Bleeperbike goes offline as city council removes bicycles

— Council moves to draft by-laws for forth generation bicycle share. 

Dublin’s first stationless bicycle share scheme, Bleeperbike, is now off-line after Dublin City Council started to remove the bicycles from the streets of the city.

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said: “Dublin City Council has removed many bikes from different locations around the city. A lot of complaints have been received regarding the bikes as have requests for the bikes to be removed.”

The bicycles were removed under Section 71 of the Roads Act 1993, which gives the council the power to remove unlicensed items advertising a service from the public footpath or roadway.

The city council has now started the process of drafting by-laws and the matter has been added to the  for the city transport committee this Wednesday.

Chairman of the committee, Councillor Ciarán Cuffe (Green Party) said that he is delighted that new companies want to offer new cycling solutions for Dublin, but that the council wants to ensure a level playing field for the range of companies who are interested in providing the service.

Cllr Cuffe said: “We intend discussing draft by-laws for Fourth Generation bikes at the next meeting of Dublin City Council’s Transportation Strategic Policy Committee which meets next Wednesday 28th June in City Hall at 8am.”

“We want to ensure a level playing field for all Fourth Generation bike rental providers. It isn’t fair for one company to jump the gun while several others are waiting for guidance before proceeding. We also want to ensure that the public realm is protected, and that footpaths are unduly cluttered with bikes between rentals,” he said.

“There is clearly a role for Fourth Generation bike rental providers in providing sustainable transport solutions in Dublin.”

MORE: Stationless bicycle share should be regulated, but care is needed


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23 comments

  1. Nice move by the council to remove unlicenced items on the public road under Section 71 of the Roads Act 1993. Will be looking to also see them remove vans and cars which advertise services and which are illegally parked on footpaths under the same legislation.

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  2. Such as all big cities operating the DB stationless bike rental scheme. Munich has two such schemes and has also designated stations allowed for that as well. You can find bikes lying around almost everywhere.

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  3. Meanwhile the rickshaws run wild…….. Why no clampdown. Much more of a menace than the bleeperbikes. And really was there that many complaints from the public? I find that hard to believe.

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    • Apparently the fares listed on Wikipedia for the German Rad stationless bikes are incorrect; the current fares are on the company’s website.

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  4. And what are the grounds the Dublin city council did not give permission?
    Public complaints? This is laughable. The public likes this scheme everywhere it has been introduced.

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  5. How can you know that Biker? Seems like you can’t. See what they think of them in Shenzen. DCC did not refuse to give permission, the operator refused to wait. That is a very different thing and it does not bode well for the operator’s ability to follow the rules in other ways.

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  6. Dublin isn’t Shenzen, and we desperately need a non-station bike share to get people out of those lonely locked-in cars and into the fresh air. Yes, they should have consulted, but perhaps launching early will push the council to build adequate bike parking stand groups in city and suburbs, and facilitate riding bikes instead of thinking in terms of cars, vans, trucks, lorries, motors all the time.

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  7. I have nothing to add here.

    If one is comparing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen
    Sub-provincial city 11,908,400
    with Dublin then indeed those who object to this have more than weak arguments.

    I do not object for it in Shenzen as well. Im pretty sure air suffocation produces more public complaints (to say the least) than bike sharing !!!

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  8. If the rumours of several companies planning to come in to Dublin are true, prices should soon be driven down.
    Bleeperbike will be offering a commuter rate that’s a lot cheaper.

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  9. So the city council wants to get cash from the other companies that are planning to come and is punishing bleeperbike who doesnät play ball with them?

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  10. Let me be clear: I am proud that Dublin ditched these bikes. Some call them BSO: Bicycle Shaped Objects, I call it instant rubish. Experience with DB is not that positive and basically any free floating system is destined to fail. One needs Geo Fencing, the digital sister of the docking stations.

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