Galway Cycling Campaign were delighted to meet last week with the Ambassador of the Netherlands at the University of Galway. Joined by Ciaran Cannon TD, the group was keen to discuss the challenges facing Galway in making its streets safer for people who cycle, and making Galway City a more welcoming and liveable space.
While weather conditions thwarted plans to cycle around the city, it provided plenty of time to talk about the Galway cycle bus, rural cycling, road design, and the possibility of making Galway more welcoming to people on bikes.
Explaining briefly the social and political factors which saw the Netherlands change from car-focused to people-focused, the Ambassador pointed out that at his office in the Hague, there are zero parking spaces allocated to public officials. Any official who wishes to drive must pay for parking in the public car park which sits under the building.
Disabled people, who need their car for mobility are accommodated in such carparks. This incentivises public transport and bike use and is a case of leading by example. In cities and regions where public officials and decision makers depend upon public transport, the service tends to be good, which in turn attracts other citizens to use it.
Speaking about the positive impact of a recent trip to the Netherlands by Fingal County Councillors, the Ambassador noted that all the Fingal Councillors and many officials travelled over.
By going as a group, the Councillors gained a complete understanding of the way Dutch infrastructure prioritises people and civic space, and ensured that each of the Councillors could then engage in fully-informed debate about public transport and bike networks in their own Council area.
Kilkenny County Councillors also travelled en masse. By pairing the Council delegations with a Dutch city that paralleled their own, transport solutions and infrastructure were comparable to what could be achieved in Irish cities.
The Ambassador explained that in the Netherlands, children can cycle 7-10 km to school on protected cycle lanes, with speed limits outside schools fixed at 30kmh. This safety by design allows children to travel independently with groups of friends and ensures that parents do not have to spend hours of their week on the school run.
The group visited the community bike workshop An Mheitheal Rothar which is based on the university campus. This non-profit organisation recycles bikes disposed of at Council sites, restoring them and selling them to low-income individuals to provide them with independent, non-polluting transport.
AMR also runs workshops to teach people how to maintain their bikes, something the Ambassador stressed as being of great importance. The meeting ended with campaign chairperson Reg Turner receiving a beautiful Dutch plate and TD Ciaran Cannon was presented with a Dutch mug.
