Limerick Bike Scheme

thesimpsons

panda100 wrote: »

I used this station frequently until recently and the majority of people using it appeared to be local residents/workers more than students. There was always a queue at station from half 8 on with workers cycling into town. Similarly lots of peopke docking their bikes their after 5. There's a lot of estates around there with people working in city I say.

I'm only passing this area at non peak times and I usually see students on them . I asked one of them one day how it worked, what they used it for, etc. Between lectures she said it was great quick way down town to get supplies or hop home.

zulutango

The baskets on the bikes are a real design flaw. They're not much good for carrying anything.

Poxyshamrock

zulutango wrote: »

The baskets on the bikes are a real design flaw. They're not much good for carrying anything.

I suspect this is so they can't be used as rubbish bins when they're parked up.
I often see bottles and wrappers left in the ones in Dublin.

zulutango

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I suspect this is so they can't be used as rubbish bins when they're parked up.
I often see bottles and wrappers left in the ones in Dublin.

Yeah, I guess that's the reason. I don't think it's a good enough one to make such an unusable basket though. I mean, it would only be a certain, probably small, percentage of baskets that would be used as bins, and that would be a small price to pay for having a basket that is functional. A basket on an about-town bike is a fairly important element in the design, and they really flunked on this, as far as I can see.

phog

I gave up bringing a bottle of water with me when using the bikes, no place to keep it. Imho, it's a flaw in the design of the basket.

cgcsb

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I suspect this is so they can't be used as rubbish bins when they're parked up.
I often see bottles and wrappers left in the ones in Dublin.

You very rarely see that in Dublin though and it's not that much of a problem. You can easily just throw whatever it is in the bin when you take a bike out. I would say it's a slightly over zealous attempt to prevent a very minor problem. A good basket is definitely a bonus on Dublin bikes.

zulutango

Happy new year folks.

Just a word of caution for anybody using the bikes in the evening time (or indeed in the early morning), many of the rear lights aren't working, and some of the front ones too. Had to change bikes a few times over the Christmas break immediately after getting them because of this.

zulutango

On another note, I've noticed that some of the locks are either missing or not working.

I'm beginning to think the maintenance department isn't what it should be. Also, the bikeshare.ie website allows you to report a fault but there's no option to say what the fault actually is.

panda100

The station outside the Redemptorist church has been out of action since before Christmas. Its really frustrating as now you have to walk all the way back up the Mary I station with your bike.

It really is mayhem up that stretch of the South Circular Road in the morning. We have evidence now that it is one of the busiest cycling routes in the city yet there is no room for cyclists to use this stretch of road. Cars force cyclists onto the pavement or to cycle extremely close to parked cars. I have been almost knocked off my bike so many times on this stretch with people opening their doors without looking.

Also, be careful cycling out there at the moment. I went flying on one of the bikes this morning outside The Strand.

schemingbohemia

panda100 wrote: »

The station outside the Redemptorist church has been out of action since before Christmas. Its really frustrating as now you have to walk all the way back up the Mary I station with your bike.

It really is mayhem up that stretch of the South Circular Road in the morning. We have evidence now that it is one of the busiest cycling routes in the city yet there is no room for cyclists to use this stretch of road. Cars force cyclists onto the pavement or to cycle extremely close to parked cars. I have been almost knocked off my bike so many times on this stretch with people opening their doors without looking.

Also, be careful cycling out there at the moment. I went flying on one of the bikes this morning outside The Strand.

You need to cycle "offensively" on that road I would advise - take control of the lane by cycling outside the door opening area, if drivers have a problem with that - tough. I nearly got doored last year, guy getting out of car on drivers side in traffic, it really shakes you up.

Jofspring

What way do people make their way to Mary I from town?

I was cycling up there recently and I went against the traffic past the Redemptorist otherwise I would either have had to go down to the dock road and around or to punches cross and around that way. It's technically not the right way but I was in a hurry. Do most cycle against the traffic or go all the way around?

panda100

Jofspring wrote: »

What way do people make their way to Mary I from town?

I was cycling up there recently and I went against the traffic past the Redemptorist otherwise I would either have had to go down to the dock road and around or to punches cross and around that way. It's technically not the right way but I was in a hurry. Do most cycle against the traffic or go all the way around?

I break the law and cycle against the traffic, sometimes on the pavement too. It's the only way to get up to that station.I see everyone else doing that as well. The only other way is to cycle all the way up O'Connell Avenue and then back down South Circular Road which would add at least 10 minutes to your journey. A contra-flow cycle lane is really needed. That or better located cycle stations. One on the Dock Road or the new main entrance of Mary I.

Jofspring

Ya was thinking most were doing that. It is fairly dangerous. Cars were coming against me, it was narrow and people were on the path. Understandably cars coming towards me weren't too impressed. Even if there was some way through from the top of O'Connell Ave it would make a huge difference.

zulutango

I'm lucky enough in that I don't really ever have to go that way, but it is ludicrous that the route that has the greatest demand should have this really unsafe situation.

In general, the one-way system in Limerick is a really deterrent to cycling. William Street could be reduced to a single lane of traffic and bike lanes (including a contra-flow lane) put on it. The same goes for O'Connell Street.

Poxyshamrock

SCRd is too narrow to develop a contra-flow I would say. You could remove the on street parking but a lot of houses on that stretch don't have driveways.

zulutango

Could a bike route to Mary Immaculate be developed along the route shown here?

Poxyshamrock

As far as I know, there are plans to open that gate up to students when the new Mount Campus entrance is completed. Planning permission was granted in the last few weeks.
When I was a student at MIC we were all given a survey and I mentioned opening that route as a through way so here's hoping.

panda100

Station at the Strand out of order this morning. It's only when one of the stations is out of order you realise how disastrous 1) the location of the stations are and 2) how detrimental the 1 way traffic system is to cycling in the city

panda100

The Redemptorist station is back up and running again as of today.

panda100

Interesting article on Irishcycle regarding how little Coca-Cola pay for cheap advertising on the Dublin Bike-Scheme: http://http://irishcycle.com/2016/02/10/dublinbikes-expansion-could-be-funded-by-more-on-street-advertising/

At the time the contracts were signed for the expansion, the sponsorship was estimated to covers only around €300,000 of the estimated €1.92m yearly cost to the system.

It would be interesting to see if similar contracts were signed for the Limerick scheme. I really don't think a product as unhealthy as Coca-Cola should be associated in any way with such a healthy activity such as cycling.

Also slightly OT, but I was passing the new Le Chile National School in Roxoboro yesterday. I noticed that the goals posts in their playground are heavily sponsored by Coca-Cola. The playground was literally awash with Coca-Cola branding. Is this legal? in a primary school?

Red King

panda100 wrote: »

Interesting article on Irishcycle regarding how little Coca-Cola pay for cheap advertising on the Dublin Bike-Scheme: http://http://irishcycle.com/2016/02/10/dublinbikes-expansion-could-be-funded-by-more-on-street-advertising/



It would be interesting to see if similar contracts were signed for the Limerick scheme. I really don't think a product as unhealthy as Coca-Cola should be associated in any way with such a healthy activity such as cycling.

Also slightly OT, but I was passing the new Le Chile National School in Roxoboro yesterday. I noticed that the goals posts in their playground are heavily sponsored by Coca-Cola. The playground was literally awash with Coca-Cola branding. Is this legal? in a primary school?

The goalposts? Wow that is ridiculous

panda100

Red King wrote:

The goalposts? Wow that is ridiculous

Yep. I was driving, otherwise I would have taken a pic.

Tim76

Anybody know if there are any plans to install new docking stations?

The think the scheme would benefit greatly from ones at the Crescent, UL & LIT to name but a few.

Late to this thread so don't know if the topic has been covered before.

David Della Rocco

Surely the risk of drunk students cycling back to UL/LIT after a night out is a reason they would not put stations there. Also I imagine the numbers required would be much larger than any of the other current stations

zulutango

As far as I know there are no plans to expand it yet. Also, expansion creates serious logistical difficulties. What really should happen is that UL get on board and have a network out in Castletroy and the UL campus. That way you'd have usage around Castletroy itself and also it would open up the possibility of cycling between UL and the city. Just having one station out there won't work.

what_traffic

David Della Rocco wrote: »

Surely the risk of drunk students cycling back to UL/LIT after a night out is a reason they would not put stations there. Also I imagine the numbers required would be much larger than any of the other current stations

It's a spurious argument. The Scheme shuts down at 00h30 anyhow. It's the distance UL/LIT are from Limerick City Centre that is the issue. NUIG in Galway will be installing 2 Bikeshare stations within the Campus in 2016. Galway Scheme is still not finished. Only 15 of the 19 stations are up and running.

David Della Rocco

what_traffic wrote: »

It's a spurious argument. The Scheme shuts down at 00h00 anyhow. It's the distance UL/LIT are from Limerick City Centre that is the issue. NUIG in Galway will be installing 2 Bikeshare stations within the Campus in 2016. Galway Scheme is still not finished. Only 15 of the 19 stations are up and running.

I didn't realise it shuts down at midnight. Excuse my ignorance. That does make sense. The distance out to UL is considerable, I must get set up on it myself.

zulutango

It shuts down at 12.30am not midnight ..

I don't think it should really, but that's the way it is.

peckerhead

panda100 wrote: »

...I was passing the new Le Chile National School in Roxoboro yesterday. I noticed that the goals posts in their playground are heavily sponsored by Coca-Cola. The playground was literally awash with Coca-Cola branding. Is this legal? in a primary school?

I know of a school (in Dublin) where the parents had to threaten legal action to prevent the school from installing Coca-Cola vending machines in the hallways.

They're owned by the Church; they can do (almost) what they want. :mad:

what_traffic

zulutango wrote: »

It shuts down at 12.30am not midnight ..

I don't think it should really, but that's the way it is.

Thanks for the correction - could not remember was it 00h00 OR 00h30. Could not find the time on the website. It used to be on it.
I agree that is should not shut down; majority of schemes in Europe are 24/7 dont see why Ireland should be different. Guess the drinking culture here was the official reason given?