Dublin: cycling up, car use up, walking down

MORE and more Dubliners are travelling on two wheels. Whether because of the recession, or in the hope of beating the gridlock, or both, the number of cyclists in the city has risen to its highest level in 10 years.

All this is good for cyclists' health as well as their pockets. But as with so much else in human life, the picture is not perfect.

Not every cyclist wears a helmet.

Thankfully, the number of heavy vehicles on the streets has fallen since the ban on trucks in the city centre. But curiously, the number of cars using the same streets has increased instead of falling.

The oddest, and most discouraging, figure in this report from the Dublin City Council is that the number of pedestrians has gone down by 18pc to a mere 15,000.