Launch of new Cork Public Bikes Scheme

evilivor · 03-07-2014 3:31pm #1

Haven't seen any details on pricing yet but it looks like the city centre is going to be pretty well served with bikes come September.

The first viewing of the new, specially-designed bike for the regional cities’ Coca-Cola Zero Bikes scheme took place in Cork’s City Hall yesterday morning, where Minister Alan Kelly TD and the National Transport Authority were joined by the Lord Mayor of Cork, scheme sponsors Coca-Cola Zero and operators An Rothar Nua.

Featuring a distinctive black design with bright red accents, the new bikes will soon be a striking presence on the streets of Cork, Limerick and Galway, when the three public bikes schemes launch to the public in the autumn.
And uniquely amongst bike schemes world-wide, these bikes have built-in gear-shifting technology, enabling automatic gear-changes which will contribute towards easier and safer cycling for users.

Cork will have 320 bikes, 31 bike stations and 635 bike stands

Cork 2-01 College Road: Gaol Walk - 20 Docks
Cork 2-02 Mardyke Walk: Fitzgerald's Park - 15 Docks
Cork 2-03 Dyke Parade - 40 Docks
Cork 2-04 Mardyke Walk: St. Joseph's School - 20 Docks
Cork 2-05 Henry Street: Mercy Hospital - 15 Docks
Cork 2-06 Lancaster Quay - 20 Docks
Cork 2-07 Griffith Bridge - 20 Docks
Cork 2-08 North Main Street - 15 Docks
Cork 2-09 Grattan Street: Court House - 15 Docks
Cork 2-10 Wandesford Quay: Wandesford Street - 30 Docks
Cork 2-11 Bishop Street - 20 Docks
Cork 2-12 Popes Quay: St. Mary's Cathedral - 20 Docks
Cork 2-14 Corn Market Street - 20 Docks
Cork 2-15 St Patricks Street - 20 Docks
Cork 2-16 South Main Street: Bishop Lucey Park - 10 Docks
Cork 2-17 Grand Parade: City Library - 20 Docks
Cork 2-18 South Mall: Grand Parade - 20 Docks
Cork 2-19 Sullivan's Quay: Griffith College - 20 Docks
Cork 2-20 Coburg Street: Bridge Street - 30 Docks
Cork 2-21 Emmet Place: Crawford Street - 15 Docks
Cork 2-22 South Mall - 30 Docks
Cork 2-23 Fr. Mathew Quay: College of Commerce - 30 Docks
Cork 2-24 St Patricks Street: Merchants Quay - 15 Docks
Cork 2-25 Union Quay: CIT Cork School of Music - 15 Docks
Cork 2-26 St Patricks Quay - 10 Docks
Cork 2-27 Parnell Place: Bus Station - 40 Docks
Cork 2-28 Lapp's Quay: Parnell Bridge - 30 Docks
Cork 2-29 Anglesea Street: City Hall - 15 Docks
Cork 2-30 Lower Glanmire Road: - 30 Docks
Cork 2-31 Custom House Quay: Custom House - 10 Docks
Cork 2-32 Lower Glanmire: Road Kent Station - 25 Docks

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Design_reveal_-_Coca_Cola_Zero_Bikes_regional_cities.pdf

run_Forrest_run · 03-07-2014 4:29pm

a great initiative, lets hope it works well here.

evilivor · 03-07-2014 4:35pm

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

a great initiative, lets hope it works well here.

Yes, hope so. The bikes look okay too.

Knasher · 03-07-2014 4:43pm

I think it is a pity they've only put stands in the city centre. It would have made a nice alternative to buses if you were travelling to places a little bit further out, like Blackpool or Douglas. Hopefully it will expand a bit over time.

thomil · 03-07-2014 5:19pm

As far as I know, it is just supposed to be the core of a larger network of stations. I'm pretty confident that, once the system has been up and running for a bit, it will be expanded. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this system in operation, and I'll be sure to use it. I only hope they don't overdo it on the pricing.

flintash · 03-07-2014 5:40pm

my bet it cost fortune, and wont last two month.

Red Nissan · 03-07-2014 5:46pm

flintash wrote: »

my bet it cost fortune, and wont last two month.

Sure won't it be tax payers guaranteed? I see a lot of them paving the bottom of the river.

the beer revolu · 03-07-2014 5:54pm

flintash wrote: »

my bet it cost fortune, and wont last two month.

Red Nissan wrote: »

Sure won't it be tax payers guaranteed? I see a lot of them paving the bottom of the river.

Isn't it great to see that Cork positivity alive and well!

Why Cork might not get off its knees and become a modern, vibrant, dynamic city with less traffic congestion and less social problems ?

Because it's full of negative, self serving whingebags!!

Karl Stein · 03-07-2014 6:00pm

flintash wrote: »

my bet it cost fortune, and wont last two month.

That's the spirit.

pwurple · 03-07-2014 6:06pm

Interesting. So what's the craic, you sign up for it somewhere? You take bike from one slot and park it at another? Or,, could you say.... Take a bike home after a night out in town and bring it back in the morning?

flintash · 03-07-2014 6:17pm

jeez! im not a whingebag !! just saying... from experience...

54kroc · 03-07-2014 6:54pm

Would there be any chance of these bikes coming to the suburbs?

Flesh Gorden · 03-07-2014 7:07pm

pwurple wrote: »

Interesting. So what's the craic, you sign up for it somewhere? You take bike from one slot and park it at another? Or,, could you say.... Take a bike home after a night out in town and bring it back in the morning?

I'd say it will be pretty similar to the Dublin one

copied from their site:

SUBSCRIPTION FEES
Annual Card €20
3 day ticket €5

A guarantee of €150 is required

BIKE HIRE FEES
First ½ Hour : free
1 hour : €0.50
2 hours : €1.50
3 hours : €3.50
4 hours : €6.50
Every extra ½ Hour : €2

Sounds similar to car rental regarding the security deposit I've in bold.

There's another FAQ link from the Dublin site that handles some of the practicality questions
http://www.dublinbikes.ie/How-does-it-work/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Stations-and-bikes#faq0

So you could take the bike home, but it would cost quite a bit if you did compared to the normal pricing structure.

run_Forrest_run · 03-07-2014 7:07pm

pwurple wrote: »

Interesting. So what's the craic, you sign up for it somewhere? You take bike from one slot and park it at another? Or,, could you say.... Take a bike home after a night out in town and bring it back in the morning?

I love your thinking :-)

Malari · 03-07-2014 7:22pm

This is great. I commute and cycle for leisure, but I treat my bike like a dog; I never leave it locked up outside on its own :pac: so I would definitely use this scheme. A map would be nice though...

pwurple · 03-07-2014 8:36pm

Thanks Flesh.... Yeah, sounds like it won't suit the post-pub crowd so. Nice to see points at the bus and train station though, those two badly needed to be linked together.

Hopefully it will work well and be expanded into more of the city. There are plenty of people around Cork who could freewheel into the city center, and then bus it home uphill.

evilivor · 03-07-2014 9:43pm

flintash wrote: »

my bet it cost fortune, and wont last two month.

It's paid for by the advertising company.

Bacchus · 03-07-2014 9:44pm

Sounds great. I'd say commuter areas will get stations as the cycle network continues to be worked on and pending the success of this initial outlay.

dudara · 05-07-2014 9:59am

I was sceptical when this launched in Dublin, I thought the bikes would get fecked, vandalised etc. But that has turned out to be completely wrong. The scheme is mainly in the city centre between the canals, but it's constantly expanding.

Great to see it opening in Cork now. Looking at the station listing, it seems quite high density. I wonder if they'll set it up so my DublinBikes card will also work here?

PrzemoF · 05-07-2014 10:23pm

I think it's time to update openstreetmap.org with bike paths and bike rental stations...

LeNNoX · 07-07-2014 1:19pm

I hope the whole thing (each county) is all part of the one payment scheme and that my Dublin Bikes card will work in Cork? It would be a shame if its separate cards for each county.

Pitcairn · 07-07-2014 3:28pm

LeNNoX wrote: »

I hope the whole thing (each county) is all part of the one payment scheme and that my Dublin Bikes card will work in Cork? It would be a shame if its separate cards for each county.

I think the ultimate aim is that the Leap card system will work for all the bike schemes but initially I'd say the Cork one won't be connected with the Dublin one.

Bacchus · 07-07-2014 3:36pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

I think the ultimate aim is that the Leap card system will work for all the bike schemes but initially I'd say the Cork one won't be connected with the Dublin one.

It'd be a hell of a cycle anyway on one of those bikes :P

AugustusMinimus · 07-07-2014 5:18pm

Looks like a nice setup. One question though. What if you get to a station and there isn't space to park your bike ?

Pitcairn · 07-07-2014 6:28pm

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Looks like a nice setup. One question though. What if you get to a station and there isn't space to park your bike ?

They'' give you the location of the nearest docking station with an empty lock and add 15 minutes to your free-time period.

Bacchus · 07-07-2014 7:21pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

They'' give you the location of the nearest docking station with an empty lock and add 15 minutes to your free-time period.

One would hope they would adapt quickly to the needs (supply and demand) but the initial layout looks quite good. Looking forward to this. It'll be nice to be able to cycle down to Fitzgerald's park from town on a sunny day

Knasher · 07-07-2014 7:38pm

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Looks like a nice setup. One question though. What if you get to a station and there isn't space to park your bike ?

You can usually also lookup online how many bikes and spaces a station currently has before you head to it.

HurtLocker · 09-07-2014 3:33am

Why not have a station at CIT. The mind boggles.

Bacchus · 09-07-2014 7:53am

HurtLocker wrote: »

Why not have a station at CIT. The mind boggles.

It was probably just too far out for this initial rollout. That's a long way away from the city center to have docking station. What happens if there are no spaces left there? You'd have to have more stations nearby that customers could use or else they face having to cycle back towards town.

Poxyshamrock · 09-07-2014 1:01pm

According to Alan Kelly, the work is starting this week! Anyone notice it around town?

Pitcairn · 09-07-2014 1:11pm

I saw a roadworks notice that work is starting near Gaol Cross today to install the electric lines that will serve the docking stations.

I think they will spend the next few weeks doing that type of work before later installing the actual docking stations.

http://www.theaa.ie/AA/AA-Roadwatch/Story.aspx?id=57392

-Toppy- · 09-07-2014 2:24pm

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-

evilivor · 09-07-2014 2:36pm

-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.

pwurple · 09-07-2014 11:13pm

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

Bacchus · 10-07-2014 9:14am

pwurple wrote: »

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

That is quite brilliant

Lemag · 21-09-2014 11:40pm

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

LeinsterDub · 21-09-2014 11:43pm

They've been delayed due to electrical issues

Lemag · 22-09-2014 12:05pm

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?

Poxyshamrock · 22-09-2014 12:21pm

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!

Subpopulus · 25-09-2014 10:34am

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.

Iwannahurl · 25-09-2014 10:39am

A bike escalator makes me think of this:

Lemag · 25-09-2014 10:42am

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

pwurple · 25-09-2014 10:46am

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.

Subpopulus · 25-09-2014 11:01am

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?

pwurple · 25-09-2014 11:23am

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!

Subpopulus · 25-09-2014 12:03pm

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

blindsider · 29-09-2014 6:16pm

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:

Bacchus · 30-09-2014 8:39am

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.

KCAccidental · 01-10-2014 12:02am

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

namloc1980 · 17-10-2014 9:48pm

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.

Poxyshamrock · 17-10-2014 9:56pm

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!

Launch of new Cork Public Bikes Scheme

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