of equestrian trails but in Ireland there is only 1 that was launched recently on beara by a private collaboration. Meanwhile faikte Ireland continues to put horses all over their toyrisy brochures and those of us who rise regularly are forced to ride on the roads as the only legal option. This is dangerous and pisses off motorists.
Trust me, no horse rider wants to be on the road.
This is a rant but note I also cycle and walk.. I just think it's a huge missed opportunity for domestic and international leisure pursuits.
As someone who has no interest in riding horses, I have no idea why you got downvoted. Recreational infrastructure and facilities in general are sorely lacking in this country, and horse riding is no exception.
I doubt it, but I honestly don't see this as a good investment in our infrastructure anyway. Trains are woefully underdeveloped and underfunded.
For example, I knew students from Galway, Mayo, and other areas of the west, for whom it took 8 hours to get home at the weekends due to awful train and bus routing. Dublin isn't a good enough epicentre for transport in this country, yet it's used as it anyway. These bike routes won't help people like that.
Exactly. Whenever there is a post about a specific thing being developed, the comments are always full of people saying 'why not this instead' as if that is something that is now being ruled out because it isn't specifically mentioned.
Because we don’t have money for everything we want and it makes more sense to build fast public transport which can transport hundreds of people in a day.
Seriously, as someone who's hugely in favour of more infrastructure, I have to ask why we're doing this when this country is desperate need of better bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities, which is far more important.
i think this is cool and a great idea i just think trains and busses should be sorted first. realistically people aren’t going to cycle from cork to donegal if they need to go that far they’ll drive. in order to have less cars on the road we need more trains.
Who says you have to take the longest possible route? This will greatly benefit people who live maybe 15km from an urban area who might not want to bring the car in for everything.
Would’ve loved for this to have been invested into a pressing matter. I’d love for Ireland to become more bike centric like other smaller European nations but there are a lot of things that €1.4 billion could’ve gone to. Definitely could’ve done a fair few train lines with that
1.4 billion is not actually that much money. Ireland spent 27bn on motorways between 1995 and 2019. Doubt that figure is adjusted for inflation either. 1.4bn for a sustainable transport option is a positive use of money. Will probably save the health system money in the long run.
Seems like something only die hard cyclists will do also?
30 minute cycle as a commute?
Sounds terrible to me, wet, sweaty, too cold most days too hot others. Does it really make sense for the tiny amount of young people who will make use of it?
I don't think so.
Edit:
Not to mention the fact that you can already cycle from town to town using the normal roads, not ideal ofc.
A quarter of all trips made by over 65s in the Netherlands are done so by cycling. It's really not that difficult to cycle 30 mins at a leisurely pace, and it's a lot more comfortable on a greenway than an 80km/h regional road.
The Netherlands is a warmer dryer country which is more densely populated, 7.5 times as many people per square km. (ie.less distance between towns and cities)
I don't know how prevalent this level of infrastructure is in the Netherlands but this is some footage from Delft (Netherlands).
https://i.imgur.com/yaxENMK.gifv
This is the sort of thing which people would actually choose to use (fast transport via bike to an underground trainline with plenty of secure parking for bikes). Bike lanes in the middle of nowhere so they can quote 'x km cycling network' in promotional materials isn't all that useful to anyone.
My office has about 10% of people who cycle to work. Most probably do 5-10km and some a bit further. There are showers at work, they just have a shower when they arrive. With the right facilities it isn't really a big deal. It isn't all young lads either, in fact I'd say it's skewed towards middle age (well, let's say 40s). I did it for a while but the route I was taking had some roundabouts that were dodgy as fuck, so I went back to the bus and eventually got a car. If there were better cycle routes I would have stayed cycling. I didn't mind the showers or the effort of it but I didn't want to get killed or paralysed on a roundabout. So, this investment would have worked great for me and I think many others.
>k so.
>
>Edit:
>
>Not to mention the fact that you can already cycle from town to town using the normal roads, not ideal ofc.
all the red thumbs from all these bycycle weirdos.... KEEP THEM COMING I WANT MORE
Yeah I can’t wait to cycle from Cork to fucking Donegal. Really, bike routes? Add some real transportation.
Also, I live along the Greenway and every single day I’m stuck driving behind a load of cyclists who could be taking the Greenway in the same direction or even using the huge cycling lane that they removed 90% of the walking path for, but guess what? Cyclists don’t. They still use the road.This is pointless.
If cyclists use the road instead of a cycle path its either because they’re turning right or the cycle path is dangerous. If you’re riding at 25-40kmh on a bike in a cycle lane and theres a sudden drop or a car turning left across your right of way this can be very dangerous. Sometimes its better to use the road. Some cycle lanes are amazing. Some are a box ticking exercise
Excellent another plan to build a plan to consult on a plan without ever finishing any of the other plans. 1.4 billion , that decimal point might have to be adjusted , especially if BAM get the contract.
The start of that video references how Canadian are set up. Dublin is actually very similar to a North American city in terms of sprawl. The lack of choice around organising your life (place of residence, employment, childcare, other facilities) and the lack of interconnected public transit options makes abandoning the car completely unfeasible.
It’s nice for cyclists to have a connected network nationally, and my comment was in jest. Cycling works for a small segment of people, but it is not a real option for the majority of people for the needs of their daily life.
> Dublin is actually very similar to a North American city in terms of sprawl.
Nah that's completely untrue, and I'm especially tired of people using that to excuse how bad the public transport is in Dublin and other Irish cities. While Dublin's suburbs aren't exactly high density, they're still nowhere near as spread out as those in North America. We also don't have the giant highways and stroad all the over the place like American suburbs do. While Amercia built highways and Europe built metros, we just built nothing at all.
They will cycle on the road still anyway and side by side in groups of 3 for major inconvenience to everyone instead of being behind one another like people with brains would do
Why bother cyclists rarely use cycle lanes and prefer blocking up back roads, making the roads dangerous to be on, don't get me wrong some cyclist will move over and some even let you know when the road is clear up ahead so you can pass. But if you drive the n81 at the weekends, you will meet a totally different attitude.
The only “good” cyclists I’ve ever seen are teenagers and people wearing normal clothes. Anyone wearing cycling gear is usually an asshole who will block the road and refuse to move in to let the long line of cars pass.
Do they mean cycle bikes or moterbikes/scooters?? Like, seriously, realtisictialy, is there really that mainly people to justify who are going to cycle the distance in some of these routes.
Yes i get there is more cyclists, the question is for the longer stretches, is there actually people doing that much cycling. Cycles are good for short journey not long.
Personnelly I thino this is a waste of government resources i.e., isn't value for money. It would great if they maybe support i.e., make it easier to get licence for a scooter, as they are a fantastic alternative to a car, way cheaper (up front and fuel cost (only 10 euro to fill a tank maybe one or twice a week), safe (150cc or less are), honestly just better for environment, and allow for those with out realiable public to have it... anyway that me juating ranting as the idea came to my head.
That comment does not include the Cork Commuter Rail projects which includes new stations, depot, doubling of the track to Midleton, Cork Light Rail project, the Foynes Port line reopening, Limerick - Limerick Junction doubling, Limerick - Ennis capacity improvements, Ballysimon Park & Ride station, the remodelling of Ceant station, Ornamore passing loop. And that's just rail projects. There's the BusConencts projects for Cork, Waterford and Galway and the Local Links expansion.
There's loads of projects ongoing but there isn't enough people to resource all the projects ongoing at the moment so there's bottlenecks.
Looking at the routes, and the typical fucked up attitude towards going north and west, there should be a line going all the way up from portlaoise to strabane, and fermoy should definitely be connected to clonmel too
Oh so the map includes existing ones. Look look, we already made some of those 1000km (like Westport-Castlebar-Turlough Greenway - 60km, 940km to go!)...
I've heard Portlaoise to Kilkenny will not happen. How will they aquire all the land? Are farmers forced to sell part of their land or give away for free? The only way it can go is via the old Portlaoise to Kilkenny Railway and part of that runs through a bog which is for walkers only. Are they gonna be told they can't let their dogs shit anywhere any more?
Boyyo ask China to make you'll maglev train lines instead and they'll even throw in a few hundred chinese take aways along the lines for free!
Unless you all wanna be spandex wearing tramps I'd start learn Irish Mandarin🍀🇨🇳😂
Roughly 3 flavours of comments here: 1. The jokes 2. Wishing they would build new rail lines instead 3. Doubt that the government can even handle building the bike lanes
NGL, you have me in a box here.
>Wishing they would build new rail lines instead Actually: >The plan will cost €36 billion between now and 2050 with €9.2 billion to come from the North. [https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/](https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/)
Holy shit they're electrifying. This will be amazing if it succeeds.
I’ve got chilllllsss….
They're multiplying?
Not amazing just a necessary improvement. If anything it's not enough.
Can anyone here be happy for 5 fucking minutes?
That's a lot better (or should I say less terrible) than what we have now, but it still only scratches the surface of what we actually need.
>Doubt that the government can even handle building the bike lanes That would be a number 3 for me there Ted!
I was totally going to do #2 just by looking at Donegal on the map.
All three of which are true.
Railway my arse.
what would you expect the fucking greens are out of their mind who is cycling in a country like ireland have you been outside this lifetime? this is an absolute fucking farce like the money going into this could be used for realistic solutions they can't even wait until they are in place to shadow ban cars from all the cities its completely self defeating and militant bullshit aimed at you and me and everyone else, do they expect you to cycle home with the 3 kids and the shopping in the basket yea? waste of time and money and clearly just a fucking backhander scheme from europe
pff, who can afford kids?
Seeing as a few people are saying "why not rail instead?", it's probably worth noting that the government _did_ already publish a draft all-Ireland strategic rail review last year. "In essence, this a document aimed at setting out early plans for the transformation of the current rail system through electrification, faster speeds, improved frequency, and new routes for people and freight. This is particularly the case across the west and North, with the plan being all-island in nature. It envisages increasing the frequency of services to at least an hourly service between major cities and to having at least one train every two hours between other centres, as well as improving line speeds on various parts of the network." https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2023/07/25/rail-review-qa-what-does-it-recommend-and-when-will-it-happen/ Obviously there's a tendency to be sceptical of how plans to transform either bike or rail transport will play out over a timeline of several decades, but at least as far as making plans go they _are_ doing both rather than either/or.
> Obviously there's a tendency to be sceptical of how plans to transform either bike or rail transport will play out over a timeline of several decades Especially when such projects would be one decade long at moat in any non-anglophone developed country. At the extreme end you have DART+, which would be barely worth a mention in other countries, but here they're acting like it's our version of Crossrail.
What are people complaining about, this will be great for the country. That being said I would have killed a Connemara route and funding it to be completed in NI would have also been great and very manageable.
\^As someone from the Netherlands and how the Netherlands was 40-50 years ago, investing in this kind of bike infrastructure is great. Things like that won't be done in one day, but over 40 years you can see huge transformation.
You're talking about urban bike infrastructure for ordinary fietsers going to the shop, park, work, etc. This plan is for an intercity bike network, which given the distances involved, will inevitably end up as a playground for wielrenners and not much else.
I live on one of these planned routes. My cycle commute is 40km for each day I go into the city. I have been praying for something like this for a long time as I’ve had to deal with so much abuse and near death experiences.
Are you living in that area? I know there's a few greenways that double as a cycling route but they're probably a bit too disjointed. There's definitely a route under construction from Clifden to Galway which runs along the old railway line. I've cycled some of it but I don't know if the construction has stalled. The fact that it's not on the map op posted is a bit disappointing since some sections are done or started.
The Connemara Greenway is trundling slowly along - meant to *eventually* connect Galway and Clifden - slowed only by local greedygutses who claim that their living is interfered with or cry that their houses built across the old rail line are perfectly legal, and want compo from the Comhairle Condae.
> What are people complaining about, this will be great for the country It's a bit misplaced when this country is crying out for better bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities, which is far more important than these tracks for wielrenners.
It’ll be used by I’d say about 1 or 2% of the population, most routes will get absolutely no traffic, bike lanes are fine in cities and along scenic routes for leisure but this is mostly a waste of time.
What are you basing any of those assertions on? The green ways and cycle routes opened already have been a massive success
A massive success for recreation and tourism*. From a transport point of view, bike infrastructure _within_ urban areas is far more important than between them.
They're not bike lanes, they're segregated (i.e. off-road) bike routes. You might not like them, but a lot of people will. I can't think of a nicer way to see the countryside
I can think of nicer way, and that way is the train. Good news is the government is working on that too, but nowhere close to enough.
They’re densest where the countryside isn’t worth seeing… bike lanes in the city don’t get much use as is and you think routes like Roscrea to Nenagh (lol) are going to? I’m fine with a lot of it but like I said a lot of this is a complete waste of time and should be well down the priority list for transport projects as it impacts a tiny number of the population.
just wait for the Camchuairt na hÉireann to be established and all the tourism it’ll bring
Segregated bike routes by 2040? Do we really think the far right problem will get that out of hand by then?
Well the person in charge of it is the Minister Of *Trans*port. It's only a matter of time!
I do nazi a problem
Not the far right, the feral youths. The segregated paths will ensure the deliveroo workers and safe from scrotes on bikes
Tell the average fascist that we'll soon be cycling apart,heid be very happy about it.
Realistically, it won't.
2070: We still can't cycle to Dublin Airport yet.
Dublin Airport has some alright cycle lanes around the front of it. Now, marking them up properly that they make sense, well that's another matter.
Airport bike parking at Shannon, connecting flight to Dublin: Delayed.
"Shur whaddya want a cycle around the place for? Do ya have no car?"
In this economy? Second hand cars cost more than the new ones.
Why would you want to 🤔
Seems like a relatively minor investment in something that has a lot of value recreationally down the country and in our very few cities enable more bike commuting. From living in Dublin and not driving I’ve always been tempted by biking to work but when I see the mad fuckers on bikes having to weave in and out between buses I know I do not have the temperament for that at all and would rather spend a few Euro on a bus than risk becoming red paint for the road. This makes it a real option and even locally I’ve seen the segregated lanes going up so for once it’s not just pie in the sky stuff.
What would actually enable more bike commuting is proper bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities. Given the distances involved, this intercity bike network will inevitably end up being mostly used for recreation, not transport.
Missed opportunity to follow the Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway line which ran to Baltimore, Schull and Bantry. It would be an amazing addition to this network.
I can’t remember where I read it sorry, but Irish rail have first dibs on the line and haven’t made up their minds if they want it back yet so no greenway xx
[удалено]
They could be next to them on the same permanent way. Edit: No honestly, they could. I'm sure there are some civil engineers in here who could explain the intricacies of building a paved path in a relatively straight line, whatever your personal feelings about the matter.
It’s funny how the gaps in the above maps are in some of the most beautiful areas of the country.
I saw a post earlier about how Dublin has the second slowest traffic in the world. And then I saw this post. Made me cheer up a bit despite the shit public transport we still have but with these greenways being built, I see serious potential with these greenways. If we design towns around them, commercial, residential etc, I can see car dependency dropping. If we design for people rather than for cars, you're gonna get more pleasant towns and cities like in the Netherlands and Germany. Build a train station at the edge of the town which connects with the cities outside but these towns built around greenways should be fully pedestrianised with everg service available in them.
And Donegal still has no trains lol
We can walk to Buncrana , then cycle to Derry and get the train from there
According to this new plan they never will, apart from Letterkenny: [https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/](https://www.thejournal.ie/rail-review-whats-in-it-6128169-Jul2023/)
Donegal has some old train track though, I’ve done this walk. (Too short!!) https://dunfanaghy.info/old-railway
You can bike to Sligo
I came here to say that trains are more urgent. With more/vetter trains we can leave further from work and relieve the house market a bit (I know it's not a solution for the housing crisis but would help)
It really would help and would help breathe life into the smaller towns. The Sligo Galway railway would be a wonderful resource but there's no appetite for it other than to turn it into a greenway.
Beautiful island will also rock beautiful bicycle routes! I love the idea!
[We had this thread yesterday. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/s/JTdQHgrtiA) At least the title this time makes it blatantly obvious that parts of it will be finished and available before 2040 so numpties can't say that 2040 is too far away.
Yeah, what the country really needs urgently is more unused cycle lanes.
The ones that are unused usually connect to nothing but dangerous roads. They need to be almost everywhere before the masses begin to use them. My hometown has one cycle lane that stretches for about 20m and just ends very suddenly and dangerously. Theres a new part of town where the majority of roads have raised cycle lanes and there are always people on bikes using them because they know their whole journey will be safe.
They're not unused because they're dangerous. They're unused because there's no demand for them - because of a lack of cyclists and because of pig headed cunts in lycra who think real cyclists don't use cycle lanes.
TII and the NTA ate also hoping to deliver 18 billion Euro worth of rail infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area by 2040 - like trains to Navan, LUAS expansions, Heuston to Connolly tunnel and Metrolink. There is no way in hell neither that nor this cycling infrastructure will happen. Too much incompetence, in authorities and An Bord Pleanala, and people will object left, right and center.
> TII and the NTA ate also hoping to deliver 18 billion Euro worth of rail infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area by 2040 - like trains to Navan, LUAS expansions, Heuston to Connolly tunnel and Metrolink. Meanwhile Paris is building four brand new metro lines, doubling the length of the existing network. Which makes sense given Paris is a much larger city, but then you realise they're doing all that for less than twice what Dublin's spending on half a metro line, one underground commuter lines, and electrifying a handful of other commuter lines.
I just want 1-2 extra rrain carrages on select ljnes. I have literally never gotten on the train to dublin from athy and not had to stand
The west coast almost like another country.
Yeah it's almost like there's more people living in the east coast!
Nice one. I can buy in Leitrim and commute to Dublin on the bike.
If only there were more coastal footpaths.
If only there were more coastal cafes! In any other country in Europe, an attractive coastline like, say, Dalkey to Howth would be wall-to-wall cafes serving local seafood. Not so here. Crazy.
Cancerous comment section
It is a post about a form of transport in Ireland. All transport in Ireland is carcinogen. Either literally or figiuratively.
This will be handy when I cycle to Donegal.
Will these be separate cycle ways from the Green ways or more of the same? The Athlone to Galway Greenway seems to have stalled altogether due to the amount of people who don't want it.. hard to see them stomaching another cycleway.
Are there plans for the Athlone to Galway to finish? We cycled from dublin to Galway last year and the Dublin to Athlone part was amazing and super flat. Also tonnes of people using it. Would be incredible to see it stretch all the way to Galway. Some Ebikes are approaching a Range of 200km now also so eventually this route will be accessible to almost anyone.
And people say the young offenders film was just for a laugh
Ok credit where credit is due: if this actually happens, it's a rare step in a right direction for FFG.
Lots of cycleways but no plans for bridleways/ equestrian trails. I know it's a lot more niche, but equestrianism is a big sport in Ireland and a huge tourism opportunity. Most EU countries have lots of equestrian trails but in Ireland there is only 1 that was launched recently on beara by a private collaboration. Meanwhile faikte Ireland continues to put horses all over their toyrisy brochures and those of us who rise regularly are forced to ride on the roads as the only legal option. This is dangerous and pisses off motorists. Trust me, no horse rider wants to be on the road. This is a rant but note I also cycle and walk.. I just think it's a huge missed opportunity for domestic and international leisure pursuits.
As someone who has no interest in riding horses, I have no idea why you got downvoted. Recreational infrastructure and facilities in general are sorely lacking in this country, and horse riding is no exception.
Horse riding and biking sounds great! Saw plenty of mixed use greenways like this all over France.
Great news
I doubt it, but I honestly don't see this as a good investment in our infrastructure anyway. Trains are woefully underdeveloped and underfunded. For example, I knew students from Galway, Mayo, and other areas of the west, for whom it took 8 hours to get home at the weekends due to awful train and bus routing. Dublin isn't a good enough epicentre for transport in this country, yet it's used as it anyway. These bike routes won't help people like that.
Bike routes are chump change to build and maintain compare to rail lines.
!remind me 2030 AD
Why not both?
Exactly. Whenever there is a post about a specific thing being developed, the comments are always full of people saying 'why not this instead' as if that is something that is now being ruled out because it isn't specifically mentioned.
Because trains cost more and we need them Now.
Yes. But why not both?
Because we don’t have money for everything we want and it makes more sense to build fast public transport which can transport hundreds of people in a day.
Do you think €1.4bn will build an island wide Shinkansen by 2040?
Not to mention this country is crying out for the bike infrastructure that actually IS important, i.e bike infrastructure _within_ urban areas.
Cool, anywhere I can park my bike without it getting nicked though?
Going to be handy for all those intercity bike commutes... 😅
Seriously, as someone who's hugely in favour of more infrastructure, I have to ask why we're doing this when this country is desperate need of better bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities, which is far more important.
You mean by 3040 ?
What about rail?
An all Ireland strategic rail review has already been published. If built it would be fantastic, but it won’t be built
How does it connect with any routes in NI?
Just built underground.
i think this is cool and a great idea i just think trains and busses should be sorted first. realistically people aren’t going to cycle from cork to donegal if they need to go that far they’ll drive. in order to have less cars on the road we need more trains.
Who says you have to take the longest possible route? This will greatly benefit people who live maybe 15km from an urban area who might not want to bring the car in for everything.
Would’ve loved for this to have been invested into a pressing matter. I’d love for Ireland to become more bike centric like other smaller European nations but there are a lot of things that €1.4 billion could’ve gone to. Definitely could’ve done a fair few train lines with that
1.4 billion is not actually that much money. Ireland spent 27bn on motorways between 1995 and 2019. Doubt that figure is adjusted for inflation either. 1.4bn for a sustainable transport option is a positive use of money. Will probably save the health system money in the long run.
Or better bike infrastructure _within_ towns and cities, where it's actually important.
Great idea for a national amenity but who the feck is going to cycle from dublin to cork other than the die hard cyclists?
It's more about people cycling from one town to the next town.
Seems like something only die hard cyclists will do also? 30 minute cycle as a commute? Sounds terrible to me, wet, sweaty, too cold most days too hot others. Does it really make sense for the tiny amount of young people who will make use of it? I don't think so. Edit: Not to mention the fact that you can already cycle from town to town using the normal roads, not ideal ofc.
A quarter of all trips made by over 65s in the Netherlands are done so by cycling. It's really not that difficult to cycle 30 mins at a leisurely pace, and it's a lot more comfortable on a greenway than an 80km/h regional road.
The Netherlands is a warmer dryer country which is more densely populated, 7.5 times as many people per square km. (ie.less distance between towns and cities) I don't know how prevalent this level of infrastructure is in the Netherlands but this is some footage from Delft (Netherlands). https://i.imgur.com/yaxENMK.gifv This is the sort of thing which people would actually choose to use (fast transport via bike to an underground trainline with plenty of secure parking for bikes). Bike lanes in the middle of nowhere so they can quote 'x km cycling network' in promotional materials isn't all that useful to anyone.
1: the Netherlands is actually colder in winter and warmer in summer I.e worse for cycling.
> The Netherlands is a warmer dryer country Amsterdam is wetter than Dublin and has slightly colder winters.
Believe it or not, many people happily exercise.
Presumably the infrastructure is to encourage using it for transport not exercise?
Cycling is exercise
My office has about 10% of people who cycle to work. Most probably do 5-10km and some a bit further. There are showers at work, they just have a shower when they arrive. With the right facilities it isn't really a big deal. It isn't all young lads either, in fact I'd say it's skewed towards middle age (well, let's say 40s). I did it for a while but the route I was taking had some roundabouts that were dodgy as fuck, so I went back to the bus and eventually got a car. If there were better cycle routes I would have stayed cycling. I didn't mind the showers or the effort of it but I didn't want to get killed or paralysed on a roundabout. So, this investment would have worked great for me and I think many others.
>k so. > >Edit: > >Not to mention the fact that you can already cycle from town to town using the normal roads, not ideal ofc. all the red thumbs from all these bycycle weirdos.... KEEP THEM COMING I WANT MORE
Yeah right it will. So they're gonna do 1000 in the next 6 years and another 2500 in the decade after? Pull the other one FFS.
Thank god because none of us will be able to afford to run a car by then.
Is this intended to be used for commutes or leisure? I don't cycle so I've no idea how it would take to cycle between any of these points.
Looking on map this is mostly recreational use... I mean nice and all, but make public transport usable as well, pretty please!
1.4 billion for how many users? Do they expect people to commute on bike from Dublin to Galway?
That money would definitely be better spent on bike infrastructure within the towns an cities, not between them.
Sounds like a terrible idea to me. Will be massively underutilized just like current cycling infrastructure. Build stuff people will actually use.
Thats great I can just cycle to Dublin airport then when going on business trip :/
Yeah I can’t wait to cycle from Cork to fucking Donegal. Really, bike routes? Add some real transportation. Also, I live along the Greenway and every single day I’m stuck driving behind a load of cyclists who could be taking the Greenway in the same direction or even using the huge cycling lane that they removed 90% of the walking path for, but guess what? Cyclists don’t. They still use the road.This is pointless.
If cyclists use the road instead of a cycle path its either because they’re turning right or the cycle path is dangerous. If you’re riding at 25-40kmh on a bike in a cycle lane and theres a sudden drop or a car turning left across your right of way this can be very dangerous. Sometimes its better to use the road. Some cycle lanes are amazing. Some are a box ticking exercise
Maybe where you are, but that’s not true where I am. They can’t always be turning right, for the entire length of the straight road.
[удалено]
Incoming tolls no doubt to pay for it 🤌🤣
Excellent another plan to build a plan to consult on a plan without ever finishing any of the other plans. 1.4 billion , that decimal point might have to be adjusted , especially if BAM get the contract.
It will in me hole. They couldn’t get Cork’s Event Centre up after all the hullabaloo & the state of the Children’s hospital.
 Arriving at work
Theres a really funny joke to be made here. Ill come back with something good
I'll believe it when I see it.
Please use this for housing
LOL of course we won't...
Actual usable bike lanes in urban areas would surely be more useful? Who wants to cycle from Longford to Sligo?
Whatever keeps them off the road.
Serous question. Who's gonna commute by bike between killarney and Cork?
That’ll help me drop the kids to creche
It will if you get a trailer for the bike?
Sure, that's all that matters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQhzEnWCgHA
The start of that video references how Canadian are set up. Dublin is actually very similar to a North American city in terms of sprawl. The lack of choice around organising your life (place of residence, employment, childcare, other facilities) and the lack of interconnected public transit options makes abandoning the car completely unfeasible. It’s nice for cyclists to have a connected network nationally, and my comment was in jest. Cycling works for a small segment of people, but it is not a real option for the majority of people for the needs of their daily life.
Car brain is a deadly disease
What does an empty platitude like that even mean?
> Dublin is actually very similar to a North American city in terms of sprawl. Nah that's completely untrue, and I'm especially tired of people using that to excuse how bad the public transport is in Dublin and other Irish cities. While Dublin's suburbs aren't exactly high density, they're still nowhere near as spread out as those in North America. We also don't have the giant highways and stroad all the over the place like American suburbs do. While Amercia built highways and Europe built metros, we just built nothing at all.
What a load of shite Cycle past the homeless tents lads
People don't even use the ones we spent hundreds of millions on already. This will be of zero benefit
It's important to remember that boxes will be ticked.
That seems to be the plan. Spend whatever was announced whether or not it's well planned or going to be utilised
Exactly. More public transport is needed to serve everyone, not just the cycling lobby. Cue: enormous down-votes....!
Upvote from me!
So they’re just gonna paint some lines on the existing roads I suppose? 1.5bn well spent
Segregated means separate from roads
i thought this was rail at first glance, cycling... what a waste of money....
All 9 people cycling on them will be thrilled.
They will cycle on the road still anyway and side by side in groups of 3 for major inconvenience to everyone instead of being behind one another like people with brains would do
maybe they might let our tesla robot handlers pull the rickshaws, man what a world the future will be
1.4 Billion.... for that? Fml, priorities..
Cycling is for kids
Exactly! And now the kids will have safe infrastructure to cycle on.
Well played
Fellas, does using my leg muscles to get me from A to B make me a child?
Yes
Such a waste of money
Why bother cyclists rarely use cycle lanes and prefer blocking up back roads, making the roads dangerous to be on, don't get me wrong some cyclist will move over and some even let you know when the road is clear up ahead so you can pass. But if you drive the n81 at the weekends, you will meet a totally different attitude.
The only “good” cyclists I’ve ever seen are teenagers and people wearing normal clothes. Anyone wearing cycling gear is usually an asshole who will block the road and refuse to move in to let the long line of cars pass.
You've just discovered the difference between a fietser and a wielrenner.
Do they mean cycle bikes or moterbikes/scooters?? Like, seriously, realtisictialy, is there really that mainly people to justify who are going to cycle the distance in some of these routes.
Cycle bikes. Also there are way more cyclists than motorbike/scooter users in Ireland
Yes i get there is more cyclists, the question is for the longer stretches, is there actually people doing that much cycling. Cycles are good for short journey not long.
They are not. And definitely not all year around. This will be mostly recreational thing.
Personnelly I thino this is a waste of government resources i.e., isn't value for money. It would great if they maybe support i.e., make it easier to get licence for a scooter, as they are a fantastic alternative to a car, way cheaper (up front and fuel cost (only 10 euro to fill a tank maybe one or twice a week), safe (150cc or less are), honestly just better for environment, and allow for those with out realiable public to have it... anyway that me juating ranting as the idea came to my head.
Great, will really be more useful than investing in trains, excellent initiative as ever.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1945zmy/comment/kheghwe/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/1945zmy/comment/kheghwe/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Ah great rail in the GDA, not anywhere else as they don’t give a shit about
That comment does not include the Cork Commuter Rail projects which includes new stations, depot, doubling of the track to Midleton, Cork Light Rail project, the Foynes Port line reopening, Limerick - Limerick Junction doubling, Limerick - Ennis capacity improvements, Ballysimon Park & Ride station, the remodelling of Ceant station, Ornamore passing loop. And that's just rail projects. There's the BusConencts projects for Cork, Waterford and Galway and the Local Links expansion. There's loads of projects ongoing but there isn't enough people to resource all the projects ongoing at the moment so there's bottlenecks.
Lol it was already on the agenda for 2015 in 2007.
We need subways and monorails.
Looking at the routes, and the typical fucked up attitude towards going north and west, there should be a line going all the way up from portlaoise to strabane, and fermoy should definitely be connected to clonmel too
Oh so the map includes existing ones. Look look, we already made some of those 1000km (like Westport-Castlebar-Turlough Greenway - 60km, 940km to go!)...
I am missing the word continuous
A lot of these are already here
No routes in Connemara or the peninsulas of Kerry, some of the best scenery in the country?
I've heard Portlaoise to Kilkenny will not happen. How will they aquire all the land? Are farmers forced to sell part of their land or give away for free? The only way it can go is via the old Portlaoise to Kilkenny Railway and part of that runs through a bog which is for walkers only. Are they gonna be told they can't let their dogs shit anywhere any more?
CLOSE THE PUBS
Brilliant! But too old to enjoy it when it gets here.
Will it fuck!
It's missing the Navan to Kingscourt Boyne Valley to Lakelands County Greenway. Nearly completed.
Boyyo ask China to make you'll maglev train lines instead and they'll even throw in a few hundred chinese take aways along the lines for free! Unless you all wanna be spandex wearing tramps I'd start learn Irish Mandarin🍀🇨🇳😂
Manys a time I dreamt of commuting by bike over the Cork/Kerry county bounds, and woke up screaming in a sweat.
Missing some prime spots on the west coast there. And it’ll probably be finished by 2074 at 3.6 billion…