New stationless bike rental scheme in Dublin - BleeperBike

jimmycrackcorm · 21-06-2017 9:36pm

desertcircus wrote:

And I feel we can't stress this enough - at a euro a go, ten weeks of commuting on one would cost you as much as your own basic bike.

I can't stress this enough. The most likely user is someone who is normally a Dublin bike user but will use this because the DB rack is empty our they can drop it off very conveniently to where they want to go.

If this crowd dropped off bikes near Heuston station in the morning, they'd rake in the money.

AndrewJRenko · 21-06-2017 9:38pm

papu wrote: »

License or no, it takes the piss.
But I understand what you're saying.

Might well be worth querying this with Dublin City Council

desertcircus · 21-06-2017 9:40pm

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I can't stress this enough. The most likely user is someone who is normally a Dublin bike user but will use this because the DB rack is empty our they can drop it off very conveniently to where they want to go.

If this crowd dropped off bikes near Heuston station in the morning, they'd rake in the money.

If they paid two people to drive around the city with a van collecting them and dropping them in Heuston, they'd make about 20-30 quid per round trip. Gross. It'd be a bananas business model - subtract two staff members' wages and the cost of running the van and you could easily be losing money.

LeinsterDub · 21-06-2017 9:55pm

desertcircus wrote: »

.
And I feel we can't stress this enough - at a euro a go, ten weeks of commuting on one would cost you as much as your own basic bike.

I read somewhere that there is a 75 euro a year commutator option. If it's city wide and available that would be less than I spend on maintaining my bike

Chuchote · 21-06-2017 10:31pm

They were in non-DublinBike areas today, certainly - outside the canals, in Harold's Cross and Terenure, Rathmines, Ranelagh and in the Clanbrassil Void. Dolphin's Barn, Kimmage and Drimnagh seem bike-free, though.

jimmycrackcorm · 21-06-2017 10:51pm

desertcircus wrote:

If they paid two people to drive around the city with a van collecting them and dropping them in Heuston, they'd make about 20-30 quid per round trip. Gross. It'd be a bananas business model - subtract two staff members' wages and the cost of running the van and you could easily be losing money.

They're employing people to go around hunting for for badly parked bikes. Leo a stock of bikes nearby Heuston for example and replenish during rush hour would be effective. DB bikes get shifted about but it's very poorly managed with a lot of stations with no bikes at key times because there is no incentive.

A commercial approach to quickly replenish bikes at key locations at times of high demand would make good business sense.

HivemindXX · 21-06-2017 11:07pm

HivemindXX wrote: »

They do, this is the method by which you find out where the nearest bike is as far as I understand it. They are going to need it based on what I can see of the quality of the locks included.

I saw some on Thomas Street today and stopped to have a look. They have a heavy duty frame lock in addition to the laughably pathetic cable lock so they won't be vulnerable to someone snipping the cable and cycling away.

All the ones I saw were very neatly parked at Sheffield stands (near Dublin Bikes stations), which was a good sign, but I suspect they had been left there by staff not users.

DanDublin1982 · 21-06-2017 11:28pm

LeinsterDub wrote: »

I read somewhere that there is a 75 euro a year commutator option. If it's city wide and available that would be less than I spend on maintaining my bike

Yep 75 per year and includes two (up to) one hour rides per day. Decent enough though I'm not sure I could ever rely on one being available around my way for the commute in.

Chuchote · 21-06-2017 11:31pm

Looking at the map they don't seem to be at UCD, Phoenix Park, East Point Business Park/East Wall, Ballsbridge, Ringsend, TCD, Croke Park, Finglas, Dublin Airport, and I'm a bit hazy about where DCU is?

ED E · 21-06-2017 11:39pm

Chuchote wrote: »

Looking at the map they don't seem to be at UCD, Phoenix Park, East Point Business Park/East Wall, Ballsbridge, Ringsend, TCD, Croke Park, Finglas, Dublin Airport, and I'm a bit hazy about where DCU is?

Its Glasnevin.
https://goo.gl/maps/iuduWRagmXx

Saw one at the north side of Glasnevin Ave today parked in a bike rack.

LeinsterDub · 22-06-2017 8:56am

Chuchote wrote: »

Looking at the map they don't seem to be at UCD, Phoenix Park, East Point Business Park/East Wall, Ballsbridge, Ringsend, TCD, Croke Park, Finglas, Dublin Airport, and I'm a bit hazy about where DCU is?

With reguards to Finglas that's most likely due to no 'legal' place to store them . I cycle up the Finglas road every day and apart from Phibsborough SC the road has no bike racks. If I recall correctly there a some in Finglas Village.

magicbastarder · 22-06-2017 9:05am

ED E wrote: »

Its Glasnevin.
https://goo.gl/maps/iuduWRagmXx

Saw one at the north side of Glasnevin Ave today parked in a bike rack.

spotted one this morning at the bottom end of ballymun road, near where it meets griffith avenue.

Chuchote · 22-06-2017 3:47pm

BleeperBikes have tweeted that they're going offline temporarily, and someone has posted a video of DCC staff taking bikes.

ED E · 22-06-2017 3:53pm

Chuchote wrote: »

BleeperBikes have tweeted that they're going offline temporarily, and someone has posted a video of DCC staff taking bikes.

https://twitter.com/bronwynfay/status/877478653239623683

buffalo · 22-06-2017 4:02pm

I presume the guys in the video above have before this travelling the city tagging rusted or damaged bikes for removal? Or are they licence enforcers - warning businesses about sandwich boards blocking footpaths and the like?

It'll be great when all the Bleeper Bikes are gone, and the DCC crews can launch into #MakeWayDublin.

ThisRegard · 22-06-2017 4:15pm

They claimed they'll remove such bikes themselves with permission from the council.

loyatemu · 22-06-2017 4:37pm

Obvious conflict of interest considering DCCs involvement in DublinBikes. Blah blah advertising, blah wheelchairs, blah blah licensing - it all looks like they're just taking out the competition.

ED E · 22-06-2017 5:00pm

loyatemu wrote: »

Obvious conflict of interest considering DCCs involvement in DublinBikes. Blah blah advertising, blah wheelchairs, blah blah licensing - it all looks like they're just taking out the competition.

That would be great if DCC made any money from DBs.

LeinsterDub · 22-06-2017 5:52pm

loyatemu wrote: »

- it all looks like they're just taking out the competition.

You can't just do what ever you feel like with public property and public spaces. I would reckon DCC would love to divest themselves from the lose making DB but they need to make sure a) the replacement service isn't a menace b) the replacement service is as good if not better c) if they are going to be providing the locking infrastructure for the benefit of a private company that said private company bares some of the cost, also some the cost of removing DB

expectationlost · 23-06-2017 5:20pm

Council confirms Bleeperbikes have been seized https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0623/885085-bleeperbike/ if they are not being operated thats what they are, advertising.

oh i see he changed his mind about turning the app off after he told they would remove them because they were advertising https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2017/0620/884248-bleeperbike/

how soon will DCC have the bye-laws in place then your reckon?

tomasrojo · 23-06-2017 9:32pm

I don't know how these enterprises have worked out abroad (apart from stories of bike dumping in China), but I would have two concerns.

One is that a private company is occupying public bike parking, making it harder to find somewhere to park your bike, and profiting on a common good. The second of these isn't always a bad thing, but it certainly can be.

The other concern is that it undermines Dublin Bikes; see the comments by one of the councillors that the stationless option could be used for the outer suburbs as a cheaper option.

If it works as well as Dublin Bikes (which has its problems, but is still a great service that provides reliable bikes, takes up no general-purpose bike parking and has almost no problems with vandalism or dumping), I'll be surprised.

Chuchote · 23-06-2017 9:39pm

Odd that the neoliberal adoration of anything done by a private company doesn't extend to a bikeshare scheme.

The good thing about BleeperBikes is that if it takes off, it will increase the number cycling by up to 1,000 a day.

The bad thing is that it requires Dublin City Council to build at least 1,000 new bike parking spaces.

ED E · 23-06-2017 9:45pm

tomasrojo wrote: »

If it works as well as Dublin Bikes (which has its problems, but is still a great service that provides reliable bikes, takes up no general-purpose bike parking and has almost no problems with vandalism or dumping), I'll be surprised.

When you try Santander Cycles (London Bikes) then com back to Dublin Bikes its really striking how well our system works. Even the DB app is far better.

I dont agree with the stationless model, but the fact that Bleeper are trying it shows the market for more bikes in the city. DCC need to get going with the expansion and stop being such utter twats.

magicbastarder · 23-06-2017 9:54pm

Chuchote wrote: »

Odd that the neoliberal adoration of anything done by a private company doesn't extend to a bikeshare scheme.

i'm sure it does. do neoliberals cycle? i'm not that well up on identity politics, or whatever reference i should be making here.

mvt · 23-06-2017 10:03pm

Not sure what to think of this.
I noted that the two bikes in Inchicore were removed from their public racks earlier today.
When I saw them at first(maybe thursday) I was pissed at a private company taking over public space but then I thought well,you can just lock your bike against theirs

Both bike racks btw have had no sort of bikes attached to them in a long time :eek:

tomasrojo · 23-06-2017 10:03pm

I had a look to see what problems (if any) this newer model was having. Plenty of results for discarded piles of bikes in China, but maybe that's because of the very loosely regulated way it all developed there.

There is a mention of the new companies undermining the established bike share companies:

“The problem was I didn’t have regulatory authority over them,” says Maddox. “We don’t want to stifle this technology. But it’s important for cities like San Francisco for there to be a level playing field. When we negotiated a contract with Motivate [the city’s traditional bike-share system], we got bike redistribution, certain safety standards, maintenance standards, and a system compliant with existing rights and regulations.”

https://www.curbed.com/2017/3/31/15141002/cycling-transportation-bike-share-bluegogo-ride

I'm a little sceptical of smartphone-driven "creative disruption", especially when the established system just needs more public money.

Chuchote · 23-06-2017 10:13pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'm sure it does. do neoliberals cycle? i'm not that well up on identity politics, or whatever reference i should be making here.

Yeah

Chuchote · 23-06-2017 10:17pm

More seriously, BleeperBikes could be the 'disruptor', as the trendy businessspeak goes, that would lead many, many people in cars to say "Feck it, I'll park up and ride a bike the rest of the way". It could change Dublin cycling.

tomasrojo · 23-06-2017 10:21pm

Also from that Curbed article above:

Stevens, Bluegogo’s spokesperson, says there’s a misunderstanding about how her company operates.

“If the bikes are parked illegally, we can easily fix them up and move them back to the public bike racks,” she says.

This is pretty optimistic. The Dublin Bike scheme does have redistribution trucks, but there's no problem with illegal parking and not much with theft, because if the user doesn't return the bike securely to a designated space, they can get charged €150 (or thereabouts). To properly ensure that stationless bikes are properly locked would required a pretty big team, on the face of it anyway.

HivemindXX · 23-06-2017 10:43pm

Chuchote wrote: »

More seriously, BleeperBikes could be the 'disruptor', as the trendy businessspeak goes, that would lead many, many people in cars to say "Feck it, I'll park up and ride a bike the rest of the way". It could change Dublin cycling.

Perhaps more serious than a bunch of irrelevant pictures but it's still some pretty fantastic wishful thinking.

Do you have any basis, any basis at all, backing your your notion that "many, many people" will choose to use these bikes instead of driving their car the way they currently do?

This may end up being a useful facility. Whether is is or not depends on how the company will address the well documented problems with people leaving the bikes in places and in ways they shouldn't. This company says that won't happen but I don't believe them when they say their agents will simply remove those bikes that are left in inconsiderate places. Here's the thing about the so called "disruptive" companies, they don't follow the rules, they don't think the rules apply to them, and they lie their asses off whenever it suits them. If there is no mechanism to force them to do something that doesn't profit them then they won't do it.

New stationless bike rental scheme in Dublin - BleeperBike

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