Waterford City and County Councils are the first to include a provision for PTW (Powered Two Wheelers) in published Traffic Management Plans.
Pictured at the launch were:
Mayor of Waterford City & County Cllr. James Tobin (centre)
L-R: Laurent Borla (V.Pres., Waterford Chamber), Michael Dolan (RSA), Cllr. John Pratt (Labour, Tallow), Lenny Burns (Dealer Principal Waterford Harley Davidson), Colin Darby (CEO Volt Motorcycles), Victor Donnelly (PRO, MAG Ireland) and Peter Bartlett (Chairman, MAG Ireland).
Photographer: John Power.
Waterford (June 16th 2015) – MAG Ireland (The Irish Motorcyclists’ Association) today announced the official launch of dedicated parking provision for PTW vehicles in Waterford City, Tramore and Dungarvan. This is a first for Ireland and is being administered following months of discussions with Waterford City and County Councils.
In January of this year MAG Ireland presented a submission to the Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) at Waterford Municipal Council to consider the provision of dedicated parking facilities for PTW vehicles in the major conurbations of Waterford County.
“To be honest I was amazed at the positive and constructive support from everyone involved in this initiative” said Victor Donnelly MAG Ireland PRO and Co. Waterford native.
“I first approached Ciara Conway, Labour T.D. for Waterford on this project in early January and she proved to be a major support and ensured the MAG Ireland submission was included for consideration by Waterford SPC. MAG Ireland is grateful to Deputy Conway for her outstanding assistance as well as her Labour colleague Cllr John Pratt (Tallow) who was instrumental in the day to day communications relating to this project”
The objective of dedicated PTW parking is to alleviate congestion in Waterford and put in place a dedicated parking facility, which is free for PTW vehicles at key locations in the City and County.
“MAG Ireland are very supportive of recent initiates to promote cycling as an alternative to using a car, especially in Waterford City” said Victor.
“The cycle initiative will only work if you live within 6 km of your end destination, however should you live further than 6km MAG Ireland is recommending the use of motor scooter or moped as an alternative to the car. Now that there are dedicated parking zones, that are 100% free to use, we believe this will greatly help to alleviate congestion and will help business and tourism through the freeing up of valuable car parking MAG Ireland is keen to point out that no existing car parking spaces have been used to facilitate PTW parking.
The staff at Waterford Municipal Council have been brilliant in suggesting locations that are ‘dead space’ for PTW parking. Having conducted our own surveys MAG Ireland was able to identify other locations and submit our proposals to the Council. In all this was a project that everyone wanted to make happen and the cooperation between all entities has been very positive”
Following the success of implementing a provision for PTW parking in the current traffic plans for Waterford City and County, MAG Ireland will now use this positive experience and work with authorities in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin.
“Waterford is the first County in Ireland to adopt a ‘bike friendly’ attitude and ensure it’s success through the amendment of by-laws within the County” said Donnelly “This is a precedent that other County’s need to observe and implement to their own traffic plans, with a view to reducing traffic congestion and ensuring a safe and free space to park PTW’s for day visitors, business people and tourists who would otherwise ignore the City centers due to lack of adequate facilities”.
About MAG Ireland
MAG Ireland is a Dublin based lobby group which represents the 40,000+ motorcyclists here in Ireland. We are also a founding member of FEMA (The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations) which represents 24 organizations across 19 countries to include Belgium, Check Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Total motorcycle population representation is 27 million.
Definition of PTW
PTW (Powered Two Wheelers) as defined by the European Commission is an ‘L’ Category vehicle. The L-category includes two-wheeled powered cycles, mopeds and motorcycles with and without a side-car.