LETTER: Problems with cycling to work in Mayo town are cited

Sir,

I am writing to Mayo County Council to request that Castlebar be refitted with suitable bike lanes for cyclists who are trying to utilise a more energy-efficient manner of travel.

There are essentially no bike paths in the town and, as a frequent cyclist who uses the e-bikes to travel to and from work, this makes a journey dangerous.

Recently I attempted to get home and had to use a footpath for safety as motorists don't seem to care about cyclists.

A resident of the estate I was passing through blocked my path and forced me onto the road with the cars.

I don't want to be on the footpath, as every other cyclist would agree.

But we don't have anywhere safe to cycle to get to and from work.

It isn't fair that in our endeavours to be more environmentally-conscious, we have no support and almost no structure around the county town.

There are copious levels of e-bikes and manual bikes in Castlebar but almost no safe paths for us to use.

What is the point?

I don't want to be going home from work and getting stopped and forced onto a more unsafe environment.

Simply put, we need bike paths and more cyclist-friendly lanes.

This is an issue that needs addressing as soon as possible.

Yours,

Quinn Barry, Castlebar.