Dublin Bikes [many] months on.

oceanclub · 24-11-2009 12:27pm

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I thought that the port tunnel was supposed to look after this.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1116/1224258921867.html

A ROAD safety and traffic management measure that would have meant hundreds of large lorries removed from Dublin city streets daily has been set aside because the city council has no budget for the plan.

Despite the success of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) ban introduced following the opening of the Dublin Port Tunnel, the council said it does not intend to go ahead with its planned extension to four-axle vehicles at present. It said the extension would cost €3 million over the next five years.

All it will take is one accident from some inexperienced or wreckless idiot and I have seen many in the city since the project started.

Cyclists get hit by cars every day of the week, yet noone is suggesting we ban people from cycling alongside cars. Honestly, if people can't cycle between two parallel lines 3 feet apart, they shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

P.

BrianD · 24-11-2009 1:35pm

Apart from getting stuck on the rails. I would have thought that cycling on the tramway is relatively safe. However, I can see that making it an official cycleway may have problems as a slow cyclist could decline to give away to a faster moving tram.

BrianD · 24-11-2009 1:45pm

MiniD wrote: »

I think I debated this with you before While I see your point, and agree with the dangers you describe, there are also drunk people around at 11.30pm, so the potential for drunk people on bikes exist from early on any evening. I think the schemes in Paris and Vienna run 24 hours.

Many people start and finish work shifts at early hours of the morning. Having bikes available would be of great benefit to these people. The taxi fare from Smithfield to Merrion Square, or Rathmines to O'Connell Street is about €7.

But the purpose of a Dublin Bike is not for regular use but for occasional use. I don't think the scheme designers ever envisioned that people would use a bike for a morning commute on a 5 day a week basis. The scheme only has 450 bikes so it is obviously it's not designed for this.

Agreed that there are drunk people at all times of the day and night but there is a huge volume of people emerging at the same time at night. The majority of whom are drunk in what would be called binge drinking. You can list the problems that can occur. We Irish also seem to love our "guess what Mick did when he was drunk" stories and no doubt a bike sitting in a Rathmines flat for 3 days would be common "after having the craic".

On a minor point, there is no bike station in Rathmines (yet).

Cookie_Monster · 24-11-2009 1:53pm

BrianD wrote: »

On a minor point, there is no bike station in Rathmines (yet).

maybe they've heard about Mick:pac:

Enii · 24-11-2009 2:22pm

BrianD wrote: »

There is good reason for not having DB's available at night time - you shouldn't be cycling one while drunk!

I think you can be drunk during the day too..........

Run_to_da_hills · 24-11-2009 2:47pm

BrianD wrote: »

Apart from getting stuck on the rails. I would have thought that cycling on the tramway is relatively safe. However, I can see that making it an official cycleway may have problems as a slow cyclist could decline to give away to a faster moving tram.

Thats my point too, they should at least cycle facing oncoming trams so that they can see the thing coming and get out of the way.

vektarman · 24-11-2009 4:21pm

BrianD wrote: »

Apart from getting stuck on the rails. I would have thought that cycling on the tramway is relatively safe. However, I can see that making it an official cycleway may have problems as a slow cyclist could decline to give away to a faster moving tram.

Luas trams share with cyclists and other road users , among other areas, Steevens Lane from Heuston station to James Street, the problem of slow cyclists has been solved by some of the cyclists themselves, they simply cycle on the footpath to the danger and annoyance of pedestrians.

MiniD · 24-11-2009 10:35pm

BrianD wrote: »

But the purpose of a Dublin Bike is not for regular use but for occasional use. I don't think the scheme designers ever envisioned that people would use a bike for a morning commute on a 5 day a week basis. The scheme only has 450 bikes so it is obviously it's not designed for this.

I wasn't aware the scheme was designed for 'occasional use'. The Dublin Bikes website states...

Dublinbikes is a self-service bike rental system open to everyone from 14 years of age. With 40 stations and 450 dbs (bikes), it enables you to travel through the city centre, commute between home and work and get out and about to enjoy Dublin city at your leisure.

I think the service should be whatever you need it to be. If people want to cycle across the city to their place of work then it should be encouraged, whether you start work at 8am or 5am.

I agree, the potential for drunken accidents is there, but it's a shame that is causing the closure of a very successful system for a few hours.

Has it been confirmed that this is the reason for closing the service overnight?

You're right about Rathmines, I was thinking of Rathmines Bridge/Portobello.

petronius · 26-11-2009 12:31pm

I will hold my hands up and say I was against the dublinbikes scheme, as a cyclist I was put out by their docking stations being built on existing bike parking areas (Princes St., Bolton St., Ormonde Quay...) however my mind has changed and i have seen people use them who wouldn't otherwise use bikes.
I can see them being quite popular and some parking facilities nearly empty of bike sometimes(Exchecquer St.).

Ok I wish they wouldn't have used new parking areas, and there should be further facilities.. but I think they will increase the focus of government and city council to cater more for cyclists

I reckon they will be very popular with tourists in the summer..

dereko1969 · 26-11-2009 1:31pm

Don't know if anyone else has had this problem, it's probably me just being a dope, but had a lot of hassle trying to dock my bike on talbot street earlier and like a numpty tried about 15 stands before ringing the help desk - so apparently the key to getting it in easy is to turn the handlebars to the right and really jam it in, think i was being a little too careful of the bike.:o

penexpers · 27-11-2009 12:17pm

dereko1969 wrote: »

Don't know if anyone else has had this problem, it's probably me just being a dope, but had a lot of hassle trying to dock my bike on talbot street earlier and like a numpty tried about 15 stands before ringing the help desk - so apparently the key to getting it in easy is to turn the handlebars to the right and really jam it in, think i was being a little too careful of the bike.:o

You definitely need to give a good push to get it in properly.

Run_to_da_hills · 27-11-2009 12:49pm

dereko1969 wrote: »

Don't know if anyone else has had this problem, it's probably me just being a dope, but had a lot of hassle trying to dock my bike on talbot street earlier and like a numpty tried about 15 stands before ringing the help desk - so apparently the key to getting it in easy is to turn the handlebars to the right and really jam it in, think i was being a little too careful of the bike.:o

I can cycle the bike ino the dock witout getting off it.

paddy2k · 02-12-2009 8:33pm

The official Dublinbikes.ie site's station map doesn't seem to be up to date. (And other sites depending on that feed are effected also.)
They have had the same availability information for each of the stations for at least the past 24 hours.
I've been in contact with them and will post back here when I get a response/it's resolved.

djgaillimh · 07-12-2009 7:40pm

Any word on when they'll be adding new stations? Rathmines/Ranelagh/Clonskeagh would be nice additions. Would be great to have a couple in and around Phoenix Park too.

oceanclub · 07-12-2009 10:42pm

It's really annoying that the west Merrion Square stand at weekends seems to be either all empty in the day or all full in the evening. I reckon because it serves such a large catchment area.

P.

Enii · 19-12-2009 12:17pm

Quick Qs.

Is there a lock on Dublin bikes that you can use when you are out and about - or do you provide your own?

ardmacha · 19-12-2009 1:13pm

On RTE 1 now.

penexpers · 19-12-2009 1:27pm

Enii wrote: »

Quick Qs.

Is there a lock on Dublin bikes that you can use when you are out and about - or do you provide your own?

There is a lock but I wouldn't trust it for more than 2 minutes. It's a really cheap cable lock that any basic bolt cutters could get through with no problems.

rye_212 · 19-12-2009 1:31pm

Andew Montague was just on the Marian Finucane show promoting the fact that if the stations have no docking spaces then they will tell you where the nearest free spaces are.

But when I collected a bike a Merrion Sq last Weds evening and arrived at Capel St bridge station which was full, the list of suggested stations all related to where I had picked up the bike - St Stephen Green, Fitzwilliam St etc. Luckily I knew there was a station at the other end of Capel St, and luckily, it did have spaces when I went there.

So, a buglet there that needs to be fixed.

And, I would suggest that if the system could display a map with the nearby stations, irrespective of full status, that would be useful. Would help people learn where the stations are. I "discovered" one convenient for me on Blessington St the other evening.

Also, I have NEVER seen a Man-with-a-Van collecting any of the bikes from a full station to re-distribute them to another station. What hours do these guys work and how many of there are there?

This week I encountered my first case of a problem with a bike, the saddle adjuster clip wouldn't close, so I pointed the saddle backwards when leaving the bike back. I wonder if it worked.

On the radio Cllr Montague said that 25m from JCDecaux went towards the scheme, but later said it was much cheaper to setup than the Luas because it only cost 1.5m (but he may have been referring to the cost of the bikes). Where did the other 23.5m go?

On good news, he said they will have 500 extra spaces added to the 40 existing stations by early next year, and will have new stations further out, using the example of Santry, by end of 2010.

Capt'n Midnight · 19-12-2009 2:16pm

I saw a dublin bikes van yesterday,

BUT it didn't look big enough to put bikes in , it was a car van not a transit

dazberry · 19-12-2009 2:23pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

I saw a dublin bikes van yesterday,

BUT it didn't look big enough to put bikes in , it was a car van not a transit

I've seen the car van a few times with a trailer attached which can hold maybe 12 - 16 bicycles.

D.

Run_to_da_hills · 19-12-2009 2:42pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

I saw a dublin bikes van yesterday,

BUT it didn't look big enough to put bikes in , it was a car van not a transit

There is an adapted flat bed truck driving about the city with wheel slots built in for securing these bikes.

amdublin · 19-12-2009 8:48pm

penexpers wrote: »

There is a lock but I wouldn't trust it for more than 2 minutes. It's a really cheap cable lock that any basic bolt cutters could get through with no problems.

I can't figure out how the lock works!

What do you connect the end of the cable in to????!!!

Capt'n Midnight · 19-12-2009 8:59pm

amdublin wrote: »

I can't figure out how the lock works!

What do you connect the end of the cable in to????!!!

it clips back into a hole in the lock bracket on the bike near where the key

Enii · 19-12-2009 9:50pm

dazberry wrote: »

I've seen the car van a few times with a trailer attached which can hold maybe 12 - 16 bicycles.

D.

Yeah I saw this on Nassau street yesterday about 12.30pm......

positron · 19-12-2009 11:44pm

I got a bad bike last week - second time ever in last two months or so! This one had something wrong with its sprocket, it made a loud bang every time the pedal goes around. I left it at Jervis St with the seat fully collapsed and facing backwards so that next person would know, hope that was the right 'signal' to the next hirer.

empirix · 19-12-2009 11:51pm

AMontague wrote: »

The City Council have just opened up a new Bike Park on Drury Street that may suit you for your expensive Carbon Bike. The City Council owns the car park and they removed 16 car parking spaces on the ground floor and converted them into 200 bike parking spaces. It will even suit your scooter.

Parking is free, and although the safety of your bike isn't guaranteed, there is CCTV protecting the bikes and the bikes are about 20 feet from the security kiosk.

You could leave your expensive bike in the bike park, and finish your journey on the Dublin Bikes.

Andrew Montague
Chair of Dublin City Council's Transport Committee and Cycling Forum

this is bloody great, i would still be a little weary of leaving my 2k bike there but its by far the best option, must check it out

Capt'n Midnight · 20-12-2009 12:41am

how do you get a new PIN ?

Capt'n Midnight · 20-12-2009 1:10pm

https://abo-dublin.cyclocity.fr/service/forgotpassword - to get your PIN sent to your email address.

AMontague · 20-12-2009 1:17pm

rye1967 wrote: »

Andew Montague was just on the Marian Finucane show promoting the fact that if the stations have no docking spaces then they will tell you where the nearest free spaces are.

But when I collected a bike a Merrion Sq last Weds evening and arrived at Capel St bridge station which was full, the list of suggested stations all related to where I had picked up the bike - St Stephen Green, Fitzwilliam St etc. Luckily I knew there was a station at the other end of Capel St, and luckily, it did have spaces when I went there.

So, a buglet there that needs to be fixed.

That's good to know. I'll feed that back to JC Decaux

rye1967 wrote: »

Also, I have NEVER seen a Man-with-a-Van collecting any of the bikes from a full station to re-distribute them to another station. What hours do these guys work and how many of there are there?

JCD have 27 staff working on the Dublin Bikes Scheme. There are six vehicles on the road moving and fixing the bikes. Typically a station is replenished at least three times per day.

rye1967 wrote: »

On the radio Cllr Montague said that 25m from JCDecaux went towards the scheme, but later said it was much cheaper to setup than the Luas because it only cost 1.5m (but he may have been referring to the cost of the bikes). Where did the other 23.5m go?

Sorry if I wasn't clear with my figures. The cost of Dublin Bikes is 25 million over 15 years, which is about 1.5 million a year - for both capital and current expenditure. The comparison I was trying to make with Luas was that if we expand to about 5,000 bikes to cover Dublin, we would do a similar amount of trips to Luas - about 20 million trips per year (11 trips per bike per day, with 5,000 bikes and 365 days in the year is 20 million). That would cost us less than 15 million per year (450 bikes is 1.5 million per year, 4,500 bikes would be 15 million - but with economies of scale, 5,000 bikes would likely be less than 15 millon).

The capital costs of the Luas alone were more than 1 billion.

rye1967 wrote: »

On good news, he said they will have 500 extra spaces added to the 40 existing stations by early next year, and will have new stations further out, using the example of Santry, by end of 2010.

I actually said an extra 300 docking posts within the next few months. Currently we have 800 docking posts at 40 stations. We will increase that to 1,100 docking posts at 44 stations. So the busiest stations will go from 20 to 30 docking posts. The four new stations will be: Smithfield, Eccles Street, Charlemont and Richmond Street.

In addition to this expansion I expect that we will have further expansion later in 2010. And although I want us to get to Santry eventually, I don't expect Santry to be included in 2010. Sorry if I didn't explain that properly.

It's too early to decide what the next expansion should be. We have to see how well the system is coping with the additional 300 docking posts before we decide whether we need even more capacity in the city centre - or whether we are confident to expand outside the current area.

Dublin Bikes [many] months on.

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