Dublin Bikes [many] months on.

Run_to_da_hills

I saw two of these bikes out in Dunlaoghaire today.

high heels

Shops and employers should fund building stations out side there places.. Would be great lets say if I had to go to a shop or bank and it had a station outside..

I wonder how much a station is to build? Stick there name on the station and a place sponsered by and they should be happy..
Advertising has to be green these days..

paulm17781

high heels wrote: »

Shops and employers should fund building stations out side there places.. Would be great lets say if I had to go to a shop or bank and it had a station outside..

I wonder how much a station is to build? Stick there name on the station and a place sponsered by and they should be happy..
Advertising has to be green these days..

The problem with that is then real cyclists lose places to lock their bikes. I've only used the DB twice (only got my card last week) and I think they're good but I'd prefer my bike any day.

Run_to_da_hills

paulm17781 wrote: »

The problem with that is then real cyclists lose places to lock their bikes. I've only used the DB twice (only got my card last week) and I think they're good but I'd prefer my bike any day.

At one time I complained about DB taking over the motorcycle parking bay at Prince St beside the GPO, then I started to park on the O'Connell st median again, as long as I don't get a ticket I am not too worried and if it goes to court I can testify that the official bike spot was removed.

All of DB parking bays are "stand alone" so I can't see them any threat to other cyclists in fact it would see them as complimentary to lock your bike close to this area with the added security, CCTV and activity.

paulm17781

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

All of DB parking bays are "stand alone" so I can't see them any threat to other cyclists in fact it would see them as complimentary to lock your bike close to this area with the added security, CCTV and activity.

Agreed. But where to lock?

antoinolachtnai

The 'problem' is that more and more people seem to be cycling around the city centre and there are no longer enough bike parking spots.

Is there not a cycling/commuting census done every year? There must be some objective tracking of the cycling population, so that the number of spaces can be increased as required.

Metrostar

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The 'problem' is that more and more people seem to be cycling around the city centre and there are no longer enough bike parking spots.

Is there not a cycling/commuting census done every year? There must be some objective tracking of the cycling population, so that the number of spaces can be increased as required.

Agreed. The current Dublin bike parking spots are spaced too far apart. They need to bring in Amsterdam-style bike racks where the bikes are much more compacted.

That said, Amsterdam is also living proof that there is never enough spaces to park your bike. What's hilarious here is that bikes are parked literally everywhere. If there's a free space, bikes fill it like a gas...

Run_to_da_hills

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

The 'problem' is that more and more people seem to be cycling around the city center and there are no longer enough bike parking spots.

Is there not a cycling/commuting census done every year? There must be some objective tracking of the cycling population, so that the number of spaces can be increased as required.

I have had no trouble parking a motorbike near these places and I will never leave it without securing it to something. Most of them have a surrounding traffic barrier, or some lamp post, parking paypoint or pole, I have yet to get a ticket. Motorcyclists also have a problem with lack of parking spaces in the city, reason why you see them parked ever where.

Pigeon Reaper

I wonder how many bicycles you can fit into one car parking space. It would be an easy fix removing every 50th car parking space for bike parking.

seamus

Pigeon Reaper wrote: »

I wonder how many bicycles you can fit into one car parking space. It would be an easy fix removing every 50th car parking space for bike parking.

You would easily fit a full complement of 20 Dublin bikes into the space taken up by 3 parallel car parking spaces (12-15m?).

antoinolachtnai

Well, 6 bikes in the space of one car seems the norm. but really, it should very rarely come to a choice between bike parking and car parking. You can easily fit loops for parking bicycles along any pavement that is more than 2.5m wide.

Taking out car parking spaces on the street is something that you need a really good reason to do. It might seem like there are thousands of on-street car spaces around Grafton St, say, but in reality, the number is quite small and they are all in constant use, with constant turnover, indicating that they are used by visitors to the city, not by commuters. They are critical for the local businesses.

The main reason for taking out car parking is usually to facilitate buses. A bus stop the length of three cars can deal with around 500 or 600 people during peak.

Capt'n Midnight

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

You can easily fit loops for parking bicycles along any pavement that is more than 2.5m wide.

What do blind people think of this ?

should there be dimpled paving slabs as a warning or is that too nanny-state ?

happyeveryday

Stark wrote: »

100 extra bikes (450->550) and 300 extra stands (800->1100) spead across the 40 existing stations and 4 new stations from what was said on the news.

Any idea where the 4 new stands are going. All i have heard is of one near Guinness hopstore.

the boss of me

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

At one time I complained about DB taking over the motorcycle parking bay at Prince St beside the GPO, then I started to park on the O'Connell st median again, as long as I don't get a ticket I am not too worried and if it goes to court I can testify that the official bike spot was removed.

I wouldn't be rushing into court with that excuse if I was you, the taxi rank that was on Princes St has been reduced to two car spaces and the rest of it has been given over to motorcycle parking.

Run_to_da_hills

the boss of me wrote: »

I wouldn't be rushing into court with that excuse if I was you, the taxi rank that was on Princes St has been reduced to two car spaces and the rest of it has been given over to motorcycle parking.

That must have been relatively recent, its a while since I looked down Princes St. THere is still always heaps of bikes parked up on the Abbey St end, if they were ticketing them it would have been mentioned on Biker.ie.

positron

Got my third bad bike (in last 3/4 months) today - this one had an almost flat tire (llooks okay unloaded, but flat when you get on it), and ittook me ages to get the thing from A to B!

Capt'n Midnight

positron wrote: »

Got my third bad bike (in last 3/4 months) today - this one had an almost flat tire (llooks okay unloaded, but flat when you get on it), and ittook me ages to get the thing from A to B!

Hope you turned the saddle backwards to let everyone know

Run_to_da_hills

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Hope you turned the saddle backwards to let everyone know

I have seen one on the Princes St stand with the tube ripped out of the rear wheel. It looks like people will still use them flat tyre or not, Not good for the rims.

There is a puncture resistant tube on the market, maybe this is the way to go.

positron

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Hope you turned the saddle backwards to let everyone know

Yes, that's what I did.

The seat was facing forward when I picked up the bike, but by the height the seat was set at, I am thinking it was left there by JCD (rather than another user), and may be tire failed overnight

ArmaniJeanss

positron wrote: »

By the height the seat was set at, I am thinking it was left there by JCD

I've noticed that the van drivers always bring the saddle down to its lowest position.
Anyone know why?

markpb

armaniTShirts wrote: »

I've noticed that the van drivers always bring the saddle down to its lowest position.
Anyone know why?

I would have said the opposite. I'm 5'10 and every bike I've used has been pre-set for some 8' monster cyclist. It makes me feel inadequate

Run_to_da_hills

armaniTShirts wrote: »

I've noticed that the van drivers always bring the saddle down to its lowest position.
Anyone know why?

Probably assuming that most users are smaller.

seamus

markpb wrote: »

I would have said the opposite. I'm 5'10 and every bike I've used has been pre-set for some 8' monster cyclist. It makes me feel inadequate

I'm 5'11" and I always set the saddle up to it's maximum. way more comfortable.

Ekaterina

Hey guys,

how do you actually find it to cycle on db through all this busy traffic in the city center? There are no helmets there provided, are there? And I mean its probably a hassle to bring your own one, even though I saw some people cycling with helmets on the db's... Do you think it would be a good idea if there were helmets as well provided? Or is it fine to cycle without? I mean I would not be glad to be the reason for the next gost bike to be added to the two that are already there in Dublin... What do you think?

ArmaniJeanss

Ekaterina wrote: »

Hey guys,

how do you actually find it to cycle on db through all this busy traffic in the city center? There are no helmets there provided, are there? And I mean its probably a hassle to bring your own one, even though I saw some people cycling with helmets on the db's... Do you think it would be a good idea if there were helmets as well provided? Or is it fine to cycle without? I mean I would not be glad to be the reason for the next gost bike to be added to the two that are already there in Dublin... What do you think?

A cycling helmet isn't a miracle safety device - it is not going to stop you becoming a ghost bike except in a very small minority of incidents. Which is not to say that it is not a good idea for an individual to wear one.

Imo it would be a bad idea (and impractical) for dublinbus to provide helmets. Like how would it actually operate it, wouldn't they need some electronic chip to ensure that the person who returned the bike has also returned the helmet. And they would need a whole new set of staff to maintain the helmets (recognising whether a helmet is in a safe condition to allow the public to use is different to maintaining a bike). And this could possibly open up an area of litigation as well.

Then theres a hygiene issue as well - do you honestly to put something on your head that xxx other people have worn as well?

Bring your own helmet (or not) seems the best advice.

Capt'n Midnight

Ekaterina wrote: »

Hey guys,

how do you actually find it to cycle on db through all this busy traffic in the city center? There are no helmets there provided, are there? And I mean its probably a hassle to bring your own one, even though I saw some people cycling with helmets on the db's... Do you think it would be a good idea if there were helmets as well provided? Or is it fine to cycle without? I mean I would not be glad to be the reason for the next gost bike to be added to the two that are already there in Dublin... What do you think?

The old helmet debate.

Helmets are only designed to take the impact if you fall off your bike at normal cycling speeds. They aren't designed to take the impact of being hit by a car travelling at 45Km/hr.

They are ineffective if not adjusted correctly and one size does not fit all - on this basis alone you can forget supplying them

Helmets are easily vandalised again you can forget supplying them, one tool and they are trashed.

One person suing them after an accident involving a helmet that was damaged and not replaced ...

Also and this is the biggie, no survey has shown that helmets have conclusively improved safety when you take into account the negative effects of their use. Children have been strangled by helmets, motorists give helmeted cyclists less room, compulsory helmet enforcement has resulted in less cyclists , many will use riskier transport / get less exercise.

I wear a helmet when cycling into town.
I don't wear one on dublin bikes.

If you feel unsafe without a helmet, just bring your own, they aren't heavy !


If you want that level of nanny state , bring in a lower alcohol level, enforce speed limits on the M50 and then to all other roads, use cameras and force motorists to wear helmets, change daylight saving hours - there are lots of ways to save more lives than forcing cyclists to wear helmets.

Ban driving of kids to primary school, they have to be walked by adults - this should save a few lives too.


The more people on bikes the more motorists will get used to idea that they have be careful , don't forget that a motorist is only a third class road user, ALL else being equal cyclists DO have right of way over them, but you'd be an idiot to force it in a potentially dangerous situation , still doesn't make them right.

Wishbone Ash

armaniTShirts wrote: »

Imo it would be a bad idea (and impractical) for dublinbus to provide helmets

Yes, they should stick with providing a bus service!

Ekaterina

Hey guys,

Thank for all your responses so far! I am actually researchen db users opinions on helmets as part of my college project at DCU. And I was given an advice on another db thread here that I should tell all about the project first and then actually ask questions if I want people to actually help me:
Quote:
Originally Posted by monument View Post
That's not an approach that is welcomed here or on most online communities. Be upfront about things and people are more likely to help you.

So very sorry about approaching it in the wrong way - I am quite new on boards and did not get yet how things work here and will try to be better in future

So, what my project is all about:

It is a team DCU project for the module "New Enterprise Development" where we were given a task to develop a business idea and conduct a market research on it to check its viability. The business idea is NOT intended to be implemented in practice ans is for study purposes only.

My team's idea was to supply rental helmets at dublin bikes stations. To sort out the hygiene issue we thought of one-way (can be recyclable) helmet inlayers that would be provided for free, plus free sanitiser liquid.

We even created an online survey for db users, but never got a chance to get a right place to post a link to it (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C67CKXH). And we were surveying face-to-face at db stations recently as well. We found out so far that some db user would welcome the helmets and would even be willing to pay a small additional fee for this service while others would only use the helmets if they were free of service charge and only would cost "less than the bikes per year" and the third group of db users would not really use them at all.

All statistics I was asking for is to be able to make a theoretical revenue projection in the report on this college project which is due within 2 weeks now.

If any of db users would find 5 mins to complete our survey - it would be a great help as well as if some more detailed opinions on this purely theoretical business idea could be posted on this forum, which would make it almost like a focus group that we had to conduct for the project as well.

So may thanks to everyone for help and sorry for the wrong initial approach again!

Metrostar

Ekaterina wrote: »

Hey guys,

Thank for all your responses so far! I am actually researchen db users opinions on helmets as part of my college project at DCU. And I was given an advice on another db thread here that I should tell all about the project first and then actually ask questions if I want people to actually help me:
Quote:
Originally Posted by monument View Post
That's not an approach that is welcomed here or on most online communities. Be upfront about things and people are more likely to help you.

So very sorry about approaching it in the wrong way - I am quite new on boards and did not get yet how things work here and will try to be better in future

So, what my project is all about:

It is a team DCU project for the module "New Enterprise Development" where we were given a task to develop a business idea and conduct a market research on it to check its viability. The business idea is NOT intended to be implemented in practice ans is for study purposes only.

My team's idea was to supply rental helmets at dublin bikes stations. To sort out the hygiene issue we thought of one-way (can be recyclable) helmet inlayers that would be provided for free, plus free sanitiser liquid.

We even created an online survey for db users, but never got a chance to get a right place to post a link to it (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C67CKXH). And we were surveying face-to-face at db stations recently as well. We found out so far that some db user would welcome the helmets and would even be willing to pay a small additional fee for this service while others would only use the helmets if they were free of service charge and only would cost "less than the bikes per year" and the third group of db users would not really use them at all.

All statistics I was asking for is to be able to make a theoretical revenue projection in the report on this college project which is due within 2 weeks now.

If any of db users would find 5 mins to complete our survey - it would be a great help as well as if some more detailed opinions on this purely theoretical business idea could be posted on this forum, which would make it almost like a focus group that we had to conduct for the project as well.

So may thanks to everyone for help and sorry for the wrong initial approach again!

NO HELMETS... never. Helmets are a disaster. Look at Australia - they made helmets mandatory and cyclist numbers instantly halved and car drivers felt that they could drive EVEN FASTER because the cyclists were now protected.

Ekaterina

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The old helmet debate.

Helmets are only designed to take the impact if you fall off your bike at normal cycling speeds. They aren't designed to take the impact of being hit by a car travelling at 45Km/hr.

Yes, I read some research on helmet (in)effectiveness as well and know that there exists no agreement on the question. However, I think that if a helmet can help when the cyclist falls, it might help by reducing the injury in a collision as well - of course, if it is a really bad collision nothing will help as the "reduction" would simply be not enough. But in less serious cases the reduction might be life saving. Some medical specialists argue for helmets, for example: http://www.dublincycling.com/node/433

However, it is not the aim of my DCU project to prove or not the (in)effectiveness of the helmets. The aim is to find out if db users would actually like to have a choice (NOT an obligation!) "to wear or not to wear" at the db stations without the hassle of bringing their own helmet.