It’s time – get on your bike!!
Daragh | September 13, 2009Today (Sunday Sept 13th) sees the long awaited launch of Dublin’s answer to the wonderfully successful Paris Velib bicycle rental scheme.
Having discovered this service in Paris a few years ago, I can vouch for this being an amazing transitional day for the city, be you a cyclist or not (I’m not!).
The service works like this, there are 40 bicycle stations throughout the city. These are located in close proximity to each other, every station has a minimum of 15 stands and there are a total of 450 bikes meaning that access to bikes should be relatively easy.
The best news about the scheme however, especially in the challenging economic climate, is that it’s free! Yes, that’s right, you can have your own personal bike to zip around the city all for free. There are certain conditions that have to be met, only the first 30 minutes of the rental is free, but this shouldn’t matter. From personal experience, you will very seldom cycle for more than 30 minutes around the city, and if you do need to, you can easily drop your bike back at a station, wait a few minutes, and then continue on for a new 30 minute segment, all for free.
All the details relating to the scheme, including pricing options etc are located on the newly created dublinbikes.ie. I know that everyone is going to be sceptical of this scheme, and I can see why, but having used it around Paris in the past, I can tell you that this will be a very successful and welcome addition to the Dublin transport area.
One last thing, for those in cars, and with a tendancy to wander off footpaths onto roads without warning, please be careful. This is a new thing for the city, and it will take a little time for everyone to get used to each other!
[...] citizens. The Dublin Bikes scheme rolls out across the city centre at 11am today September 13th. Daragh has all the facts in his previous post. Mind you this morning at 2am as I was ferried home in the “safety” of a taxi there was [...]
Hmmm. In Paris, 16,000 of these bikes have been vandalised and 8,000 are missing and hauling the bikes out of the Seine has become a daily task. The company is seriously talking about quitting the project because it’s no longer profitable. So whether or not the Paris project is successful is somewhat debatable.
450 bikes in a city like Dublin is an incredibly low figure. There are estates around here with that many kids loitering about looking for something to do; I’m actually wondering how many of those bikes will survive their first week and just how cluttered the bed of the Liffey will get from dumped stolen bikes.
Meanwhile, the company’s payback from advertising is going to be whole orders of magnitude higher than in other countries.
I mean, I like the idea of this project – but the idea and what we have are rather wildly divergent right now, let alone when folks start using these things while drunk at 2am and cycle under trucks or off bridges or whatever…
These are for People with Credit Cards no Credit Card and you are f???ed. The vast majority of People in Ireland do not have Credit Cards ,I certainly do not. I prefer to use my own Bikes anyway. Another Thing these Bike Stations take up a lot of Road Space,would it not have been better in the first place for Dublin City Council to put in Decent Dedicated Cycle Lanes of at least 4 metres. It suits them to cut off Half the Road when they are making Money out of it.
They are Advocating People bringing Helmets ,Helmets do not Protect you they are only good if you fall off your Bike at 5 mph it has been proven Scientifically. If you put a Helmet under a Car Tyre it will be crushed,why dont you go ahead and try it. All this is a result of the Marketing of Yanklander Bicycle Helmet Manufacturers like Bell and is not part of European Culture at all .
Still it is a Grand Idea it will Hopefully get more People out on Bicycles. I would like Dublin City Council to get their Finger out and provide Dedicated Cycle Lanes all over the City and put in Traffic free Areas,how about Blocking off one side of O ‘Connell Street to Traffic for a start like the GPO side. Put in a Dedicated Cycle Lane all along the Harolds Cross Road all the way to Dublin Airport ,widen the Path’s so as to put the Cycle Lane on it. Ban People from having 2 or Three Cars if you cannot Park a Car off Street you should not have a Car.
Ban Buses from Bunches up in 2 or 3 in the Main Streets of Dublin this is very Dangerous to Cyclists.