Launch of new Cork Public Bikes Scheme

SpaceTime · 28-06-2015 2:22pm

PrzemoF wrote: »

I found something interesting. Their 818 number is the same as this company: http://2bill.ie/contact.html so it might be payment handling outsourcing.
Use email next time: info@anrotharnua.ie

0818 numbers shouldn't be charged as outside bundle. It's the mobile companies gouging as usual. They're supposed to be "national rate" so should be charged at the same rate as a call to an 021 number or any landline. If you're calling from a landline they should be charged at your long distance rates and if you've a bundle for all landline calls, included in it.

Companies and state services need 0818 or something similar to be able to route calls around to multiple locations and to not have to have call centres tied to a particular place.

daviecronin · 07-07-2015 8:54pm

Hey everyone,

Recently I've been using the bikes a good lot but find a problem with them the majority of the time! Nearly every time I hop on the bike the wheels are flat and the bell could be gone? Anyone else finding this with the bikes?

SomeFool · 07-07-2015 9:17pm

Haven't had noticed the bell missing but I'd always give the tires a squeeze before I select my bike.

SpaceTime · 08-07-2015 1:04am

daviecronin wrote: »

Hey everyone,

Recently I've been using the bikes a good lot but find a problem with them the majority of the time! Nearly every time I hop on the bike the wheels are flat and the bell could be gone? Anyone else finding this with the bikes?

If that happens return the bike to the stand straight away and go back to the screen. It'll let you log it as faulty.

cgcsb · 08-07-2015 11:34am

In Dublin pretty much every bell is broken on Dbikes. I've also had a few bikes with very bad faults, gear change not working, saddle drops suddenly.

I think like most things in Ireland after the ribbon cutting there is no consideration given to maintenance. That's how heavily used railway bridges crumble into the sea and 15 year old road bridges have grass growing on them, and of course overflowing public bins that haven't been emptied in several months, and that's in the capital city no less.

thomil · 16-07-2015 5:33pm

With the continued unease about the events centre, and the apparent failure to move ahead with plans to pedestrianise St. Patrick Street, it's good to see at least Coca Cola Zero Bikes being successful. Keeping my fingers crossed for an expansion.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/city-bike-scheme-is-a-success-could-be-expanded/

J Mysterio · 16-07-2015 6:54pm

You'd almost be afraid though that youd cycle miles and then the feckin dock would be full or out of order.

Cycled to a dock yesterday and was out of order so had to effectively cycle back to where i got the damn bike!

Bacchus · 16-07-2015 8:59pm

J Mysterio wrote: »

You'd almost be afraid though that youd cycle miles and then the feckin dock would be full or out of order.

Cycled to a dock yesterday and was out of order so had to effectively cycle back to where i got the damn bike!

No other dock nearby? My impression was that they are all fairly close to each other - hence why the network hasn't gone as far out as many would like, as that would mean more spread out docking stations.

aujopimur · 16-07-2015 9:46pm

I havn't read all the posts, but bikescheme cyclists must by the worst on the streets, I'm not bashing as I cycle myself.

Outkast_IRE · 16-07-2015 10:13pm

aujopimur wrote: »

I havn't read all the posts, but bikescheme cyclists must by the worst on the streets, I'm not bashing as I cycle myself.

Some of them are, there was a lady on one yesterday going full belt through a busy winthrop street constantly ringing the bell, people had to jump out of her way.

SomeFool · 17-07-2015 12:41am

J Mysterio wrote: »

You'd almost be afraid though that youd cycle miles and then the feckin dock would be full or out of order.

Cycled to a dock yesterday and was out of order so had to effectively cycle back to where i got the damn bike!

Download the app and it will tell you what stations have spaces/bikes

Going Strong · 17-07-2015 4:20pm

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Some of them are, there was a lady on one yesterday going full belt through a busy winthrop street constantly ringing the bell, people had to jump out of her way.

Last month, I swore at a woman wobbling along the pavement at the top of Patrick Street on her hired bike. She was more interested in keeping hold of her bags of shopping dangling from the handlebars rather than the 'blind' corner opposite McDonalds.

I've noticed a fair amount of hires seem to be novice or infrequent cyclists who appear to rent one to go on a day out with other, more proficient, cyclists. They can usually be spotted wobbling along at the back, or, occasionally, cycling alongside their companions, only they're doing so on the pavement.

CHealy · 12-11-2015 1:46pm

Dunno has this been mentioned elsewhere but some figures released last week for the bike scheme (taken from poster on Limerick forum):

6,800 cyclists in Cork, 2,000 in Galway and 2,300 in Limerick have taken out annual subscriptions.

Cork
202,702 trips taken.The most popular journey is from Bandfield to St Patrick's Street.

The busiest station is Fitzgerald Park, which has been used more than 18,000 times

Limerick
31,368 journeys taken. The most popular is between Mount Saint Vincent and O'Connell Street, with 606 trips.

The busiest station is Mary Immaculate College with almost 4,300 trips.

Galway
17,348 have been taken. The most popular trip is from Fr Burke Road to Eyre Square, with 355 journeys made.

The busiest station is Cathedral, with 2,127 trips.

Cork by a country mile is the busiest city out of the three regionals which I suppose isnt suprising seeing as its a much bigger city than Galway and Limerick, although I would have though Limerick would be a bit busier. It hasn't taken off at all in Galway which again isn't suprising, I was up there last month and the stations are too close togheter given Galways size. Cant see it lasting there at all. Good to see the numbers for here, and I think it will get more popular especially with Albert Quay opening soon and various other developtments. I use it 2 or 3 times a week to and from the train station, its ideal.

cgcsb · 12-11-2015 2:13pm

Galway City Council is awash with anti-cycling bellends who fought the NTA tooth and nail on this. There were originally way more stations planned. Galway's scheme going down wouldn't bode well for a future scheme in Waterford.

thomil · 16-02-2016 1:57pm

Sorry for dragging this thread back out of the closet, but the Evening Echo ran an article on Coke Zero Bikes in Cork yesterday. Apparently, it is popular even after the novelty wore off, with almost 290000 trips in the first year of full operations:

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/bike-scheme-proves-a-big-hit/1855458/

Incidentally, they seem to FINALLY have been able to get the station at Brian Boru Bridge up and running. That thing must have been dead since June or July.

KCAccidental · 16-02-2016 11:52pm

KCAccidental wrote: »

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

Just call me MysticAccidental :P

cgcsb · 17-02-2016 10:41am

Corks cycling infrastructure has come on leaps and bounds. The new contra flow cycle lanes on one way streets are a godsend, more of the same please. I expect that has been a factor in the success. Limerick and Galway haven't put much effort into the cycling infrastructure.

lisasimpson · 17-02-2016 11:04am

hope the expand it but could they put the stations in better locations.. Its annoying the amount of parking spaces in town taking up by them south mall jumps out, over by the dole office. there are large sections in town paved, could some of these areas not be used instead for bike stations for example over by the bus station and grand parade. on a sunday its lovely to use one of them

cgcsb · 17-02-2016 12:58pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

hope the expand it but could they put the stations in better locations.. Its annoying the amount of parking spaces in town taking up by them south mall jumps out, over by the dole office. there are large sections in town paved, could some of these areas not be used instead for bike stations for example over by the bus station and grand parade. on a sunday its lovely to use one of them

Policy is generally that space should be re-allocated form the car to more sustainable transport modes. Your suggestion of re-allocating space from pedestrians to cyclists would be counter to that policy, you would simply be transferring space from one sustainable mode to another.

lisasimpson · 17-02-2016 1:29pm

cgcsb wrote: »

Policy is generally that space should be re-allocated form the car to more sustainable transport modes. Your suggestion of re-allocating space from pedestrians to cyclists would be counter to that policy, you would simply be transferring space from one sustainable mode to another.

but the sustainable transport modes need to be in place 1st sometimes trying to find parking on a fri or sat night out in town is quite difficult. . they are parts of town where there are large paved spaces that wouldn't exactly be heavy with pedestrians

cgcsb · 17-02-2016 4:31pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

but the sustainable transport modes need to be in place 1st sometimes trying to find parking on a fri or sat night out in town is quite difficult. . they are parts of town where there are large paved spaces that wouldn't exactly be heavy with pedestrians

What does that mean? You have a finite amount of space and you want to more people to switch to more sustainable modes invariably you need to take some space from the cars and hand if over to more sustainable modes in order for those modes to be attractive.

Part of switching to a more sustainable travel pattern is making the car an unattractive option so that people will switch to less convenient methods. If there is no parking, taking a bus might be a better option. In Dublin for example having a car within the canals just slows you down, parking is extortionate and you'd be faster walking or cycling 90% of the time.

schemingbohemia · 17-02-2016 4:52pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

but the sustainable transport modes need to be in place 1st sometimes trying to find parking on a fri or sat night out in town is quite difficult. . they are parts of town where there are large paved spaces that wouldn't exactly be heavy with pedestrians

This is part of the whole "traffic is other people, not me" dynamic that we see time after time....

http://www.theonion.com/article/report-98-percent-of-us-commuters-favor-public-tra-1434

mire · 17-02-2016 5:24pm

The spaces allocated for public bikes on South Mall (middle of street) take up a few car parking spaces - this is exactly where the bike stands should be - it should be seen as a re-allocation of emphasis from car-dominated transport policy to multiple modes. There are bikes located on the footpath outside electric. Cork has far too many car parking spaces in the city centre - they should for instance remove approximately 50% of on street spaces on the south mall and 70-80% on Morrison's Island. In their place, they should provide new public spaces, landscaping, seating, cafe pods.

clerk · 17-02-2016 6:22pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

but the sustainable transport modes need to be in place 1st sometimes trying to find parking on a fri or sat night out in town is quite difficult. . they are parts of town where there are large paved spaces that wouldn't exactly be heavy with pedestrians

I agree with you 100%, getting parking in town is murder and is having a significant negative affect on Cork City businesses. I would strongly argue that they could have put some of the bike stations on footpaths, e.g. South Mall as you say but it's old news now and I don't run Cork City so it doesn't really matter what I think at the end of the Day.

The bike scheme seems to be a success which is good. As a lot of people are saying it should be expanded to the suburbs, but it's certainly a good start to be fair to whomever rolled it out.

clerk · 17-02-2016 6:27pm

mire wrote: »

The spaces allocated for public bikes on South Mall (middle of street) take up a few car parking spaces - this is exactly where the bike stands should be -

They actually took about 10 spaces which is probably 10% of the total spaces ?? I haven't counted them !!! in a street that it brutal to get parking in already and is supposed to be the main business street in Cork.

Every try to get parking outside any of the banks or Solicitors on South Mall, it's impossible.

I take your point about the shift to emphasis from cars to bikes, just think they could have applied a bit of common scene, the path is quite wide on the South Mall and it's not that busy with pedestrians. There are other instances of it as well, but that's the best example.

clerk · 17-02-2016 6:32pm

mire wrote: »

Cork has far too many car parking spaces in the city centre - they should for instance remove approximately 50% of on street spaces on the south mall and 70-80% on Morrison's Island. In their place, they should provide new public spaces, landscaping, seating, cafe pods.

I couldn't agree with you at about the car spaces when you say "Cork has far too many car parking spaces in the city centre", it's murder getting parking in Cork City, you can get robbed in the Multi stories or go to for example Mahon Point for free parking, it's a no brainer.

Agree with 100% about the lack of public spaces in the City centre, but that's Ireland for you, tell people you have a plan for 10 Years in Ireland and you are always dismissed. We're not strategic thinkers as a Nation, it's always about winning the battle. When you see what they have done with Barcelona, the docks in Liverpool, the public park around the city in Valencia and then look at us, we really are pathetic at long term planning.

There is no decent museum in Cork City, we have no proper 'Titanic' museum in Cobh, the Belfast one is cleaning up. I could go on and on.

TheChizler · 17-02-2016 6:37pm

clerk wrote: »

They actually took about 10 spaces which is probably 10% of the total spaces ?? I haven't counted them !!! in a street that it brutal to get parking in already and is supposed to be the main business street in Cork.

There were about 147 spots before, and I think 10 spaces is on the high side.

cgcsb · 17-02-2016 6:37pm

clerk wrote: »

I couldn't agree with you at about the car spaces when you say "Cork has far too many car parking spaces in the city centre", it's murder getting parking in Cork City, you can get robbed in the Multi stories or go to for example Mahon Point for free parking, it's a no brainer.

You should probably abandon the notion of feeling you can park on the main street like any provincial town. Cork is a City. There aren't Dubliners having heart attacks because they can't park on O'Connell st or College Green.

lisasimpson · 17-02-2016 6:41pm

Thanks clerk that was the point i was trying to make. im no ways against the bikes just better planning of any new stations. Also i agree there should be someone zipping around making sure stations have bike. Was at the train station one day and there were none left

clerk · 17-02-2016 6:46pm

TheChizler wrote: »

There were about 147 spots before, and I think 10 spaces is on the high side.

I'll count it the next time I'm but l'm fairly confident they took about 10 alright. Let me know if you get there before me.

Launch of new Cork Public Bikes Scheme

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