Waterford Bike (Like Dublin Bike scheme)

MartyMcFly84

I was wondering if anyone knows of any plans to introduce the public bike scheme that is incredibly popular in Dublin to other cities like Waterford?

I was down in Waterford over the weekend and saw a decent amount of cycle paths, particularly along the Dunmore road and did not see one cyclist using it. But a decent amount of car traffic.

Are these cycle paths used much? The cycling infrastructure seems to be there but a huge amount of people in the area take their cars everywhere. Cant be more than a 20 minute walk into town. So would probably be 5-10mins on a bike?

Do you think a scheme similar to Dublin bikes would work in Waterford. I imagine it would take a huge amount of traffic off the Dunmore Road and the city centre, Quay and over to Ferrybank.

What are your thoughts on this?

BadCharlie

This was knocked on its head before it started. The company i think said it would not be profitable here in waterford to run or something along that line at the time.

MartyMcFly84

That is unfortunate. I am sure the council could subsidise it if it helped resolve the cities traffic problems. I am certain it would be well used considering the amount of schools and people in the area who work in town.

They really need to look at getting more cars off the road and changing the commuting culture in the area. Many don't take the bus because due to traffic, the times are completely unreliable. leading to more cars on the road.

AdMMM

The Government initially announced it would be in Waterford... but these signs they had made up will be the closest we'll ever get to having it:

kayaksurfbum

Dono if it would work in waterford.

Im in Limerick and cork a lot and iv not see any of the bikes in use in either place. Im sure they are been used but its a whole lot less then Dublin.

MartyMcFly84

It probably needs a bit of promotion and time to catch on. I think the commuting culture needs time to change. Some people are very used to hoping in a car to get to work or drop older kids to school and probably haven't ridden a bike in years.

I see its only 10 EUR a year in Cork compared to 20 in Dublin.

Its been in Dublin since 2009 and I think in the other cities just at the end of 2014 . I know there is a much bigger population but there are 55,000 signed up on the annual subscriptions in Dublin and the equals 1.2 million trips so far this year. (figures from the site)

Per head of population for Waterford you could be looking at 2500 people using it equalling about 52 thousand trips a year.

It will be interesting to see how it gets on in Galway as its a city around the same size as Waterford.

Sully

Government announced it would operate here but nobody wanted to do it due to the costs and not having a return. So it was shelved.

crazyman

I would love to see this scheme introduced in Waterford. It is definitely something I would use....if the location of the bike stands suited...Ferrybank, City Centre, WIT, Ardkeen/Hospital.

Coming from the Ferrybank area, the walk to town is horrible (past those docks - dull & dreary). Driving I hate due to traffic and the price of parking...which often puts me off going in the first place, or trying to get out of town quickly to avoid parking costs.
Paying €10/20 per year to be able to cycle it back and forth regularly is definitely something I would take up. The money to be saved on petrol & more so parking would be huge, and would certainly entice me to stay longer in the town.