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The National Transport Authority (NTA) has announced that the Dublin metropolitan area is to join the Bike Life programme, delivered by Sustrans.
Dublin will now join 17 UK cities and urban areas, including Belfast, in the programme which began in 2015 and reports every two years on cycling progress.
Anne Graham, NTA chief executive officer, said: “Bike Life gives us an invaluable insight into our progress on cycling in the Dublin Metropolitan Region and the views held by people who live and work there. It will help us quantify the health, economic and environmental benefits of cycling, and will provide us with really useful information about the kind of projects that the public believes we should be investing in if we are to make cycling a safer and more popular mode of transport.”
Xavier Brice, Sustrans chief executive, said: “It is a very exciting development to welcome Ireland’s capital city to join Bike Life. Since Sustrans began the programme in 2015 it has grown in size and profile with the number of urban areas involved more than doubling in just four years. This is a testament to the quality of the data collection and interest by government authorities in the survey findings.
“We know the more cycle-friendly a city is, the more liveable and attractive it is. Dublin has always had a cycling culture but like many UK cities has been blighted in recent decades by the dominance of car traffic. By taking part in Bike Life, our aim is to promote cycling as an everyday means of travel. Dublin will be able to share in learning from the other UK cities and we know the UK can learn from Dublin’s experiences.”
Bike Life surveys a representative group of at least 1,100 people in each of the cities involved covering issues including bike ownership, cycling provision (routes and cycle parking), gender and ethnicity, safety and security and perceptions of cycling. The report also looks at the impact cycling has on the health, economy and environment of each city.
The UK cities are Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greater Cambridge, Greater Manchester, Inverness, Liverpool, Newcastle, Paisley, Perth, Southampton, Stirling and Tower Hamlets borough of London.
