New Telraam traffic monitors counts the number of cyclists, pedestrians and motorists in Navan

‘Sure no one uses them cycle lanes, right?’… A claim you can sometimes hear whilst scrolling through the delights of social media, or on your local radio station. But is it true? No one uses them!? Are all those shiny new cycle lanes a massive waste of money and take up valuable road space? Well, unsurprisingly, the answer is a big, flat no. Navan, like any booming yet compact town, is full of people getting around by bikes. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a deep dive and look at the data.

The Data

Using WeCount.net, Navan Cycling Initiative set up three Telraam traffic monitors in Navan to take fully automated measurement data in the field of mobility and air quality. One of these was set up in Innovation House on Railway Street – overlooking the recently completed cycle lanes (see image above) – with thanks to Meath County Council.

The concept is simple: with a sensor in combination with a low-cost computer and software, Telraam traffic monitors can measure the traffic and air pollution on any street. You can view the live data for yourself here.

And the results are fantastic! Looking at the data over a five week period between the 9th September to the 20th October, we are beginning to see an upward trend of over 2,000 cyclists using the Trim Road cycle lanes every week:

– 14-20 Oct: 2196
– 7-13 Oct: 1434
– 30 Sep-6 Oct: 1938
– 23-29 Sep: 1590
– 16-22 Sep: 1340
– 9-15 Sep: 1284

From studying the breakdown of the data in more detail, we can see that weekdays at rush hour times (9am, and 4-5pm) are the busiest for all traffic types, as you would expect. This counts for two-wheelers too, as these times also see the most amount of cyclists on the road, particularly those traveling to Beaufort College. We can also see that 4pm is the busiest time of the day for cyclists, obviously relating to school home time.

The date: screenshots from the Telraam page, showing the week 14-20 Oct. Click on each image to see bigger

The Demand

We can see from these very high numbers that the demand for the new cycle lanes on the Trim Road was clearly already there. In fact, the number of cyclists already using this road was already very high, with lots of students commuting to Beaufort College. In addition, there are also four other schools on this road, namely Flowerfield National School, Gaelscoil Éanna, Mercy Convent and St Anne’s Loreto. The Trim Road itself is also a main artery into Navan town, with thousands of houses along the road.

Based on these numbers and the demand already being there, the new cycle lanes are very much needed. By making it safer to cycle, more and more people will choose to do so and make the switch from four wheels to two.

The modal split, from the Telraam page, showing the week 14-20 Oct. Click to see bigger