My friend Amy’s bike is a veteran. We’ve decided to call her Babycakes. She was born in the 1940s. A Dutch bike made from one single iron frame, she has no gears and a back pedal brake. She wears her rust with pride. When a hill approaches Amy powers on, taking Babycakes as fast as she can, like a spin junkie sweating up the side of a virtual Italian alp to win the session and walk out into the day in an invisible yellow jersey.
She was christened Babycakes as we tried to wedge her into one of two bike slots on the Rosslare train recently. Our two bikes had to be joined together with a bungee to stop them from falling out into the corridor. Bikes go free on trains but you pay (Fame style) in sweat. If the two places are already booked you have to wait for the next train.
The rules on the Dart are different. Bikes can be wheeled on outside of rush hour times (assuming you can navigate the lift system, which often involves origami-ing yourself and your bike into a phone-box sized lift to get to the platform). This is a system designed for strong people or very light bikes, or both. Better bike facilities on trains are promised.
As Irish Rail makes its rolling stock more bike friendly, I hope they are thinking of future bikes, which will be chunkier than the “fixie you can pick up with a finger” for which the current system seems to be designed. A wheel-on-wheel-off facility of ramps and accessible trains would benefit people who use wheelchairs, and the growing army of cyclists discovering the joy of electric bikes.
But in the meantime, how do we plan a spontaneous summer day trip to take advantage of this month’s welcome reduction in public transport fares? One answer is the folding bike. London bike company Brompton started manufacturing the nifty bikes nearly a half century ago. They fold up into something the size (and virtually half the weight) of a carry-on luggage bag. Bromptons cost from €1,000 but other brands start at around €300. The joy is that a fold-up fits on all public transport options – buses, the Luas, Dart and trains. And you can bring it indoors with you, rather than leave it at the mercy of that other scourge of cyclists: the bike thief with a bolt cutter.
The future of transport is electric vehicles. The most democratic, healthy and affordable version of that future will be where most of those vehicles are electric bikes, folding or full-size knitted into a system of comfortable, safe and convenient public transport. Fit, like Babycakes, for another 80 years of getting around.
Catherine Cleary is co-founder of Pocket Forests
