Bells may soon be rining out across Dublin City as a local company are developing a bicycle bell designed to log problem hotspots for a range of cycling issues — and they need your help.
Fluidedge, based in the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Liberties area of Dublin 8, are developing the ‘Liberty Bell’ to track cycling issues and provide better data to councils. The company is looking for cycling volunteers during June and July to test the system.
“Volunteers will have one of our bicycle bells fitted on their bike. Every time they ring the bell, a new record is created in a database. A notification is triggered inviting the volunteer to later tag and briefly describe the incident when it is safe to do so,” said Conor Cahill, CEO, Fluidedge
He added: “We are hoping a really broad mix of people who cycle will volunteer — men and women of all ages, cycling lots of different types of bicycles.”
Fluidedge are one of four companies which were recently awarded €25,000 to develop technology solutions to help increase bicycle usage in Dublin,
Their system will allow data to be collected on a wide range of issues and this should highlight problem areas including: cars parked in cycle lanes, a lack of bicycle racks near shops, potholes and uneven roads, and junctions which feel too dangerous.
While there are reporting apps and websites, Liberty Bell aims make it easier to log locations and promote you later, getting around the issue of forgetting to log reports.
MORE: libertybell.io/dublin
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Sounds like a good idea, but if you ring your bell 20 times during a commute, how can you be expected to remember what the sequence of events was? was ring 12 a pothole or a parked car in a cycle lane? or was it a ring to alert a pedestrian..?
Thanks for asking, the time and location is displayed with each record to help jog your memory