On-street bicycle locker rental offered to Dublin residents with limited options

Dublin City Centre residents who do not have access to secure off-street bicycle parking are being asked to express their interest in on-street ‘BikeBunkers’ lockers.

Different designs of on-street bicycle lockers have been used in the Netherlands and elsewhere for over 15 years, especially in city centre housing areas which lack adequate bicycle parking. A boom in usage has been seen in recent years in London, where a number of councils have waiting lists with thousands of people wanting to rent the lockers.

IMAGE: An open Fietshangar.

Dublin City Council Beta, an initiative from within the council which looks at testing innovations, previously trialed ‘Bikehangars’, made by the UK-based CycleHoop. Now, as part of a larger, multi-year programme, the city is set to test a number of different secure lockers designed for on-street use.

The BikeBunkers programme will use different types of secure rental units for locking a number of bicycles, between 4 and 8 bicycles per unit. The first units are expected to be installed within the next few months.

Residents can express an interest at BikeBunkers.ie and, once a month, council staff will review the locations of expressions of interest received. When there’s several expressions of interest in close proximity to one another, the council will assess the location for a BikeBunker.

The British Bikehangars and the Dutch Fietshangar are both designed to take up around the same space as a parked car. The units are only to be installed on residential streets where there’s demand from residents.

On BikeBunker.ie, the council outlines how it will be avoiding installing the units on footpaths, this means that the units will be installed on the carriageway, typically using car parking spaces. On streets where houses have no front gardens, the council will also avoid putting the units directly outside people’s front doors or windows.

The BikeBunkers in Dublin will be first available to city centre residents at a cost of €100 per year. The city centre is defined roughly as the area within the canals and, to the west, east of the North Circular and South Circular Roads.

Compared to London, the cost is notable higher than the highly subsidised price of £25/year per space in Waltham Forest council area, or the price of £42/year per space in Hackney, but the Dublin price is closer to Hammersmith & Fulham council which charges £80/year per space.

Waltham Forest — an outer London borough famed in cycling circles for a successful “mini-Holland” scheme which has boosted cycling and walking – installed its first Bikehangars in 2015 and now has over 250 of the units, with a capacity of 1,500 spaces and demand that they cannot keep up with.

In the Dutch city of Utrecht, the hanger rental cost depends on the capacity of the units — the 5 bicycle units cost €64.09/year per space and the a space in the 4 bicycle units cost €80.11/year per space.

IMAGE: An opened Bikehangar (Cyclehoop)

Car parking permits in Dublin City cost €50 for 1 year and €80 for 2 years for residents living in houses or €400 per year for multi-unit dwellers. The BikeBunkers, however, includes the addition cost of around €4,000-€5,000 for the purchase, delivery and installation of the units.

BikeBunkers.ie explains: “BikeBunkers are secure hangars for city residents to securely stow their bicycles close to their home and under cover, saving space and worry, and for just €100 per year.”

It adds: “This is a brand new initiative of Dublin City Council. This means that this service will change and grow over the next few years, based on your feedback and as we learn more about the service – so please be generous with both your feedback and your patience!”

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3 comments

  1. As much as I’d like this to work, all I can imagine is the bikes quickly being robbed overnight by opportunist feral skangers. All it takes is one forgetful person to leave the door unlocked.

    Reply
  2. The BikeBunkers, however, includes the addition cost of around €4,000-€5,000 for the purchase, delivery and installation of the units.

    The residents parking disc have a higher cost. As the space is no longer available for pay and display which has the potential to bring in several thousand euro.

    the bike bunker encourages sustainable which decreases traffic, pollution, improve public transport speeds etc and thus saves additional money

    Reply

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