dublinbikes is a public bicycle rental scheme which has been operated in the city of Dublin since 2009. The scheme uses 450 French-made^[1] unisex bicyles.^[2] Dublin was the 17th city to implement such a scheme.^[2][3] The scheme is sponsored by JCDecaux.^[4]

History[link]

A dublinbikes station

A dublinbikes kiosk

The scheme was announced by Dubin City Council in 2006 when JCDecaux received 72 free advertising spaces around Dublin in a 15-year deal in return for the advertising company's funding of the project.^[1] Critics argued that the deal was an expensive one when compared to Copenhagen where companies pay to have their logos attached to the bicycle.^[5] 450 bicycle stands were installed in groups of ten and twenty in forty locations around Dublin from June 2009.^[1] The scheme was opposed by An Taisce who said it was “misuse of legislation by a local authority to facilitate a private development”.^[6]

On 10 May 2010 (post-launch), city councillors in Dublin voted for more advertising hoardings to be used to help with payments, with more than 30,000 people having subscribed (1,500 was the predicted number of subscribers for this stage of the project).^[7]

On 14 August 2010, it was announced that the scheme had reached its one millionth trip.^[8] By May 2011, two million journeys had been made.^[9]

Launch[link]

The dublinbikes scheme was launched on 13 September 2009, with around 150 ordinary cyclists embarking on their first ride behind John Tierney, Dublin City Manager, and Andrew Montague, a councillor who was representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin on the journey.^[2] Approximately 1,000 people used the bicycles in the first six hours, with a further thousand people having subscribed to use them.^[2] Some 11,000 people applied in the first fortnight and Dublin City Council's supply of subscriber cards was reduced to zero, with the Council having initially targeted a 5,000-person uptake in the first year.^[10] More than 25,000 people had applied to take part in the scheme by March 2010.^[11] Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley said after the launch this level of uptake indicated the new "mainstream" approach to cycling in Ireland.^[3] On 22 June 2010, a "technical fault" was reported with no one able to hire a bike; this was resolved by the end of the day.^[12]

Cost to users[link]

In order to use the system, users need to take out a subscription, which allows the subscriber an unlimited number of rentals. Subscriptions can get a Long Term Hire Card costing €10, or a 3 Day Ticket costing €2. Users also authorize Dublin Bikes to charge €150 from their credit card if the bike is not returned.^[2] The first half-hour of every journey is free, after that a service charge applies. See below for pricing structure:

After 4 hours, every extra 30 minutes costs €2. The system is in practice virtually free to users as over 95% of journeys last less than 30 minutes.^[13]

Overview[link]

The robust unisex bicyles with a silver colour and blue rear mudguard were produced by the French bicycle company Mercier, in Hungary and are repaired by JCDecaux. They are three-speed bicycles with an adjustable cushioned saddle, always-on LED lighting, a locking system and a front bicycle basket.

Each station is equipped with an automatic rental terminal and stands for approximately 20 bicycles. 14 of the 40 terminals have credit card facilities enabling the user to purchase a 3 Day Ticket.

If a user arrives with a rented bicycle at a station without open spots, the terminal grants another fifteen minutes of free rental time. The rental terminals also display information about neighbouring dublinbike stations, including location, number of available bicycles and open stands. A fleet of bicycle-transporting vehicles are used to redistribute bicycles between empty and full stations.

In the first ten months of the scheme, it was reported that there were over 37,000 users, over 828,000 journeys, no accidents, no vandalism, and only one bike missing.^[13]

Future[link]

Due to the success of the scheme in its first year, a first phase of expansion has begun which will see an extra 100 bikes, 4 new stations and 400 new bike stands being added to the Dublinbikes network.^[14]

In November 2010, a major five-year expansion plan was adopted due to the huge success of the scheme thus far. The plan will see the number of bikes increase from 450 to 5,000 and the number of bike stations increase from 40 to 300. The scheme will be extended as far north as DCU, as far south as UCD, as far east as Sandymount and as far west as Inchicore. The expansion will be funded differently than the original scheme, most likely through a mix of public and private funding.^[15]

As of April 2012 none of this expansion has taken place despite a deal of publicity in 2011.

See also[link]

• List of bicycle sharing systems

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dublin Bikes

• Official website
• Unofficial mobile site
• Unofficial webApp
• Unofficial iPhone webApp