free bikes

[tic tac man]

I've just got back from a holiday in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. Lovely city, great food etc. but the part I really liked was their free bicycle scheme.

At several points around the city, you can hand over an ID card and take a bike. Its free for up to two hours and only about €2 an hour thereafter. If you keep it over night, its still only €10. Some bikes have baskets, some child seats. Bikes seem to be always available.

We've recently introduced a scheme in the phoenix park here, I know. But its commercial and while reasonable value from a tourist perspective would be a bit costly if you just wanted to shoot home with some shopping at lunch time, for example. There have been other half-baked schemes which seem to have come to nothing

Bikes are cheap. Why not a similar scheme here.

[pikey]

I dont think our towns are as bike friendly as our european counterparts . You are taking your life in your hands by cycling in our larger cities . Also local authorities would be crapping themselves at the prospect of being liable for accidents .

[tic tac man]

I dont think our towns are as bike friendly as our european counterparts . You are taking your life in your hands by cycling in our larger cities . Also local authorities would be crapping themselves at the prospect of being liable for accidents .

Plenty of people cycle in Dublin. Many more would but for the difficulty in storing a bike - either at work or at home. Others have a bike but maybe find themselves needing to run an errand in the city and could still use a cheap and easy rental system.

I sometimes wonder if local authorities crap themselves in fear of liability, if they just use it as a default explanation for why they won't do something they couldn't be bothered doing.

Local authorities here are so bicycle unfriendly that many large parks have no-cycling rules

[zakalwe]

Same idea in Geneva. course the fabulous weather may be a factor in its popularity.

[fergalr]

We're getting a much watered down version of Paris' immensely successfuly Velo Cycles plan. Unfortunately, "free bikes" is most likely going to sum up the attitude of many a Dubliner :P

[alonso]

but we whored our public realm for it. see thread in Dublin forum

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16813

[irish_goat]

We're getting a much watered down version of Paris' immensely successfuly Velo Cycles plan. Unfortunately, "free bikes" is most likely going to sum up the attitude of many a Dubliner :P

At several points around the city, you can hand over an ID card and take a bike.

Making people hand over ID would put a stop to that would it not?

[katy brock]

I've just got back from a holiday in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. Lovely city, great food etc. but the part I really liked was their free bicycle scheme.

At several points around the city, you can hand over an ID card and take a bike. Its free for up to two hours and only about €2 an hour thereafter. If you keep it over night, its still only €10. Some bikes have baskets, some child seats. Bikes seem to be always available.

We've recently introduced a scheme in the phoenix park here, I know. But its commercial and while reasonable value from a tourist perspective would be a bit costly if you just wanted to shoot home with some shopping at lunch time, for example. There have been other half-baked schemes which seem to have come to nothing

Bikes are cheap. Why not a similar scheme here.

Why not go and just buy a goddamn bike? They are quite reasonable. If you`re waiting for some drooling idiot bureaucrat to introduce a sensible bike borrowing scheme in this country - god bless your sense!!

[tic tac man]

[quote=katy brock]

I've just got back from a holiday in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. Lovely city, great food etc. but the part I really liked was their free bicycle scheme.

At several points around the city, you can hand over an ID card and take a bike. Its free for up to two hours and only about €2 an hour thereafter. If you keep it over night, its still only €10. Some bikes have baskets, some child seats. Bikes seem to be always available.

We've recently introduced a scheme in the phoenix park here, I know. But its commercial and while reasonable value from a tourist perspective would be a bit costly if you just wanted to shoot home with some shopping at lunch time, for example. There have been other half-baked schemes which seem to have come to nothing

Bikes are cheap. Why not a similar scheme here.

Why not go and just buy a goddamn bike? They are quite reasonable. If you`re waiting for some drooling idiot bureaucrat to introduce a sensible bike borrowing scheme in this country - god bless your sense!![/quote:1pdsod9o]

tourists should buy a bike? people without anywhere to store a bike, should buy one? People who already have a bike but need one in the city for a few hours, should buy one?

[katy brock]

[quote=tic tac man][quote="katy brock":33fo7nzm]

I've just got back from a holiday in La Rochelle on the west coast of France. Lovely city, great food etc. but the part I really liked was their free bicycle scheme.

At several points around the city, you can hand over an ID card and take a bike. Its free for up to two hours and only about €2 an hour thereafter. If you keep it over night, its still only €10. Some bikes have baskets, some child seats. Bikes seem to be always available.

We've recently introduced a scheme in the phoenix park here, I know. But its commercial and while reasonable value from a tourist perspective would be a bit costly if you just wanted to shoot home with some shopping at lunch time, for example. There have been other half-baked schemes which seem to have come to nothing

Bikes are cheap. Why not a similar scheme here.

Why not go and just buy a goddamn bike? They are quite reasonable. If you`re waiting for some drooling idiot bureaucrat to introduce a sensible bike borrowing scheme in this country - god bless your sense!![/quote:33fo7nzm]

tourists should buy a bike? people without anywhere to store a bike, should buy one? People who already have a bike but need one in the city for a few hours, should buy one?[/quote:33fo7nzm]


Tourists should rent a bike. People without anywhere to store a bike should walk, and people who already have a bike should cycle it and stop demanding the taxpayer provide them with a free one whenever they fancy cycling. On yer bike!