Travelling to school could be much easier with a change of attitude

Sir, – I read your article on school-related congestion without much surprise but with great exasperation (“September can be a shock to the system as the school run returns”, Transport, September 13th). Allow me to offer a different perspective.

I have lived in Rathfarnham since 2013. Over the years the cycling infrastructure has much improved. The majority of our son’s 4km commute to school in Dundrum is on segregated cycle paths. He’s 10 now, so we cycle the first half with him and allow him to continue the remaining 2km on the excellent Slang Greenway alone. Our daughter’s 2km commute to secondary school is a 10-minute cycle. And yet all around us, children are ferried to school by car most days, even if they only live around the corner, or they’re leaving home at an ungodly hour to get the unreliable bus part of the way.

We leave the house at 8am, the children are in school 10-20 minutes later and we arrive in work (also by bike) 30-40 minutes later. We’ve done this since they were small and even on rainy days, it’s an energising way to start the day. I have heard parents saying their children don’t cycle because of “the hill”. It’s a 300m incline. It’s not pleasant, but it’s over soon enough. When our son was younger he used to walk his bike up it. Yesterday he passed me by on it.

I acknowledge that Dublin has its problems with public transport and cycling infrastructure. But people who live here know this and that the problems are not going to improve overnight. What can change overnight is your attitude. – Yours, etc,