Ghost Rack -Clyde Road (Engineers Ireland)

DirkVoodoo

Perhaps someone can explain this one to me...

Everyday I walk (or cycle) past this newly installed bike rack and I don't think I have ever seen even a single bike parked here. It has a massive capacity as well, I'll have to take a photo on my way home this evening, but for now an image from the DCC facebook page will have to do (note the completed space contains about 3 or more times as many racks!!!):



I wonder how this got installed on a street with ample car parking and no apparent demand from cyclists. Aside from a few small offices, this isn't a busy commuter destination.

My worry is that this money might have been better spent installing a rack at some other location where there IS actual demand (assuming this was council money).

Perhaps someone closer to the project can clarify what the hell is going on? I get totally confused when I walk past this and see it completely empty day and night, weekday and weekend, yet when I cycle into town, or to Dundrum, I can't park my bike without hunting for a free spot.

Seweryn

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Perhaps someone can explain this one to me...

Everyday I walk (or cycle) past this newly installed bike rack and I don't think I have ever seen even a single bike parked here. It has a massive capacity as well, I'll have to take a photo on my way home this evening, but for now an image from the DCC facebook page will have to do (note the completed space contains about 3 or more times as many racks!!!):

I wonder how this got installed on a street with ample car parking and no apparent demand from cyclists. Aside from a few small offices, this isn't a busy commuter destination.

My worry is that this money might have been better spent installing a rack at some other location where there IS actual demand (assuming this was council money).

Perhaps someone closer to the project can clarify what the hell is going on? I get totally confused when I walk past this and see it completely empty day and night, weekday and weekend, yet when I cycle into town, or to Dundrum, I can't park my bike without hunting for a free spot.

Good point, however there is a bike parked just on the other side of the road tied into a road sign post .

Anyway, I know where you are coming from. County Councils seem to displace / waste huge amount of money on "cycling infrastructure" recently.

DirkVoodoo

Seweryn wrote: »

Good point, however there is a bike parked just on the other side of the road tied into a road sign post .

Anyway, I know where you are coming from. County Councils seem to displace / waste huge amount of money on "cycling infrastructure" recently.

Ha, good spot! 2 bikes in fact!

I've been informed by a friend that this was due to pressure from Engineers Ireland about not having anywhere for people to lock up their bikes when meetings are on.

It still seems excessive to me, they probably could have made do with half the capacity.

monument

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Ha, good spot! 2 bikes in fact!

I've been informed by a friend that this was due to pressure from Engineers Ireland about not having anywhere for people to lock up their bikes when meetings are on.

It still seems excessive to me, they probably could have made do with half the capacity.

Is there a chance that it may not be that excessive for the amount of people who cycle to Engineers Ireland meeting and talks?

Ole Rodrigo

The more the merrier I say. They can't be that expensive to install.

Besides somebody travelling to the area might consider cycling if they see the parking spaces taken and plenty of racks available.

detones

Seweryn wrote: »

County Councils seem to displace / waste huge amount of money on "cycling infrastructure" recently.

What are you basing this on? For those of us who may not know.

Johnny Jukebox

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Ha, good spot! 2 bikes in fact!

I've been informed by a friend that this was due to pressure from Engineers Ireland about not having anywhere for people to lock up their bikes when meetings are on.

It still seems excessive to me, they probably could have made do with half the capacity.

Its a well known fact that Engineers go to work on their bikes. This was explained to me by the CEO of a large German multinational as he revoked my company car after a corporate takeover many years ago....

Seweryn

detones wrote: »

What are you basing this on? For those of us who may not know.

Basing this on what I see is being done on my commute route.

Wishbone Ash

ror_74 wrote: »

The more the merrier I say. They can't be that expensive to install...

But it's possible that they may be done as a "token gesture" and as the OP says, at the expense of a more needy area.

detones wrote: »

What are you basing this on? For those of us who may not know.

As above, it seems that some local authorities install cycling infrastructure for the sake of targets and annual reports etc ("We've laid out 100kms of cycle track during 2013") and are indifferent to whether it's useful or utilised.

godtabh

Engineers Ireland have a 150 seat theater. I've been there many times. Their courtyard can be often full of bikes. I've cycled there many times

Ole Rodrigo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

But it's possible that they may be done as a "token gesture" and as the OP says, at the expense of a more needy area.

.

Well, there are token gestures popping up all over the place it seems.:) A cost effective piece of transport infrastructure, if people switch from a car to bike as a result.

I'll bet they are so cheap you could mail the county council and ask them to install one wherever its needed, and they'd do it.

detones

godtabh wrote: »

Engineers Ireland have a 150 seat theater. I've been there many times. Their courtyard can be often full of bikes. I've cycled there many times

At the price they charge for courses they could well afford to put in a multistory bike store ;-)

detones

Seweryn wrote: »

Basing this on what I see is being done on my commute route.

Yeah that's bad and there are other poor examples of badly designed cycle lanes that have rightly pissed me off. Signs, bins Etc in cycle lanes. However there has been a hell of a lot good work done by the various Councils on cycling infrastructure and I don't think there is a huge amount of money wasted. For one they dont have huge amounts of money ;-) and what they do have is in most cases spent wisely. Councils these days are the easiest of Targets.

monument

detones wrote: »

Yeah that's bad and there are other poor examples of badly designed cycle lanes that have rightly pissed me off. Signs, bins Etc in cycle lanes. However there has been a hell of a lot good work done by the various Councils on cycling infrastructure and I don't think there is a huge amount of money wasted. For one they dont have huge amounts of money ;-) and what they do have is in most cases spent wisely. Councils these days are the easiest of Targets.

Councils combined are being given millions of NTA/DoT funding.

Some of that is well used, but lots is been misused on shared use and other sub-standard projects. There's enough waste to be worried about.