Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Launch of new Cork Public Bikes Scheme

Options
24567…12

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    -Toppy-
    Registered Users Posts: 555 ✭✭✭-Toppy-


    A lot of bikes centrally (its not exactly a million miles away from Grand Parade to South Mall :)) I would nearly say too many centrally. I am suprised we are not a little further out, For example as far as St Finbarrs or even County Hall - pity

    -Toppy-


  • Options
    #33
    evilivor
    Registered Users Posts: 2,613 ✭✭✭evilivor


    -Toppy- wrote: »
    A lot of bikes centrally (its not exactly a million miles away from Grand Parade to South Mall :)) I would nearly say too many centrally. I am suprised we are not a little further out, For example as far as St Finbarrs or even County Hall - pity

    -Toppy-

    Cork County Hall have their own staff bike sharing scheme.


  • Options
    #34
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Just saw this norwegian bike escalator on reddit. This is NEEDED for patricks hill!

    ACr2e4h.jpg


  • Options
    #35
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    pwurple wrote: »
    Just saw this norwegian bike escalator on reddit. This is NEEDED for patricks hill!

    ACr2e4h.jpg

    That is quite brilliant :)


  • Options
    #36
    Lemag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,508 ✭✭✭Lemag


    Not much left in September now. Anyone got any news on this?


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    LeinsterDub
    Registered Users Posts: 8,229 ✭✭✭LeinsterDub


    They've been delayed due to electrical issues


  • Options
    #38
    Lemag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,508 ✭✭✭Lemag


    LeinsterDub wrote: »
    They've been delayed due to electrical issues
    Thanks! Do you know of a revised launch date for this? The Cork City Council doesn't seem to have any up-to-date information on this. Is news of the progress being published elsewhere?


  • Options
    #39
    Poxyshamrock
    Registered Users Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭Poxyshamrock


    Early November is the new launch date. The NTA have said that schemes may not all be launched together. They've started work on the stations (electrical work) by NUIG in Galway. No sign of any work here in Limerick!


  • Options
    #40
    Subpopulus
    Registered Users Posts: 837 ✭✭✭Subpopulus


    pwurple wrote: »
    Just saw this norwegian bike escalator on reddit. This is NEEDED for patricks hill!

    It's quite clever, but it's a bit of a gimmick. As far as I know the one pictured there is the only one in the world. It's never been installed anywhere else mainly due to the cost - it's extremely expensive to build. I'd much rather money be spent on proper segregated cycle infrastructure before splurging on eye-catching stuff like this.

    Promotionally, Trondheim does fairly well out of it though - an awful lot of people would never have heard of Trondheim were it not for the bike escalator. It's a minor tourist attraction and people gather around it waiting for someone to get on it so they can watch them scoot up the hill.


  • Options
    #41
    Iwannahurl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,156 ✭✭✭Iwannahurl


    A bike escalator makes me think of this:

    6926441335_58ff053b1e_z.jpg


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #42
    Lemag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,508 ✭✭✭Lemag


    Yeah, that works like a treadmill though. One goes down the 'upward' side and up the 'downward' side ;)


  • Options
    #43
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Subpopulus wrote: »
    It's quite clever, but it's a bit of a gimmick. As far as I know the one pictured there is the only one in the world. It's never been installed anywhere else mainly due to the cost - it's extremely expensive to build. I'd much rather money be spent on proper segregated cycle infrastructure before splurging on eye-catching stuff like this.

    Promotionally, Trondheim does fairly well out of it though - an awful lot of people would never have heard of Trondheim were it not for the bike escalator. It's a minor tourist attraction and people gather around it waiting for someone to get on it so they can watch them scoot up the hill.


    Jaysus I'd much prefer one of these instead of a segregated cycle infrastructure. Nearly took myself out on a bike this week with those daft new segregation kerbs in the city. Wanted to get into a cycle lane after coming down a sidestreet, and there was no gap in the flippen kerbing to do so. arg.


  • Options
    #44
    Subpopulus
    Registered Users Posts: 837 ✭✭✭Subpopulus


    pwurple wrote: »
    Jaysus I'd much prefer one of these instead of a segregated cycle infrastructure. Nearly took myself out on a bike this week with those daft new segregation kerbs in the city. Wanted to get into a cycle lane after coming down a sidestreet, and there was no gap in the flippen kerbing to do so. arg.

    But that's a fault of the kerb design, and not a fault of the idea of segregation. I think it would be a poor use of money to spend a couple of hundred thousand on a bike elevator when you have to cycle through a load of car traffic to get there. The percentage of trips made by bike in Cork is about 2-3% In Trondheim this is about three/four times higher, so they get a much better return on their investment. So that's why I'd advocate building proper infrastructure (including dropped and forgiving kerbs) with a much greater cost-benefit ratio, before spending a huge amount of money on a flashy bike elevator.

    In any case, do many people need to cycle to the top of Patricks Hill?


  • Options
    #45
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Subpopulus wrote: »
    But that's a fault of the kerb design, and not a fault of the idea of segregation.
    Agreed, but when was the last time you saw any piece of cycle infrastructure being implemented in a non-farcical way around here? The crossing of cycle lanes and traffic. The unswept lanes full of debris. the coloured top-coat coming up all over the place.

    I think it would be a poor use of money to spend a couple of hundred thousand on a bike elevator when you have to cycle through a load of car traffic to get there. The percentage of trips made by bike in Cork is about 2-3% In Trondheim this is about three/four times higher, so they get a much better return on their investment. So that's why I'd advocate building proper infrastructure (including dropped and forgiving kerbs) with a much greater cost-benefit ratio, before spending a huge amount of money on a flashy bike elevator.

    Yes, it would be a white elephant alright, but good craic!
    In any case, do many people need to cycle to the top of Patricks Hill?
    How fast can we come back down!


  • Options
    #46
    Subpopulus
    Registered Users Posts: 837 ✭✭✭Subpopulus


    pwurple wrote: »
    Agreed, but when was the last time you saw any piece of cycle infrastructure being implemented in a non-farcical way around here? The crossing of cycle lanes and traffic. The unswept lanes full of debris. the coloured top-coat coming up all over the place.

    Just because it was done poorly in the past doesn't mean it's going to be done poorly in the future. The quality of the infrastructure is getting much better, poor though it may be. Certainly the pieces of infrastructure I've seen built in Dublin over the past three or four years are almost as good as anything I've seen on the continent.

    The Braemore Road Cycle lanes are particularly impressive.
    http://irishcycle.com/2014/04/27/preview-churchtown-cycle-route-not-a-million-miles-from-perfection/

    The problem with the stuff in Cork is that there's been very little effort to build dedicated bike infrastructure before, so the engineers have little previous experience to go on when there designing this. I'd also imagine that few of them have done much cycling on dedicated bike infrastructure (if they cycle at all), and have little practical knowledge of cycling around cities. One way to educate them and inform them of their mistakes is to contact the city council and tell them what you think. Give them a bollicking if you feel they deserve it - they're not going to find out what the problems are if no users provide feedback. Likewise, the infrastructure isn't going to get any better if you just grumble on boards about how no-one ever does things properly.

    The Cork Cycle Network are the public face of the City Council's cycling division. You can get onto them, or just email roads@corkcity.ie
    https://www.facebook.com/corkcyclenetwork?hc_location=timeline


  • Options
    #47
    blindsider
    Registered Users Posts: 2,017 ✭✭✭blindsider


    From the FB page above:

    A little behind the original schedule, (Yeah, it was supposed to be up and running at end Sept!) but we're told that the installation of docking stations for the National Transport Authority's public bike scheme will be starting in the next few months. (Few as in 3, or 6 or...?)

    (My red bold

    That's pathetic! They haven't a clue really - they're incompetent!:mad:


  • Options
    #48
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    That is quite bad alright. "Few" is open to interpretation. I would say that is 3 but if they are using language like that, 3 sounds optimistic. I'd guess Jan/Feb... just in time for the real winter to kick in.


  • Options
    #49
    KCAccidental
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,492 ✭✭✭KCAccidental


    The whole Cycle network rollout has been a clusterfeck of epic proportions


  • Options
    #50
    namloc1980
    Registered Users Posts: 18,074 ✭✭✭✭namloc1980


    Article in the Examiner says the Cork bikes scheme has been delayed again until at least mid December. Bizarrely the Galway and Limerick schemes will be launched next month. What is it with Cork and failures on the infrastructure front.


  • Options
    #51
    Poxyshamrock
    Registered Users Posts: 4,829 ✭✭✭Poxyshamrock


    namloc1980 wrote: »
    Article in the Examiner says the Cork bikes scheme has been delayed again until at least mid December. Bizarrely the Galway and Limerick schemes will be launched next month. What is it with Cork and failures on the infrastructure front.

    So far they have started just one docking station in Limerick so I don't expect it to be completed by November either. So much for the July launch!


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #52
    Sephiroth_dude
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 80,032 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    Typical


  • Options
    #53
    Lemag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,508 ✭✭✭Lemag


    The pdf files from the following link details the locations of the docking stations - https://sites.google.com/site/cccdrawings/public-bike-scheme


  • Options
    #54
    KCAccidental
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,492 ✭✭✭KCAccidental


    Lemag wrote: »
    The pdf files from the following link details the locations of the docking stations - https://sites.google.com/site/cccdrawings/public-bike-scheme

    they are really missing a trick by not having any stations at victoria/dennehys cross. I imagine use would be very heavy there.


  • Options
    #55
    deRanged
    Registered Users Posts: 3,744 ✭✭✭deRanged


    Having the farthest out station at Gaol Cross seems a bit short alright - you'd think they'd want to serve the student market out to the student accommodation at Victoria Cross.


  • Options
    #56
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    deRanged wrote: »
    Having the farthest out station at Gaol Cross seems a bit short alright - you'd think they'd want to serve the student market out to the student accommodation at Victoria Cross.

    I imagine that they need to keep the stations relatively closely packed so if one station is full, a person can cycle to the nearest one and leave the bike there without winding up ages away from their destination. In time, assuming this scheme is successful, new stations will be added to destinations further out.


  • Options
    #57
    KCAccidental
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,492 ✭✭✭KCAccidental


    Bacchus wrote: »
    I imagine that they need to keep the stations relatively closely packed so if one station is full, a person can cycle to the nearest one and leave the bike there without winding up ages away from their destination. In time, assuming this scheme is successful, new stations will be added to destinations further out.

    seems bizarre to me that they would ignore an area where nearly a thousand students live. One station at gaol cross, one at victoria cross, one at dennehys cross and one by the mardyke arena would cover it sufficently.

    seems like they are missing out on core customers.


    By they way, the areas where the stations will be have been fenced off, so work is pretty imminent, I assume.


  • Options
    #58
    Mushy
    Registered Users Posts: 21,151 ✭✭✭✭Mushy


    The station at college of comm has been started anyway!


  • Options
    #59
    Adrian J Lynch
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 26 ✭Adrian J Lynch


    I also use my bike to commute to work when its not raining. Its great to see incentives like this occurring especially for the younger generation.


  • Options
    #60
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    KCAccidental wrote: »
    seems bizarre to me that they would ignore an area where nearly a thousand students live. One station at gaol cross, one at victoria cross, one at dennehys cross and one by the mardyke arena would cover it sufficently.

    seems like they are missing out on core customers.


    By they way, the areas where the stations will be have been fenced off, so work is pretty imminent, I assume.

    I'd say with whatever budget they had, they figured they could get X number of stations & bikes. The need to get the service right at the heart of the city first and then move outward. Safety I'm sure is a factor too. A lot of work has been put in to getting cycle lanes around the city center, I assume (hope) they were planned in conjunction with the bike station plans.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #61
    cgcsb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,277 ✭✭✭cgcsb


    Exactly like the rollout in Dublin where Connolly and Heuston stations were completely left out of the initial phase. However now that Dublin is just finished its third phase of expansion those issues have been addressed and the number of bikes is set to increase 5 fold in aa many years


Advertisement