Dublinbikes is one of the most successful bike rental schemes in the world

John_Rambo

Guardian article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/aug/04/dublin-bike-hire-scheme

What's the secret of the Dublin bike hire scheme's success?

Dublinbikes is one of the most successful bike rental schemes in the world, with more than 58,000 subscribers and 2.2m rentals


Dublinbikes, the Irish capital's bike hire scheme, will turn two years old this September. With over 58,000 subscribers and 2.2m rentals to date, it has been reported as one of the most successful bike rental schemes in the world. In Dublin, each bike made an average of more than 2,200 journeys in its first year. Comparatively, London's scheme which was a year old at the start of July recorded an average of 1,000 journeys per bike over the year. So what is dublinbikes' secret to success?
The scheme is a joint partnership between Dublin city council and French company JC Decaux. Jason Frehill of Dublin city council project manages the scheme and says its success was due to three main factors: "The fact that the public in Dublin embraced the scheme and are now its guardians, the time taken to find the best location of each station, and the quality of the service delivered by JC Decaux." He explained that the high uptake of dublinbikes was further facilitated by the low annual fee which is a €10 nominal charge.
Dublin city council aims to have a free public transport system for citizens of Dublin and currently 97% of the scheme's usage is under the 30-minute threshold, making it free for users. Any journeys longer than this are charged for.
Everyone I talked to about dublinbikes responded positively, whether they were infrequent or regular users. A dublinbikes subscriber mentioned that maintenance costs and fear of robbery of a private bike was her motivation for using the public scheme. The bike scheme has even had a positive effect on private bike users. One cyclist said: "As a daily bike commuter, dublinbikes are great. Since they have been here cars are much more aware of cyclists."
The scheme is also being adopted as a mode of transport by visitors to the city, who get a three day subscription for €2. One Dubliner owns his own bike but joined the public scheme so that he can have a spare bike for his guests.
The success of the bike scheme has prompted plans for an expansion from its current 550 bikes and 44 stations to 5,000 bikes and 300 stations. Bike stations are currently located in close proximity to areas of high employment, amenities and other transport services. The planned expansion will bring bike stations to the suburbs.
One of the main issues when cycling in Dublin is that in many areas the cycle lane is also part of the bus lane. When asked about this, Frehill said that development of cycle lanes will be part of the dublinbikes expansion. The council is in the process of developing a strategic approach for an integrated cycle network.
Personally I love dublinbikes and find it the quickest way to travel around the city centre. Conveniently bike stations are outside my favourite restaurant and near my bus stop. I was not surprised to hear that the council attributes much of its success to the people of Dublin. We are all very proud of this scheme and it has been a positive story in all our recent doom and gloom.
• Maria Daly blogs at Science Calling!

steve9859

The London bike scheme is exactly the same. I would think that the difference in journey numbers is due to the existence of the tube in London and the size of the city and traffic making a bike journey comparatively more daunting than in Dublin for the average visitor.

I'd like to see the Dublin scheme extended further west to heuston station. There aren't enough docks in Dublin (another reason for the high usage I guess). London has 400 docking stations and is about to expand further. That is a lot more than Dublin relative to it's size

BeerNut

The Grauniad wrote:

What's the secret of the Dublin bike hire scheme's success?

Our woeful public transport system.

delta_bravo

BeerNut wrote: »

Our woeful public transport system.

Theres always one....

Can you not look at positives of this? Also I would regard the Dublin Bikes scheme as part of our public transport system. It is cheap, quick and will only go from strength to strength once the spread of stations increases.

monument

steve9859 wrote: »

The London bike scheme is exactly the same. I would think that the difference in journey numbers is due to the existence of the tube in London and the size of the city and traffic making a bike journey comparatively more daunting than in Dublin for the average visitor.

I'd like to see the Dublin scheme extended further west to heuston station. There aren't enough docks in Dublin (another reason for the high usage I guess). London has 400 docking stations and is about to expand further. That is a lot more than Dublin relative to it's size

But the London bike scheme is not the exact same -- for example, there are higher signup costs for the users (a yearly sub is or the Barclays Cycle Hire is £45, compared to just €10 in Dublin). There's some distinct cultural differences between London and Dublin too -- anybody not wearing a helmets in London is open to being criticised by those they work with etc, but such nonsense isn't half as bad in Dublin.

And good news -- Dublin Bikes is due to be expanded towards Heuston and the Docklands and then to further areas -- See here.

Ziboo

Another reason for the relative success is the relatively small number of stations which are all within a small area leading to heavy use.
This will likely mean that the expansion of the service to a wider area with more stations which would provide an improved service to us is likely to result in a service which will appear less successful by the measures used above.

Degsy

delta_bravo wrote: »

will only go from strength to strength once the spread of stations increases.

Great..so there's be even more halfwits in suits mounting the pavements and running red lights whilst ringing thier little bells furiously.

BeerNut

delta_bravo wrote: »

Can you not look at positives of this? Also I would regard the Dublin Bikes scheme as part of our public transport system. It is cheap, quick and will only go from strength to strength once the spread of stations increases.

I'm a big user of Dublin Bikes, despite also commuting via my personal bicycle. I think it's probably the best thing that has happened to this city in the 16 years I've lived here. I'm amazed and delighted that something so useful is so cheap and I really hope the expansion of the system happens sooner rather than later.

They are the most effective and efficient means of getting around town. Why is that? Because our public transport infrastructure is 50 years behind what it should be.

monument

It's worth noting that 95% respondents to an online city council survey rated dublinbikes positively.

http://www.dublincity.ie/Press/dccPressPacks/YDYV/Pages/Results(1stSurvey).aspx

Cookie_Monster

I posted this in the cycling forum also:
put's it in perspective despite the success.

this is an interesting comment, despite the relative success of the scheme:

Dublin is a city of half a million people. A million people live in the Urban area. On average, all around the world, people make about 2.5 journeys per day using all modes. As such, you can expect that the half million who live in the city make around 1.2 million journeys every day. Dublinbikes are used for about 1.1 m journeys every year. That's less than a third of one percent of the total journeys made in the city.

Also note that the story includes someone who already rides his own bike in the city. This is perhaps similar to London's scheme, where only a fifth of subscribers are people who did not already cycle in the city.

We all like good news stories, but the hype over shared bikes is ludicrous. This scheme may well be doing better than that in London, but it's still tiny. There is still no evidence that these expensive systems achieve a change in travel habits, yet councils around the world seem keen to install them.

But not to be totally negative on it, I don't use it but think it's great. (no need to use it personally) Hopefully given a few more years we can rival Amsterdam for cycling.
Auckland (and Melboure iirc) had a similar scheme but with their mandatory helmet laws it got no use and closed after about a year. It's an interesting comparison and perhaps the best proof that helmet laws don't work that well too

monument

That quote is nonsense. Dublin Bikes -- given it's small coverage area and small amount of bikes -- has been hugely successful.

seamus

monument wrote: »

That quote is nonsense.

It makes a number of incorrect assumptions, but primarily assumes that 1 million residents will pass through the area served by Dublin bikes on a daily basis. Even if ten percent of Dublin's residents pass through the area covered by the scheme on a daily basis (highly unlikely), then that means that the scheme is used for 3% of all applicable journeys. Which is enormous in the context of how many people cycle in general.

Dyr

Degsy wrote: »

Great..so there's be even more halfwits in suits mounting the pavements and running red lights whilst ringing thier little bells furiously.

f**king A..there's one twat who pulls this everyday at my bus stop (bar the ringing bell) I always stand in his way..just because i care about traffic calming measures.


i don't actually get what its meant to do..is it for people who live a stones throw from the city centre or just for people who want to cycle to their dart station?

seamus

Bambi wrote: »

f**king A..there's one twat who pulls this everyday at my bus stop (bar the ringing bell) I always stand in his way..just because i care about traffic calming measures.

Have you reported him to the Gardai?

i don't actually get what its meant to do..is it for people who live a stones throw from the city centre or just for people who want to cycle to their dart station?

It's for getting around the city more quickly than any other form of transport (except maybe motorbike).

John_Rambo

steve9859 wrote: »

There aren't enough docks in Dublin (another reason for the high usage I guess). London has 400 docking stations and is about to expand further. That is a lot more than Dublin relative to it's size

Did you read the article at all Steve9859? They are expanding it to 5,000 bikes and 300 stations, that's a lot more bikes and stations per person than London.

Cookie Monster, who came out with that stuff? It bangs of "world travelers" moaning about tourists! There is no hype about the DublinBike scheme, it simply has been a well documented massive success, not matter who uses them, and believe me, they are used throughout the cities, tourists, locals suburbanites, etc.. He or she gives out about the expense of it, none came out of his or her taxes! Sounds like good old fashioned Irish begrudgery. Something is working well, slam it!

Cookie_Monster

John_Rambo wrote: »

Cookie Monster, who came out with that stuff? It bangs of "world travelers" moaning about tourists! There is no hype about the DublinBike scheme, it simply has been a well documented massive success, not matter who uses them, and believe me, they are used throughout the cities, tourists, locals suburbanites, etc.. He or she gives out about the expense of it, none came out of his or her taxes! Sounds like good old fashioned Irish begrudgery. Something is working well, slam it!

It's a comment on the guardian site. I just thought it was interesting is all regardless of the exact figures. Has the scheme actually reduced car journeys at all, people will still commute from distance in as the scheme is so limited...

Dyr

seamus wrote: »

Have you reported him to the Gardai?


It's for getting around the city more quickly than any other form of transport (except maybe motorbike).

"hello garda..there some twat mounting the pavement every day at my bus stop..actually there's tons of them down here"

copper: "we'll send a squad car down right away..no actually we're sending the ERU just in case..hahaha" click

So if this thing is such a sucess can we pay off that french advertising company on the profits and take down their poxy billboards?

John_Rambo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

It's a comment on the guardian site. I just thought it was interesting is all regardless of the exact figures. Has the scheme actually reduced car journeys at all, people will still commute from distance in as the scheme is so limited...

It is interesting you are right there. Regarding reducing car journeys, in my case and a few friends, yes, it has. I used to drive in (I still do a small bit) but more often I will Dart or Bus it in and cycle from one side of the city to the other at the weekend. Other friends will park for free further outside the city and bike it the rest of the way.

Weirdly it got me hankering to get back on my own bike, I didn't realise what a difference a truck free Dublin city would make for the cyclist and I am now commuting to work and back on my own recently purchased bike.

Bambi wrote: »

f**king A..there's one twat who pulls this everyday at my bus stop (bar the ringing bell) I always stand in his way..just because i care about traffic calming measures.

Grow up.

steve9859

John_Rambo wrote: »

steve9859 wrote: »

There aren't enough docks in Dublin (another reason for the high usage I guess). London has 400 docking stations and is about to expand further. That is a lot more than Dublin relative to it's size

Did you read the article at all Steve9859? They are expanding it to 5,000 bikes and 300 stations, that's a lot more bikes and stations per person than London.

Cookie Monster, who came out with that stuff? It bangs of "world travelers" moaning about tourists! There is no hype about the DublinBike scheme, it simply has been a well documented massive success, not matter who uses them, and believe me, they are used throughout the cities, tourists, locals suburbanites, etc.. He or she gives out about the expense of it, none came out of his or her taxes! Sounds like good old fashioned Irish begrudgery. Something is working well, slam it!

The usage rates that the guardian is using to proclaim the scheme as the best in the world will then come down significantly. And the price go up I suspect to pay for a much higher number of relocation trucks combined with much lower trips per bike. I was only making the point that the usage is artificially high as there are nowhere near enough bikes (and on another note, the seats don't go high enough for someone over 6 foot 3. London bike seats go higher)

The expansion is great news but I wish they would get on with it. It seems a bit too many though to be honest.

John_Rambo

steve9859 wrote: »

There aren't enough docks in Dublin

steve9859 wrote: »

The expansion is great news but I wish they would get on with it. It seems a bit too many though to be honest.

steve9859 wrote: »

And the price go up I suspect

steve9859 wrote: »

and on another note, the seats don't go high enough for someone over 6 foot 3

There aren't enough, but wait, there are too many, the price might be too expensive, they seats are not good enough... You're picking holes where there aren't any.

briano

monument wrote: »

But the London bike scheme is not the exact same -- for example, there are higher signup costs for the users (a yearly sub is or the Barclays Cycle Hire is £45, compared to just €10 in Dublin). There's some distinct cultural differences between London and Dublin too -- anybody not wearing a helmets in London is open to being criticised by those they work with etc, but such nonsense isn't half as bad in Dublin.

And good news -- Dublin Bikes is due to be expanded towards Heuston and the Docklands and then to further areas -- See here.

I have to agree with monument, there are big differences between the two. The London bikes are (in my opinion) horrible to cycle compared to the DBs. There is no integrated lock and the kickstands don't work. Also, availablity is an issue in London and the interface for actually renting one is so horrible (for short term leases at least) that it makes you wonder if the person who designed it hates cyclists.

steve9859

John_Rambo wrote: »

steve9859 wrote: »

There aren't enough docks in Dublin

steve9859 wrote: »

The expansion is great news but I wish they would get on with it. It seems a bit too many though to be honest.

steve9859 wrote: »

And the price go up I suspect

steve9859 wrote: »

and on another note, the seats don't go high enough for someone over 6 foot 3

There aren't enough, but wait, there are too many, the price might be too expensive, they seats are not good enough... You're picking holes where there aren't any.

Easy, tiger! Don't want to get into a fight! But my gripe is the scheme doesn't cover my area despite it being near a major train station and the seats don't go high enough (but then the Irish generally aren't the tallest people) It's expanding which is great. My only comment was that it has been 'expanding' for a while, and i dont see any signs of it yet! Other than that the scheme, like all bike schemes in every city, is great.

Dyr

John_Rambo wrote: »

Grow up.

Presumably by "grow up" you mean "tolerate anti social behaviour by tossers on bikes". Not gonna happen buddy. The reclaim the pavement movement starts here

steve9859

Bambi wrote: »

John_Rambo wrote: »

Grow up.

Presumably by "grow up" you mean "tolerate anti social behaviour by tossers on bikes". Not gonna happen buddy. The reclaim the pavement movement starts here

You're fighting a losing battle buddy! Bikes are only going to increase in number. And then the roads and the pavements will belong to us, the clearly superior citizens

Oh hang on, this isn't 'after hours'. Sorry, I take all that back. Pedestrians rock!

John_Rambo

Bambi wrote: »

Presumably by "grow up" you mean "tolerate anti social behaviour by tossers on bikes"

Look, if you want to get dressed up in a costume, wear a cape and go all out vigilante against rapists, street violence, vandals etc... I commend you, go for it, kick ass... You are doing something about anti-social behavior. But standing in someones way as they cycle to work is just petty and annoying, it's like the morons that drive in the overtaking lane at 120 on the motorway. Dublin is not Sidney or Amsterdam, people j-walk, cyclists hop up and off the path, people get on, nobody gets dead...

Maybe you should join the reserve Gards?

John_Rambo

steve9859 wrote: »

Easy, tiger! Don't want to get into a fight! But my gripe is the scheme doesn't cover my area despite it being near a major train station

You should contact them... I'd say they would listen, they seem to be proactive.

Cookie_Monster

steve9859 wrote: »

my gripe is the scheme doesn't cover my area despite it being near a major train station

there's a very good reason for that.

It would end up creating too many one way journeys away from the site in the morning and to it in the evening, meaning there frequently be a total shortage or too many bikes for the stand to take.

the expansion and placement of many nearby bike stations should help once it happens.

steve9859

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

there's a very good reason for that.

It would end up creating too many one way journeys away from the site in the morning and to it in the evening, meaning there frequently be a total shortage or too many bikes for the stand to take.

the expansion and placement of many nearby bike stations should help once it happens.

For a bike scheme to become an integral part of the public transport network, that needs to be addressed. Whether a new docking station is at Heutson or in Ranelagh, there will be a big outflow in the mornings, and more trucks will be needed to deal with it (ie. take bikes back), as well as emptying it in the evenings, as happens in larger cities with a high number of commuter users outside of the major stations for example

At the moment the Dublin bike scheme, great though it is (with the easiest to handle bikes than most others), is not part of an integrated transport network catering for commuters from outside the very centre of the city. The bikes in Dublin cater for largely random journeys and the docks are pretty much self replenishing (which is another reason why it is so cheap). Upon expansion into more suburban areas, the operators will begin to have to deploy a load of vans to move bikes around.

Also for a scheme to be effective at Heuston you would not only need trucks to replenish the bikes, but also a better way for annual subscribers to access the bike. The interface at the terminals in Dublin is very good (better than London) for temporary users, but the fact that annual subscribers have to use the terminal would be an issue at busy times when there might be a queue of commuters stuck behind a tourist who doesnt know what they are doing at the machine. In London, an annual subscriber can take a bike straight from the dock, without having to use the terminal.

(Again, to those accusing me of picking holes, I think the scheme is great. Good bikes and cheap to use)

snappieT

John_Rambo wrote: »

The success of the bike scheme has prompted plans for an expansion from its current 550 bikes and 44 stations to 5,000 bikes and 300 stations.

And yet that link has no mention of 5,000 bikes or 300 stations... Does anyone have a real source for that?

Dyr

John_Rambo wrote: »

Lpeople j-walk, cyclists hop up and off the path, people get on, nobody gets dead...

Maybe you should join the reserve Gards?

Ah my fuzzy friend, that is where you are wrong, cars do not mount pavements because the lights are not with them, motorbikes do not decide that the narrow path is a safer bet for them than the road, pedestrians do not saunter up the road in the bus lane. It is only our bike wielding city dwellers who believe that the world is their cycle lane. I merely remind them that it's not. Although a cape would be nice alright. Maybe a baseball bat too.

John_Rambo

Bambi wrote: »

Ah my fuzzy friend, that is where you are wrong

No, I'm right, cars run lights, they do mount pavements, motobikes to do! Pedestrians indeed do jaywalk in Dublin city, there is even a book called "Jaywalking with the Irish"! Cyclists are not the only law breakers, and, they are probably the most harmless in my opinion, I'd never have a problem with a cyclist sharing the footpath with me, nor do most Dubliners.

Bambi wrote: »

Maybe a baseball bat too.

Yeah, see how long you last.

snappieT wrote: »

And yet that link has no mention of 5,000 bikes or 300 stations... Does anyone have a real source for that?

There is a mention on the link at the start of the sixth paragraph, you can ask the journalist where she got her real info.

snappieT

John_Rambo wrote: »

There is a mention on the link at the start of the sixth paragraph, you can ask the journalist where she got her real info.

I only see 550 bikes, not 5000. I generally have an issue with journalists (from legitimate papers, like The Guardian) appearing to reference something that isn't their actual source. That press release isn't even from this year.

monument

snappieT wrote: »

And yet that link has no mention of 5,000 bikes or 300 stations... Does anyone have a real source for that?

Here's a link: http://dublinobserver.com/2011/03/wheels-set-in-motion-for-dublin-bikes-expansion/

If you want to read further, at the bottom of the article there's a link to the PDF of Dublin City Council's Dublin Bikes Strategic Planning Framework 2011-2016 -- which isn't even on the council's website!

BTW I don't think she's a journalist, seems to be a blogger who asked or was asked to post a guest blog on The Guardian's Bike Blog.