The Bike Scheme thread

Zzippy

snubbleste wrote: »

That's a motorist mindset right there!:cool:

Well it was phrased slightly tongue in cheek, but it was a serious question, as I'm keen to use the bike scheme. I am a motorist but also a cyclist BTW

Iwannahurl

galwaycyclist wrote: »

This is the idea. If your first station of choice is full you can go to one nearby, put back the bike, and still be within walking distance of the original station.

A question I would have is if there is anything stopping you from swopping bikes?

So if I have already had one for 25 mins I when arrive at a full station. Do I have to wait for a slot to come free?

Or can I take a new bike and put the old one in that slot and get another free half hour?

I would imagine that there is little economic incentive for users, or loss for the operators, involved in returning a bike within a half hour and then immediately hiring a new one, instead of using the same bike for an hour or more. Too much trouble for all but the most determined cheapskates, I'd say.

From the Ts & Cs: "The amount of the Hire Charge in respect of a particular use of a bike shall be determined by reference to the Period of Use of that bike."

Seems clear to me.

what_traffic

There is a good article on the Bike Scheme in todays SENTINEL(the last one ever unfortunately ) page 4.
From the article. Only 14 stations are live. 3 other will come on stream by the end of the week. (Spanish Arch, City Hall and City Library) Station 18 Fairgreen/Tourist Office (will be completed in 2015) and Station 19 University Road (may never be constructed as it is loss of 3/4 car parking spaces to the local business/residents)

Storm 10

what_traffic wrote: »

There is a good article on the Bike Scheme in todays SENTINEL(the last one ever unfortunately ) page 4.
From the article. Only 14 stations are live. 3 other will come on stream by the end of the week. (Spanish Arch, City Hall and City Library) Station 18 Fairgreen/Tourist Office (will be completed in 2015) and Station 19 University Road (may never be constructed as it is loss of 3/4 car parking spaces to the local business/residents)

Past by the Fairgreen today are there are bikes there on stands and a pay station

what_traffic

Storm 10 wrote: »

Past by the Fairgreen today are there are bikes there on stands and a pay station

Were exactly?
I double checked the paper and it says "The remaining two are on hold - one of them as the tourist office has been postponed due to planned road works until early 2015 and the other indefinitely due to complaints by University Road Residents concerned about the loss of car spaces"

Poxyshamrock

According to the map, there is another station planned for right outside the Tourist Office which isn't open yet. The Fairgreen station is further up the hill towards the Radisson.

Storm 10

what_traffic wrote: »

Were exactly?
I double checked the paper and it says "The remaining two are on hold - one of them as the tourist office has been postponed due to planned road works until early 2015 and the other indefinitely due to complaints by University Road Residents concerned about the loss of car spaces"

Beside the new taxi rank near the entrance to the Train station

thesandeman

The ones at BOI Eyre Sq and Brogans were still cordoned off last night but the screens were lit up.

joeKel73

thesandeman wrote: »

The ones at BOI Eyre Sq and Brogans were still cordoned off last night but the screens were lit up.

These have been operational since the launch day.



I believe these bikes are taken away at night though. Anyone notice if other bike stands get cleared at night too?

WallyGUFC

The ones in the Dyke Road carpark were still there at 11pm last night anyway.

Mrs OBumble

Merchants Rd rack was full of bikes at about 10pm last night.

what_traffic

J o e wrote: »

These have been operational since the launch day.



I believe these bikes are taken away at night though. Anyone notice if other bike stands get cleared at night too?

Proximity to Supermacs the reason they are removed? Bikes were in the docking station opposite the Fire Station at midnight on Monday as I passed on way home from work.

galwaycyclist

what_traffic wrote: »

Proximity to Supermacs the reason they are removed? Bikes were in the docking station opposite the Fire Station at midnight on Monday as I passed on way home from work.

Good thinking that seems like a likely reason given all the warnings there were about having a station near Supermacs.

Of course there is a Supermac at Bridge Street as well and possibly just as close to a bikeshare station as the one in Eyre Square.

thesandeman

Possibly there was something broken at the BOI one as there was that red and white tape all around it when I passed.

monument

J o e wrote: »

These have been operational since the launch day.

I believe these bikes are taken away at night though. Anyone notice if other bike stands get cleared at night too?

Are you sure? It's normal for the most central stations of many systems to empty out at night.

aliaslinden

So I tried to use the Headford Road station to buy a three day pass with my card today. Gave up after three attempts and ten minutes. Once I get my membership card it'll be grand but the machine is basically unusable. Touches don't register, takes up to ten attempts and often the touch targets register in an entirely different area of the screen. Once you get to the payment part, the screen goes blank and seems like it's broken but after a minute or so the payment screen appears. The payment amount is stated as €150, with no mention of it being not charged or refundable.

When you compare the machines to the ones used for Irish Rail or Luas tickets, they're laughably bad. Coke or the County Council's fault? And is it just the Headford Road machine that is this broken?

Can't imagine what it would be like to try and use them as a tourist.

joeKel73

Just checked the map and the website and the top of Eyre Square and Prospect Hill stands are both emptied - they obviously deemed these high risk. Good call I'd say!

I checked out the Father Burke Rd site this evening and it looks pretty much good to go now, just remove the barriers. It's located here;
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2675525,-9.0589043,3a,90y,265.65h,62.45t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sq20u5vmVwxUsEBxlW6QUww!2e0?hl=en

Poxyshamrock

J o e wrote: »

Just checked the map and the website and the top of Eyre Square and Prospect Hill stands are both emptied - they obviously deemed these high risk. Good call I'd say!

Does that mean that a bike can't be dropped off after a certain time too?

thesandeman

aliaslinden wrote: »

So I tried to use the Headford Road station to buy a three day pass with my card today. Gave up after three attempts and ten minutes.And is it just the Headford Road machine that is this broken?

Think there are a few glitches everywhere. Was in the SPAR shop last night and there was a guy trying to get the Mainguard St one to do something for ages. He eventually gave it a slap and walked off. He reminded me of myself anytime I have to use the TESCO self service yokes.

snubbleste

thesandeman wrote: »

Think there are a few glitches everywhere. Was in the SPAR shop last night and there was a guy trying to get the Mainguard St one to do something for ages. He eventually gave it a slap and walked off. He reminded me of myself anytime I have to use the TESCO self service yokes.

Unexpected item in bagging area.

snubbleste

Iwannahurl wrote: »

The CZ bikes do not have locks. Apparently the combination locks originally sourced by the operators were not satisfactory, and they are still looking for something that meets the required spec. Consequently the scheme has been rolled out without the combination locks provided.https://www.bikeshare.ie/how-to-hire-and-return-a-coca-cola-zero-bike.html

I saw one with a combination lock. It was permanently attached to the handlebars - but there was no combination supplied, therefore unusable.

joeKel73

aliaslinden wrote: »

So I tried to use the Headford Road station to buy a three day pass with my card today. Gave up after three attempts and ten minutes. Once I get my membership card it'll be grand but the machine is basically unusable. Touches don't register, takes up to ten attempts and often the touch targets register in an entirely different area of the screen. Once you get to the payment part, the screen goes blank and seems like it's broken but after a minute or so the payment screen appears. The payment amount is stated as €150, with no mention of it being not charged or refundable.

When you compare the machines to the ones used for Irish Rail or Luas tickets, they're laughably bad. Coke or the County Council's fault? And is it just the Headford Road machine that is this broken?

Can't imagine what it would be like to try and use them as a tourist.

thesandeman wrote: »

Think there are a few glitches everywhere. Was in the SPAR shop last night and there was a guy trying to get the Mainguard St one to do something for ages. He eventually gave it a slap and walked off. He reminded me of myself anytime I have to use the TESCO self service yokes.

Let them know. If they don't know about bugs in the new system they'll not fix them;
https://www.bikeshare.ie/contact.html

GekkePrutser

aliaslinden wrote: »

So I tried to use the Headford Road station to buy a three day pass with my card today. Gave up after three attempts and ten minutes. Once I get my membership card it'll be grand but the machine is basically unusable. Touches don't register, takes up to ten attempts and often the touch targets register in an entirely different area of the screen. Once you get to the payment part, the screen goes blank and seems like it's broken but after a minute or so the payment screen appears. The payment amount is stated as €150, with no mention of it being not charged or refundable.

When you compare the machines to the ones used for Irish Rail or Luas tickets, they're laughably bad. Coke or the County Council's fault? And is it just the Headford Road machine that is this broken?

Can't imagine what it would be like to try and use them as a tourist.

In all fairness, these things need tot be highly vandal-proof, they're not in a semi-secured area like the train station. So thick glass, long distance from finger to digitiser. The parcel motel machines also register wrong presses if you look at them from the wrong angle for the same reason.

The delays and bad user interface are less excusable though.

Julabo

So does anyone know if sites further afield ( salthill etc ) are planned?

Am I right in thinking that in Dublin originally, they sites were very central also?

monument

J o e wrote: »

Just checked the map and the website and the top of Eyre Square and Prospect Hill stands are both emptied - they obviously deemed these high risk. Good call I'd say!

Look, if there's no bikes a station all that it means is that users have taken the bikes from that docking station and nobody has returned one yet.

As I said already, it tends to happen a central stations of bicycke share systems.

joeKel73

monument wrote: »

Look, if there's no bikes a station all that it means is that users have taken the bikes from that docking station and nobody has returned one yet.

As I said already, it tends to happen a central stations of bicycke share systems.

Look, I don't buy that. There are very few users of the scheme yet and both stands had plenty of bikes in the evening and none every night.

Don't make me write a script to pull all the webcam images to catch them taking the bikes away!

irisheddie85

just checked the website @1.30am according to it there are no bikes at any of the stations. So either a problem with the site or they are collecting all the bikes at night.

monument

J o e wrote: »

Look, I don't buy that. There are very few users of the scheme yet and both stands had plenty of bikes in the evening and none every night.

Don't make me write a script to pull all the webcam images to catch them taking the bikes away!

The other possable innocent reason is that they are taking some/all of the bikes at some central stations for distribution to outlining areas (also standard practice).

I'd say a mix of that and the general trend where people take bikes from central stations at night and return them further out.

irisheddie85 wrote: »

just checked the website @1.30am according to it there are no bikes at any of the stations. So either a problem with the site or they are collecting all the bikes at night.

You can only take bicycles out from 5am to 12.30am, same as Dublin.

I told this to officials from the city of Paris and they were a bit confused -- like why would you shut down a public transport system that's 24 hours with little cost.

joeKel73

monument wrote: »

The other possable innocent reason is that they are taking some/all of the bikes at some central stations for distribution to outlining areas (also standard practice).

I'd say a mix of that and the general trend where people take bikes from central stations at night and return them further out.

The bikes are back between 6-7am every morning.

what_traffic

Maybe when the novelty wears off they will leave the bikes at the Eyre Square stations overnight.