[Article] bikes for advertising

Gavin

Didn't see this mentioned already. Not sure what the deal is with pasting article from the paper... I'll stick it here and obviously if there's a problem is will be taken down.

Council swaps ad space for bikes, toilets

Olivia Kelly

Dublin City Council is to allow one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies to erect 120 permanent advertising panels across the city in exchange for 500 bicycles and four public toilets.

The bicycles are to be available for the public to rent, for a fee yet to be decided.

A multimillion euro contract signed with advertisers JC Decaux will see advertisement panels on O'Connell Street within six months. The council will receive no money from the advertising but in addition to the bicycles and toilets will get a number of signposts, freestanding maps and "heritage trail" posts.

Many of the advertising panels would be seven square metres (75sq ft) in size, but the majority would be two square metres. The smaller ones would be approximately the size of a bus shelter advertisement. Both structures would be freestanding, double-sided and illuminated.

The details of the contract have not been disclosed but it is estimated that the advertising space sold on the panels would be worth at least €1 million every year to JC Decaux.

Councillors reacted angrily to the scheme yesterday saying the city management was "selling the public footpath" and "almost prostituting itself" to the company.

The company has agreed to provide and maintain 500 "city bikes" at 25 locations around the city. People renting the bicycles would be able to collect them from and return them to any station. Users would have to register their details with the council and provide credit card details to prevent theft.

JC Decaux has run a similar scheme in Lyon in France.

The company plans to erect six of the two square metre panels on O'Connell Street and one on Grafton Street. The seven square metre panels will be located in areas such as Parnell Street, Capel Street and Church Street.

JC Decaux has applied to the council for planning permission for the sites for the 120 agreed structures. The company will pull out of the scheme if it does not get planning permission for 75 per cent of the panels. If it gets permission for less than 100 per cent of the panels, the number of "public realm enhancements" will be correspondingly reduced.

"We are selling the public footpath for 500 bikes and four public conveniences . . . Dublin City Council has been short-changed," Labour Cllr Emer Costello said at a meeting on the issue yesterday.

Deputy Lord Mayor Aodhán Ó Riordáin (Labour) said the council should be in a position to provide bicycles itself "instead of almost prostituting ourselves to private enterprise".

The profits earned by JC Decaux would be "gigantic", said Fine Gael's Paschal Donohoe.

However, Ciarán McNamara, an executive manager in the council's planning department, said the council was "doing extremely well" out of the contract. JC Decaux had agreed to remove a "sizable number" of its large advertising hoardings from the city as part of the deal, he said.
© 2007 The Irish Times

Titiritero

Not sure if the city council is getting a good "price" out of it, but it´s a good idea anyway. A French friend was in Lyon recently and he said it the bike rental works very well over there. It´s free the first half hour, so people just rent them to go from one bike kiosk to the next, and get a new bike there, getting the service for free.

Hope JCDecaux pay for the electricity bills, cos they usually get away with that too, and in the end the council ends paying a fortune for the light on the posters...

onesoma

a good idea? it doesn't really matter if 500 public bikes is a good idea or not. for me the significant thing here is the construction of 120 needless and intrusive advertising structures on public paths!!

note they are free standing:

The smaller ones would be approximately the size of a bus shelter advertisement. Both structures would be freestanding, double-sided and illuminated.

do we need structures like this on public footpaths? no. well, if anyone can tell me a good reason why we need them, please do. and if you say 'but 500 bikes...' you're not understanding my point.

anyone good at planning queries/etc? wouldn't mind objecting to this ridiculous idea while i can.

edit: and just to bring it on topic with cycling, bus shelter ad size structures could block your line of sight around a corner, not to mention create a load more opportunities for pedestrians to jump out from behind things in front of your bike.

RainyDay

Many of the advertising panels would be seven square metres (75sq ft) in size, but the majority would be two square metres. The smaller ones would be approximately the size of a bus shelter advertisement. Both structures would be freestanding, double-sided and illuminated..

Such structures will probably cause further difficulties for blind people, who are finding it increasingly hard to navigate around the kind of debris we leave on our footpaths these days.

onesoma

RainyDay wrote:

Such structures will probably cause further difficulties for blind people, who are finding it increasingly hard to navigate around the kind of debris we leave on our footpaths these days.

good point.

i haven't heard anything else about this issue, but then i don't read newspapers or watch tv...

saw three planning notices on south king st/ bow lane. it costs 20e to make a submission, with 120 planning applications that would be 120x20: e2400 to appeal every application.

is there another forum on boards that this would be more relevant? polititcs/planning/city issues/activism?

rubadub

Users would have to register their details with the council and provide credit card details to prevent theft.

Yeah, credit cards will break any bolt cutter or hacksaw :rolleyes:

I wonder what the terms really are, the 500 bikes will probably be rendered useless after a few months. Will they replace them? Are these "stations" being manned or just locking up the bikes with no supervision.

And come 10 years when paths are being widened or something will JC Decaux "own" this area and be charging the taxpayer millions to get it back, just like the toll bridge debacle.