Dublinbikes.ie - anyone signed up?

paddy2k

AMontague wrote: »

The Council is definitely interested in expanding the scheme - although I think we need to monitor how things go for a couple of months before making any decisions. In the first two weeks 11,000 people have signed up. AFAIK the target was 5,000 people in 2 years! So it's obviously proving very popular.

The stations need to be about 300m apart. If they are further apart, we run into problems when people arrive back at a full station - there needs to be other stations close by to allow them park the bike. Heuston Station is an obvious target - but it will need large numbers of bikes for it to be viable.

Andrew Montague

Andrew, thanks for your work go getting the bikes scheme established in the city. However do you know what Dublin City Council's position is on the operators threats to developers wishing to make bike availability information more accessible? Does the council have any plans to take back control of this data?

shaneosullivan

I'd also be very interested in the answer to Paddy2K's question about the data availability. Given that this is a partly public scheme, I find it difficult to see Dublin Council having any interest in sites like Paddy2K's dublibbikestogo.com, my site dublinbiker.com, or Fusios iPhone app being banned. Rather, it would make sense for the council to make this information even more available, with an agreement to futureproof the data schemas so that developers can be sure that applications they write today based on the available data will still work in a years time.

Also to echo Paddy2k, thanks for all the work on getting this scheme going, I signed up on the first day and use the bikes all the time, it's fantastic. However, fully segregated cycle lanes really are a must - seeing how simple and safe cycling is in places like Copenhagen really opens your eyes. I understand that there's a large capital investment required, but perhaps if the council could publish all future plans for improving cycling lanes in Dublin, it would help people see the progress being made (it's already happening I know, I just don't know where).

Jip

AMontague wrote: »

We are also introducing new parking facilities for cyclists. Drury Street car park belongs to the City Council. We have taken over the bottom floor and turned it into a bike park. There is space for 200 bikes. The facilitywill be protected by CCTV and a security guard. Parking is free for cyclists and is open today!

Hi Alan, Was in there yesterday and noticed there was only 1 bike in it but plenty attached to poles etc in the streets surrounding the car park. Maybe a little more publicity is required as I'm only aware of it due to a post in the cycling forum here. One thing that concerns me is how actively will it be monitored, i.e. will security only view it as secondary to the carpark and have little interest in what actually happens there ?


Regarding O'Connell Street, it's a nightmare to navigate in the mornings, but I'm only talking from the experience of going from north to south. The cycle lane there is effectively useless due to the amount of parked buses and buses pulling in and out to drop off passengers. A cyclist, imo, is in fact better off in the right hand lane which is more free flowing, but this is still not ideal as they may be hard to see in the wing mirror of a bus which is already at an angle due to it pulling out from a stop.

markpb

shaneosullivan wrote: »

However, fully segregated cycle lanes really are a must

I don't agree - the segregated cycle lane on O'Connell St could not have cost much to implement and it does the trick. Certainly it's not Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but it's a quick and easy start.

AMontague wrote: »

We did have a segregated cycle lane in the middle of O'Connell Street but it didn't work out too well as cyclists had to switch from the left side of the road to the right side of the road and back again to the left side of the road. We changed the layout to have a 4.5m bike/bus lane on the left. I know it's not ideal, but there is plenty of room for a cyclist to pass a parked bus - and stay within the bus/bike lane. We also narrowed the car lane to 3m. A narrower lane tends to encourage drivers to drive more slowly.

The main problem with that cycle lane is that for novice cyclists, it can be very daunting to have buses pull in in front of you or sit behind you while you totter past their bus stop. This may be more psychological than actual because I find most bus drivers very courteous but it's a problem none the less. Putting a segregated cycle lane on the other side removes all the fears that new cyclists have. The old lane was badly implemented and not signposted so cyclists were unsure if they should use it and taxi drivers drove in it anyway. Which brings me to the biggest problem about implementing that cycle lane - the dreaded taxi rank.

Cyclists coming down Parnell Sq East can easily position themselves in the middle lane since they'll have overtaken buses pulling into the bus stops. I think there's an argument for extending it to the south end of D'Olier St (on the right) or even around College Green (in the middle) to the junction with Westmoreland St which means cyclists will be in the correct lane to overtake buses pulling in opposite Lush or turning right onto Dame St.

Sesshoumaru

AMontague wrote: »

The stations need to be about 300m apart. If they are further apart, we run into problems when people arrive back at a full station - there needs to be other stations close by to allow them park the bike. Heuston Station is an obvious target - but it will need large numbers of bikes for it to be viable.

I used to be able to tell if a station had spaces before I started my journey using the DublinBikes application on my iPhone. Now after getting a new iPhone I see the app is no longer available for download. Do you know when this application or one like it will be available again?

ArmaniJeanss

Andrew,
Firstly congratulations on a fantastic start to the scheme.

How do you plan to address the problem of stations being full at certain times and empty at other times? I'm specifically thinking of Earlsfort terrace where its next to impossible to get a space between 9 and 10 in the morning and there are regularly no bikes available at 5.30PM. Smithfield seems to have the same problem but reversed, no bikes in morning, no empty spaces after 5.30PM.

I understand that I can't always expect to find a bike waiting for me, but its been like this basically every day since about Day3 of the scheme.

The 'vans repositioning the bikes' thing doesn't seem to be working.

AMontague

I'm a website designer myself and I was very disappointed with the forced withdrawal of the iPhone app. I've written to JC Decaux and asked them to reverse their decision. I've also raised this issue with the City Council.

I don't think there is an ideal solution for O'Connell Street. It's going to be a compromise. I cycle in from North to South myself in the morning and I find it works reasonably well - especially since the College Green Bus Gate opened. However, it's far from perfect.

AMontague

shaneosullivan wrote: »

However, fully segregated cycle lanes really are a must - seeing how simple and safe cycling is in places like Copenhagen really opens your eyes. I understand that there's a large capital investment required, but perhaps if the council could publish all future plans for improving cycling lanes in Dublin, it would help people see the progress being made (it's already happening I know, I just don't know where).

I think there is a need for 2 parts to the cycle lane strategy: 1. We do need some fully segregated cycle lanes. We are starting with the Grand Canal and hopefully we can continue you with the Royal Canal. We will also have the S2S (Sutton to Sandycove) lanes. And hopefully we can add some more fully segregated lanes in to form the beginning of a network.

2. We must also make our existing roads safer for cyclists - hence the plans for lower speed limits. Road surface quality is a major issue. Up until now, the surface of a bike lane was only improved if the whole road surface was improved. I'm hoping we can shift the emphasis and spend some money on just upgrading the bike lane surface - as this is such an important issue for cyclists.

There is a very useful webpage: dublinbikes.mobi that gives essentially the same information as the Fusio app (maybe not as elegant). It can be accessed from the iPhone - or any mobile with web browsing.

AMontague

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Andrew,
How do you plan to address the problem of stations being full at certain times and empty at other times? I'm specifically thinking of Earlsfort terrace where its next to impossible to get a space between 9 and 10 in the morning and there are regularly no bikes available at 5.30PM. Smithfield seems to have the same problem but reversed, no bikes in morning, no empty spaces after 5.30PM.

I understand that I can't always expect to find a bike waiting for me, but its been like this basically every day since about Day3 of the scheme.

The 'vans repositioning the bikes' thing doesn't seem to be working.

The longterm answer is to expand the system so that there are a lot more bikes and stations. In the meantime, it is up to the vans to keep the bikes evenly distributed.

The webpage that I mentioned above will also help you spot nearby stations that aren't empty. Just looking at the webpage at this minute, I can see 4 empty stations - but each has a neighbouring station within 300m that has bikes.

AMontague

Jip wrote: »

Hi Alan, Was in there yesterday and noticed there was only 1 bike in it but plenty attached to poles etc in the streets surrounding the car park. Maybe a little more publicity is required as I'm only aware of it due to a post in the cycling forum here. One thing that concerns me is how actively will it be monitored, i.e. will security only view it as secondary to the carpark and have little interest in what actually happens there ?

We hope to do a press launch to promote the new bike park this week - so there has been no publicity yet. I'll also be using this site to get the word out. Word of mouth will be a big help.

We won't be guaranteeing the security of the bikes. Remember, this is a free service, but it has got CCTV and the bikes are 20 feet from the security attendant's kiosk. Compared to on-street parking - I think the bikes will be reasonably secure.

Metrobest

I would say there is a lot of scope in Dublin for contra-flow cycle lanes on one way streets in the city center.

One thing that did surprise me on a visit to Copenhagen recently is that the city is very similar to Dublin - a mixture of small and medium-sized streets; not too many huge avenues.

Copenhagen doesn't have the level of segregation between cyclists and cars as, say, Amsterdam, but the city still does a good job of catering to cyclists needs by really marking very clearly which part of the road is meant for cyclists, which creates a feeling of safety.

Imagine this was O'Connell bridge at rush hour.. very possible

AMontague

That looks amazing. What was the surface like to cycle on? Our red surface tends to be very poor - worse than the normal road surface.

Metrobest

AMontague wrote: »

That looks amazing. What was the surface like to cycle on? Our red surface tends to be very poor - worse than the normal road surface.

It was decent! It felt just like painted tarmac. It's not really gritted or anything.

In Amsterdam there are a whole variety of surfaces. Very common is a tiled footpath type surface that's between the road and the pedestrian pavement.

markpb

Metrobest wrote: »

It was decent! It felt just like painted tarmac. It's not really gritted or anything.

I think it's a mixture of tarmac and rubber. It's used on the LA Orange line busway because of the smoother ride.

lucernarian

Glad to see Cllr Montague giving some feedback, even if the bicycle lanes in Whitehall have more than their fair share of obstructions and lamp posts!

And just a reminder of the complete lack of dublinbikes in the grand canal docks/pearse st. area (one which is as full of students/rented accommodation dwellers as Rathmines/Phibsboro is)...

www.rte.ie wrote:

The 450 silver unisex bicycles are available for use by the public at 40 locations from the Mater Hospital in the north of the city to Grand Canal Street in the south.

shaneosullivan

Hi Andrew,

That mobile site is quite useful alright. Could it be promoted a bit more - I for one was not aware of it.

shaneosullivan

Try using DublinBiker.com - I wrote it last week to do more or less what the iPhone application did. It lists all the stations and the number of bikes available at each. You can sort the stations based on which is closes to you, and tapping any of them gives you directions to that station.

gurramok

11,000 using it since the launch. The weather has been good as in mostly dry and pleasant since then, do you think these numbers are sustainable when the rain/winter comes?

I saw a bloke in a immaculate suit picking up a bike today at one of the stations, can one see people like this continuing cycling in the cold and wet weather even using raingear?

markpb

gurramok wrote: »

11,000 using it since the launch. The weather has been good as in mostly dry and pleasant since then, do you think these numbers are sustainable when the rain/winter comes?

I cycle 30 - 50 minutes twice a day all through the winter and rarely get wet. For most people using these bikes, they'll only be on it for 10-15 minutes so you won't get more wet than if you were walking.

Metrobest

gurramok wrote: »

I saw a bloke in a immaculate suit picking up a bike today at one of the stations, can one see people like this continuing cycling in the cold and wet weather even using raingear?

People cycle in Amsterdam when it's -5, pissing rain, snow blizzards or gale force winds.

I got a nice drenching on my way from work this evening. So what. It's not like it rains all of the time...

gurramok

markpb wrote: »

I cycle 30 - 50 minutes twice a day all through the winter and rarely get wet. For most people using these bikes, they'll only be on it for 10-15 minutes so you won't get more wet than if you were walking.

Metrobest wrote: »

People cycle in Amsterdam when it's -5, pissing rain, snow blizzards or gale force winds.

I got a nice drenching on my way from work this evening. So what. It's not like it rains all of the time...

From your past posts, ye 2 are committed commuters , but are the Irish public?

I was passing the Pearse st cycle rack this morning at 7:45am, it was full of bikes as was the Mountjoy Sq one 10minutes later. Just wondering if the level of commitment will keep up once the weather turns not just wet but cold when dry.

PS - I used to cycle for years so I know what the Irish weather is like when cycling

Stark

They don't have to be committed. It doesn't take much committment to walk by a bike rack, take a bike and hop on it for a few minutes.

markpb

gurramok wrote: »

From your past posts, ye 2 are committed commuters , but are the Irish public?

I'm fully expecting a drop off approaching winter but I think people will still use it. I got my db card yesterday so I cycled from O'Connell St to St. Stephens Green East in 9 minutes, taking it very slowly. I think that level of convenience will have a big appeal for people and it's so short that even if it starts to rain, you either won't get very wet or you can drop the bike back and get a bus.

gurramok

Stark wrote: »

They don't have to be committed. It doesn't take much committment to walk by a bike rack, take a bike and hop on it for a few minutes.

I disagree.

Just look at what happens when the weather gets bad. You always hear about alot of bus/train/walking users hopping into the car on their journey when the weather turns. People have given out here about them & its splashed all over the media about them.

I'm wondering if these new bikers will do the same. The first widespread rain in over 3 weeks is forecast on Saturday, wonder if the occasional user will stick to the bikes then. http://www.met.ie/forecasts/

dereko1969

the amount of chicken-lickens on this topic is amazing, first they said all the bikes would end up in the liffey or would be vandalised in their stands now when that hasn't been the case and 11,000 people have signed up and are using the bikes it's ah well we'll see when it rains how many people use it, what's going to be the line after that when people do use the bikes during the rain? i hear those saddles give you testicular cancer???

it's a great deal for the public who have responded very well to this innovative project.

ArmaniJeanss

Anyone have a problem with the saddles -
I've found on my last 3 bikes that even when I've locked the saddle into the setting I want that it still moves a couple of inches to the left and the right which can be quite scary in the middle of traffic as it throws you off balance.

bg07

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0929/breaking26.html?via=mr

Three bikes missing in rental scheme

PAMELA NEWENHAMOne bicycle has been reported stolen under the new Dublinbikes rental scheme, and two more have not been returned, Dublin City Council has said.

A spokesman for the council said the bike which was taken while locked to a lamppost over the weekend was the first to be stolen under the scheme.

Two other bikes hired out were not returned within the 24 hour timeframe as required.

“These are the first remotely serious incidents that have happened since the launch earlier this month,” the spokesman said.

Under the scheme, all users must give a €150 guarantee using either a credit card or a bank draft, which is taken if the bicycle is not returned.

The scheme, which was launched earlier this month, has already had “in and around 10,000 long and short-term” subscribers, according to the council spokesman.

The scheme is similar to the one that has been operating in Paris, Lyons, Copenhagen and 15 other cities.

3 bikes missing in the first 3 weeks. Hardly the mass disappearance of bikes that was predicted here by some.

Metrobest

bg07 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0929/breaking26.html?via=mr


3 bikes missing in the first 3 weeks. Hardly the mass disappearance of bikes that was predicted here by some.

Fact check - DublinBikes is not even slightly similar to the scheme in Copenhagen. Copenhagen's scheme has a couple of hundred of weird bikes where you put in a coin. The bikes can only be cycled in the city center zone - it's illegal to cycle outside the zone. And it's been in operation for donkey's years.

BrianD

They'll turn up. There's not exactly a ready market for these bikes! Though I wonder can DB do a stop and check to see if you are a legitimate hirer?

I would caution that the locks provided are not particularly good and I would not recommend using them in a public place and leaving the bike unattended. I have had a close look at the lock and I won't state publicly why they aren't great.

Perhaps, regular users should buy their own lock. I just prefer to bring my bike to the nearest station for peace of mind.

AMontague

All three bikes have already turned up. The stolen one is seriously damaged. The other two were unharmed - the users had them out on the three-day membership and thought they were allowed keep the bikes for three days.