Limerick Bike Scheme

zulutango · 10-06-2014 8:38pm

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I'm sure in the grand scale of things though, if they have to rip it out again for the remodelling of O'Connell Street it wouldn't be too much of a waste of money.

I don't think O'Connell Street will be done anytime soon anyway.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the talk of remodelling seems to have died down. It was supposed to happen after the tunnel opened, but that's a long time ago now.

I really think that Limerick needs to get the traffic out of the city centre if it's to prosper. Having a national route run down O'Connell Street gives the city a pretty crappy feel. Time for the new amalgamated local authority to get the finger out. It's one of the most important projects in the city in decades.

Silentcorner · 10-06-2014 9:28pm

This is all covered by Limerick 2030, and it seems that the wheels are in motion.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2014/0606/business/company-to-drive-limerick-2030-plan-271189.html

Vanquished · 10-06-2014 9:31pm

The thing is O'Connell Street isn't even a National route any more. All former N roads inside the southern ring road were de-trunked upon it's completion in 2010. O'Connell Street is classified as a Regional route now.

It no longer has any strategic importance as a transport corridor. Although it definitely still carries too much through traffic. We badly need to see a shift to a pedestrian priority space.

zulutango · 10-06-2014 10:43pm

Silentcorner wrote: »

This is all covered by Limerick 2030, and it seems that the wheels are in motion.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2014/0606/business/company-to-drive-limerick-2030-plan-271189.html

I don't recall reading about the remodelling of O'Connell Street in Limerick 2030, or see any reference to it in the link. That said, I know that the Limerick 2030 plans do somewhat supersede the original plan to pedestrianise O'Connell Street. Would be good to get an update from the Council about this.

Silentcorner · 10-06-2014 10:49pm

zulutango wrote: »

I don't recall reading about the remodelling of O'Connell Street in Limerick 2030, or see any reference to it in the link. That said, I know that the Limerick 2030 plans do somewhat supersede the original plan to pedestrianise O'Connell Street. Would be good to get an update from the Council about this.

It's mentioned in point 2, "A transformation of the citys three main thorough fares, O'Connell St, Catherine St and Henry St"...it doesn't get into detail, but we can only hope it involves more than a lick of paint...

I guess with the new Limerick City and County Council detail is slow, they were never dynamic on that score before in any case...

zulutango · 10-06-2014 10:54pm

The thing about Limerick 2030 is that it's high on aspiration but very short on detail. That's fine as an outline plan, but now that it's been handed over to the Council, the likelihood is that they'll pick and choose from it. For example, the Limerick Marketing Company that was set up is a far cry from the one envisaged in the plan. There's no reason to believe that they won't make a meal of the rest of it. I think there are very few people in the Council who really 'get' the Limerick 2030 plan. Perhaps Tom Enright did but he's gone now ..

Silentcorner · 10-06-2014 11:02pm

zulutango wrote: »

The thing about Limerick 2030 is that it's high on aspiration but very short on detail. That's fine as an outline plan, but now that it's been handed over to the Council, the likelihood is that they'll pick and choose from it. For example, the Limerick Marketing Company that was set up is a far cry from the one envisaged in the plan. There's no reason to believe that they won't make a mean of the rest of it. I think there are very few people in the Council who really 'get' the Limerick 2030 plan. Perhaps Tom Enright did but he's gone now ..

I have to agree about the Limerick Marketing Company, it looks like a useless quango, it acts like a useless quango...

But I'm willing to wait and see on the Limerick 2030 plan...if I'm not mistaken there was quite a bit of detail at the time of the launch, as much detail as they can give at this stage...I'd imagine the architects would have to move in before we get to see further detail...

Vanquished · 10-06-2014 11:23pm

Yep. We have enough strategy documents and masterplans gathering dust on the shelves. It's time for action now. We need to see some tangible developments and improvements on the ground. We're already playing catch up with other cities in many respects. It's time to get a move on.

A re-appraisal of the original O'Connell Street improvement plan is needed as it's highly unlikely that the pedestrianised portion will be implemented. This really shouldn't take long as a tweaking is all that's required. I just hope they don't dumb the plans down to include cheaper materials such as the concrete paving on William Street!

zulutango · 10-06-2014 11:31pm

And I hope they don't fill it with tacky and ill-fitting clutter (bollards, signage, etc) and inappropriate lighting (as they have done with pretty much every street development in recent years).

Vanquished · 10-06-2014 11:58pm

Oh absolutely. It's one of my major peeves about Limerick. Every time I set foot in the city centre I seem to encounter yet more pointless, ugly bollards and ignorant signage. It's like an unstoppable tide!

Another thing that really grates is the removal of expensive paving as part of the installation of said bollards and signs only for it to be replaced with cement afterwards! Tremendous standards of craftsmanship altogether!:rolleyes:

It's interesting that the 2030 plan recognises and criticises the level of clutter associated with street improvement projects and recommends that it should be avoided in future. I wouldn't be confident that the message will hit home though.

zulutango · 29-09-2014 4:42pm

Latest reports are that this will be rolled out in time for Christmas. The sooner the better.

Poxyshamrock · 29-09-2014 8:40pm

They're working on the bike stations at the moment in Galway. According to Pat O'Neill of Limerick City and County Council, they should be starting in Limerick in the next week or two.

chicorytip · 30-09-2014 10:47pm

I find it difficult to see this becoming successful here given that it's possible to
travel from one end of Limerick city centre to the other in less than fifteen minutes on foot !

Poxyshamrock · 30-09-2014 11:40pm

Limerick isn't that small. What if you want to get from a Colbert Station to the Treaty Stone? You could hop on a bike.
Or from Atlunkard Street to the O'Connell Avenue?

wingnut · 01-10-2014 12:59am

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

Limerick isn't that small. What if you want to get from a Colbert Station to the Treaty Stone? You could hop on a bike.
Or from Atlunkard Street to the O'Connell Avenue?

It is very compact for a city and don't forget with the one ways and lane switching drivers, the city centre is worst part of any bike journey.

I know I am labouring the point but as I and others have said it really would be a no brainer to have a station at UL, LIT and the Crescent. Even if they spread some of the sites out a bit Like the Jetland/Gaelic Grounds, Supervalue Corbally etc.

RINO87 · 01-10-2014 1:20am

I cycle around the city every day and find the one way system to be very little of an inconvienence to be honest. If you are used to driving it you will get used to cycling it in no time. Its just about getting it into your head how much quicker cycling actually is. Say if you had an hour for lunch, and worked up near o connell ave or the top of henry street, or even out in castletroy. You could easily pop down to the locke to meet someone on your bike grab a bite and make ot back to work within the hour. Not gonna do that walking or by driving when you take into account time spent parking or queing at traffic lights (I'm not saying cyclists should jump lights, but cyclists can go to the top of the queue and that in itself saves alot of time).

....then we come to the fact that there are no stations by the colleges or the major retail centre. Absolute joke, how this was never in the planning is beyond me.

niceview · 01-10-2014 10:35am

RINO87 wrote: »

....then we come to the fact that there are no stations by the colleges or the major retail centre. Absolute joke, how this was never in the planning is beyond me.

The plan has stated that expansion is planned should the initial rollout be successful, which I expect it will. Stations need to be close so that people can return a bike to a nearby street if all the stands are full ( this happens regularly in Dublin).

For the last 30 years, all the focus has been on the suburbs. Here is an initiative focused on the city centre. We should welcome it.

I agree that stations in the spots mentioned would be good bit it will happen in the future. In the meantime, it will be great to have this in the city. I don't get the negativity!

Thargor · 01-10-2014 10:53am

They did the exact same thing in Galway, absolutely clueless deployment of stations making any journey completely pointless...

zulutango · 01-10-2014 11:08am

Thargor wrote: »

They did the exact same thing in Galway, absolutely clueless deployment of stations making any journey completely pointless...

Really? ANY journey on them will be completely pointless? That's a big claim to make and if it's true then these will be a white elephant project. I'm not familiar with Galway but as far as I know for all the cities, the locations weren't just chosen willy-nilly. A fair bit of research went into where best to put them in the initial phase. There's info on the DOE website that I might dig out later if I get a chance.

Thargor · 01-10-2014 11:37am

However, City Councillors were told last night that it will be the autumn, possibly October, before the bikes are operational.

Nearly every elected member who spoke about the scheme criticised the location of the docking stations for bikes, which completely ignore the suburbs of Knocknacarra, Salthill, and areas on the east side of the city such as Mervue, Doughiska and Roscam.

A map of the stations shows that the 19 docking stations are all concentrated in close proximity to each other.

City Councillors pointed out that there is no docking station planned for GMIT or the far side of NUI Galway, while Salthill was another glaring omission, given how it is supposed to be targeted at tourists.

Galway is one of the best cities for walking in the country and all the stations are within 10 minutes of each other in the city centre, no I cant think of a single journey I would bother making on these bikes under the current design.

If a fair bit of research had gone into it as you say then Salthill, GMIT and NUIG would all be served and they would be barely able to keep up with demand like the busiest sections of the DublinBike scheme, as it is its designed for mediocrity at best.

zulutango · 01-10-2014 11:42am

It's hard to believe that NUIG, GMIT or Salthill aren't included. Maybe they are planned for the next phase?

As for the current/initial phase, if there are stations that are 10 minutes apart by foot, then I'd imagine that they will be well used (if they're in reasonable populated areas). I'd choose a 2 minute bike ride over a 10 minute walk easily.

Thargor · 01-10-2014 11:56am

Actually when I was looking it up there I noticed that they have slipped in a station on the Headford Road so thats one journey Id make, happy days

Vanquished · 01-10-2014 12:41pm

niceview wrote: »

......I don't get the negativity!

It's Limerick. There just seems to be a heavily ingrained sense of negativity amongst the general populace!

These individuals constantly moan about the perceived lack of facilities, developments etc. Yet when a project like the public bike scheme is launched these same people will find a reason to complain about it!

How about we give the scheme a chance to establish itself before knocking it!!

Iranoutofideas · 01-10-2014 7:28pm

Are there plans to put safe segregated cycle lanes around the city to compliment this bike scheme?

I'd love to cycle around town but I don't feel safe doing so. Look at the width of the street from Patrick Street out to almost the Crescent Shopping Centre - straight the whole way and enough room for a dedicated cycle path. It would be great.

zulutango · 01-10-2014 11:29pm

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

Are there plans to put safe segregated cycle lanes around the city to compliment this bike scheme?

I'd love to cycle around town but I don't feel safe doing so. Look at the width of the street from Patrick Street out to almost the Crescent Shopping Centre - straight the whole way and enough room for a dedicated cycle path. It would be great.

An awful lot has to be done to make the city more appealing to cyclists. The one-way traffic system, for starters, is not good. Generally, the city's first priority seems to be the motor car and that's really backward for a modern city.

Poxyshamrock · 12-10-2014 2:19am

And so it begins...I think!

http://postimg.org/image/aqx5m1hst/

DoYouEvenLift · 12-10-2014 3:46am

When'll it be opening? Next year? Hopefully when the weather starts to pick up. Will they do guided cycling tours also or something along those lines?

Goofy · 12-10-2014 12:07pm

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

And so it begins...I think!

http://postimg.org/image/aqx5m1hst/

They have just put in the mounts in one of the stations here in Galway. They'll probably be up and running before Christmas. Can't wait for them. Any sign of a website to sign up on yet?

Iranoutofideas · 12-10-2014 3:28pm

That is one of the station locations? Bizarre.

apc · 12-10-2014 8:33pm

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

And so it begins...I think!

http://postimg.org/image/aqx5m1hst/

Dangerous place to put it where 3 roads converge

Limerick Bike Scheme

Comments