OPEN DISCUSSION: The future of DublinBikes

OunnamedPEN DISCUSSION: A Dublin City Council report, Dublin Bikes Strategic Planning Framework 2011-2016, envisaged DublinBikes being expanded a lot more by now, but what do you think the future should now hold for DublinBikes?

COMMENT BELOW OR TWEET @irishcycle and keep the following in mind:

Where should stations be expanded to?

How big should the system get? Should it go outside the city council’s area?

How should expansion be paid for? Higher costs for users? Subsidised more by taxes?

Here’s the phasing map from the Dublin Bikes Strategic Planning Framework 2011-2016 report:

expmap-large

 

Some comments from Twitter:

ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW:


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3 comments

  1. If I was the government I would be throwing money at this: As transport infrastructure goes it is dirt cheap, probably saves them money so far as congestion reduction/healthier populace goes. So far they seem to have been treating this as freebie infrastructure – financing it through advertising and sponsorship etc. They need to start seeing DublinBikes as a key component of the city’s transport infrastructure and not as a bit on the side – then they might start funding it like they fund DublinBus and the DART. And it seems to be almost universally welcomed by the city, I can’t imagine too many people begrudging investment in DublinBikes.

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  2. I would like to see it expanded inside a circle of 10 km from the centre (let’s take O’connel Bridge). This would mean everything inside the M50 plus Sutton/Howth. This will make Dublin a try Cycling Capital. If very successful, places like Swords, Blanchardstown, Tallagh vould be included as well.
    There will be some management of the bicycles needed so the double decker truck(s) would need to do more trips to try and even out the bikes better.
    Financing would come from sponsoring as now, subscriptions and as part of a city wide bicycle traffic plan. Subscription can rise (perhaps 50 EUR as a limit) per year. This all depends on the facilities provided. As we are putting it all out there, you can perhaps work with zones. If someone for instance just uses the bike in Finglas they pay a local subscription but if they intend to use it to come into town, they pay more. Not sure how that can or would be managed.
    I would like Dublinbikes to be something you can use anywhere in Dublin for short distances
    When it is all established, why not work with a booking system? You would be able to book a bicycle let’s say 30 minutes in advance so you are sure that you will have one by the time you reach the station. If you don’t pick it up on the reserved time (with 5 minutes grace period) the bike is released. I would limit the bikes that can be booked to 30% of station capacity.

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  3. I’m not a regular user of the system, but I’m all for its expansion. Leisure areas like the zoo, the botanics/Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin Bay (to name but a few) ought to be better served. There are also plenty of areas with massive cycling potential and big service gaps (SCR, Rathmines, etc.).

    The stations obviously need to be restocked way more often at rush hour. Isn’t it the case that the DB trucks can’t use the bus lanes?! (And taxis are – WTF!)

    I’d also like to see rentals possible with contactless debit cards and leap cards. It should be possible to rent a bike for an unregistered friend with the DB card (in the same way that the leap card can be used). Since the project is in receipt of public funds and is aiming to capture as many journeys as possible, use of the system should be as simple as possible. That means continuous improvement of the app, website, live information at the stations, signage etc.

    The elephant in the room is, however, the design of Dublin’s streets. If our public bodies are even half way serious about the reaching a modal share for cycling of 25% in Dublin in 5 years there has to be a step change in the designs that are being produced. The only way is Dutch.

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