Velib like bicycle rental kiosks are being constructed in Dublin

undo

Sure, db have them - but they are not on the streets. To db users, this makes no difference. The number of bikes available keeps decreasing.

Chips Lovell

Well, I'd prefer them to be in the depot getting punctures etc fixed than non-functional and still out on the stands.

blorg

Clearly, the scheme is an utter failure.

Chips Lovell

Clearly

undo

I would much prefer to have them fixed and out on the streets. An increasing number of bikes in the depot implies they are breaking faster than they can be fixed. More staff, spare parts or whatever is missing should be added so that the system does not end up with 3 stolen bikes, 447 in the depot and 0 on the streets.

Lumen

I went to the supermarket on Saturday, bought 450 beers, and put them in my fridge.

Today there are only 440 beers in my fridge.

At this rate I will run out of beer in about 132 days, and will have to be teetotal for the rest of my life.

Woe is me.

alfalad

undo wrote: »

I would much prefer to have them fixed and out on the streets. An increasing number of bikes in the depot implies they are breaking faster than they can be fixed. More staff, spare parts or whatever is missing should be added so that the system does not end up with 3 stolen bikes, 447 in the depot and 0 on the streets.

Do you honestly think this will happen? I walk by a min of 4 bays and have yet to see any of them empty!

Thus far only good things have been said about the scheme besides a couple of bays being full, a small issue and one that I have no doubt will be sorted soon when they get a better understanding of what usage trends are.

lukester

undo wrote: »

More staff, spare parts or whatever is missing should be added so that the system does not end up with 3 stolen bikes, 447 in the depot and 0 on the streets.

Indeed, I'd say there's a high risk of that occurring.

It's probably what has caused all the other Velib schemes around Europe to fail.

Chips Lovell

Also, who's to say tha bikes in for repair etc. are not taken in before 12:30 or left back after 5:30?

What these statistics prove is that there is a falling amount of bikes being left locked in the streets over night. That does't necessarily mean there's a dropping number available for hire during the day.

undo

alfalad wrote: »

Do you honestly think this will happen? I walk by a min of 4 bays and have yet to see any of them empty!

Of course I do not expect the count to drop to zero. That was an exaggeration. But if they really are building up a backlog of unfixed bikes, something should be done about it to maximize the number out on the streets.

I am a frequent user of the system. In the 9 days I have had my card, I have completed 24 journeys. And I expect that number to keep growing fast. But as I use the system a lot, I run into the known issues a lot: The station I want to take a bike from is often empty, the one I am going to often full. I understand the system is new and they need to learn the usage patterns. I am happy to wait for it all to get into gear a month or two from now... I just hope they will make an effort to keep it working well.

undo

el tonto wrote: »

Also, who's to say tha bikes in for repair etc. are not taken in before 12:30 or left back after 5:30?

Take a count at any other time of the day. The numbers are << 450 as well.

Chips Lovell

undo wrote: »

Take a count at any other time of the day. The numbers are << 450 as well.

Of course it would be. You've got to take the bikes out on hire into account.

undo

el tonto wrote: »

Of course it would be. You've got to take the bikes out on hire into account.

... which is why I was comparing counts at night when (almost) all bikes should be back at the stands.

Chips Lovell

undo wrote: »

... which is why I was comparing counts at night when (almost) all bikes should be back at the stands.

But there's no need to have all the bikes on the stands over night.

All I'm saying is that you can't draw such conclusions from the available information.

undo

This is going in circles a bit. Yes, the number at night is not necessarily identical to the number available during the day. Then again, the total during the day cannot be measured. In the end, what matters is that when you need a bike, you find one quickly. If they make that happen with just 300 bikes, I will be equally happy. The number really is irrelevant.

But if we want to get *some* impression of how the system is doing, I think the number of bikes at the stands at night is at least an indicator. Should it keep decreasing day by day, I would see that as a worrying trend. Even if they plan to put the bikes back out onto the street in the morning, there are only that many staff members and that many db trucks that can distribute bikes. We will hit a bottleneck there where the early morning commuters find no bikes.

WithCheesePlease

alfalad wrote: »

I walk by a min of 4 bays and have yet to see any of them empty!

Thus far only good things have been said about the scheme besides a couple of bays being full, a small issue and one that I have no doubt will be sorted soon when they get a better understanding of what usage trends are.

I am in NO way knocking this scheme - in fact I think it's brilliant.

But as a "matter of fact" I pass the Merrion Square West - Station no. 26 every day after work and have seen it empty a few times. Even now the website is showing it as having no bikes. Maybe no bikes were ever put there? And also DublinBike.ie is showing the other station on Merrion Square east - Station no. 25 as having only 1 free bike. What is it with Merrion Square??!

Nietzschean

its time of day, i've used both those stations when they were half full or nearly full. Alot of the ones near office blocks empty out around 5 - 6pm, and other ones with larger apartment densities fill up(like smithfield)

undo

This is why dublinbikes have a nifty little truck and are supposed to be moving bikes around...

Nietzschean

undo wrote: »

This is why dublinbikes have a nifty little truck and are supposed to be moving bikes around...

Yeah, but to expect them to be able to keep all stands from being full or empty during commuter rush hours seems to be asking the impossible? The time of day that should lead to the greatest imbalances in the system are also the time that nifty little truck couldn't re-balance the bikes anyway with traffic...

I was very surprised to see the station nearest the IFSC full when I picked up a bike there at around a quarter to 6 this evening. Was happy though to get the last spot on the return leg of my journey later!

Nietzschean

that : http://dublinbikes2go.com/station.php?id=8 one?

Limestone1

undo wrote: »

I added up the number of bikes at all stations at 2am last night - 371 if I remember correctly. I wonder where the other 76 bikes not accounted for have gone?

Passed a girl on one on the Deansgrange Rd this morning around 8:00am heading towards town which I thought unusual - so being the curious type I asked her how far she had travelled on it this morning. Turns out she booked it out yesterday and took it home last night. When I asked her if she was aware of the charging structure said she was fully aware .....

Stark

As far as I know, if you don't drop it back that evening, you get charged the €¡50? Maybe she has no intention of dropping it back. New bike for €150...

markpb

Stark wrote: »

As far as I know, if you don't drop it back that evening, you get charged the €¡50? Maybe she has no intention of dropping it back. New bike for €150...

You have 24 hours to return the bike before being fined €150.

paddy2k

This is kinda weird but the bike station outside the Mater (Eccles St) has had 19 bikes at it since opening time this morning...
http://www.dublinbikes2go.com/station.php?id=12

Does anyone live near it? Is it broken or being fixed or something?

bg07

paddy2k wrote: »

This is kinda weird but the bike station outside the Mater (Eccles St) has had 19 bikes at it since opening time this morning...
http://www.dublinbikes2go.com/station.php?id=12

Does anyone live near it? Is it broken or being fixed or something?

It wasnt working at 8:30 this morning. The display ws stuck on a screen saying connecting. Mustnt be fixed yet. Probably needs to be rebooted or somethnig

Blowfish

Courtesy of AH: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0930/breaking45.htm

undo

Heading home from work at 12:20am last night, half the stations on the Southside were completely emtpy and half of those on the Northside were completeley full. This made it difficult to take a bike from D2 to D1. In the end, I just crossed the Liffey on the bike, dropped it off at the last available stand at Custom House and walked the rest. I wish they did redistribute the bikes in the evening, sometime between the end of rush hour and midnight.

As for the stations crashing: Apparently, they run Windows and so are prone to the usual instability of that platform.

Doctor Bob

Blowfish wrote: »

Courtesy of AH: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0930/breaking45.htm

The two missing bikes had been hired on a 72-hour ticket but were not returned within the required timeframe. As a result, the users lost the €150 guarantee they had deposited to secure the bike rental.

Zero tolerance, eh?

If only they had adopted the same attitude towards motorists using the College green bus gate. 'Bedding in', I believe it was called. :rolleyes:

eightyfish

undo wrote: »

As for the stations crashing: Apparently, they run Windows and so are prone to the usual instability of that platform.

Ha!

At least the bikes don't run on Windows. You wouldn't want to perform an illegal operation in the middle of Dame st.