They Said It Couldn’t Work

at

What do ‘they’ know anyway?

Tomorrow marks the 10th Birthday of dublinbikes.

Ten years.

Nicole Fenner writes:

The service proved to be a great success from the beginning with more than 1,000 people signing up to use the bicycles on the first day alone and over 11,000 applying for membership in the first fortnight.

The scheme became Just Eat dublinbikes and it has gone on to exceed all expectations and is widely considered to be one of the most successful bike-sharing schemes in the world.

Currently there are 66,940 active annual subscribers and to date more than 28 million journeys have been made on the bikes in the capital.

To celebrate this milestone birthday, Just Eat is giving bike lovers the chance to enjoy 10% off all orders. Customers who tap the Just Eat app for breakfast, lunch of dinner before midnight on Friday 13th can avail of this exclusive discount by entering code ‘EAT10’ at the checkout.

dublinbikes

Just Eat

Meanwhile…

Andrew Montague, Dublin Lord Mayor (2011-2012), flanked by Dublin City Councillor Níall McNelis (left) and Cian Gallagher

In fairness.

Andrew Montague?

Top pic: Rollingnews

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20 thoughts on “They Said It Couldn’t Work

  1. Chlorinated RTE Canteen Chicken

    Fair dues, whoever made it happen.

    Have to say the original DB blue scheme was my favourite.

    Great service. Kudos.

      1. Verbatim

        Until it stopped working in Paris when they changed contractor and it became a big mess for well over a year. New contractor changed all docks and bikes and installed electric bikes. There are now non-dockable bikes (uber) all over the place, and then electric scooters came… it went from good to bad pretty fast, so hold on tight!

        1. Cú Chulainn

          What is it with just dropping scooters on pavements. You really wouldn’t want to be blind in Paris, scooters are just let drop any which way. It’s totally ignorant. Also, if a scooter is abandoned can a person take it and claim it ?

          1. Rob_G

            ” Also, if a scooter is abandoned can a person take it and claim it ?”

            No. Same as the way I can’t come upon a parked car, decide it’s been abandoned, and drive it home; how could you tell it has been abandoned?

          2. Spaghetti Hoop

            Yes, if it is operated by Lime Scooters, one operator in scooter hire. They all return to the charging stations at the end of the day, but regular practice is leaving the scooter and logging off where you no longer need it and another user picks it up and takes on the hire.

        2. Chlorinated RTE Canteen Chicken

          What? Is Vélib no longer that terrible Ringsend Sewage Outfall Brown colour? I think a large chunk of the bikes are still powered by pedal…

      2. George

        Many, many people said it wouldn’t work as they do anytime something new is suggested for Dublin.

        “they’ll all end up in the Liffey etc…”

        1. Cú Chulainn

          The naysayers will always be with us.. the only objection per se was from the blind support organisations over the advertising hoardings going up at street level..

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      +1
      Dublin Bikes issued a survey three years in asking the public whether they would accept a fee-hike or advertising on the bikes. The latter was the predominant choice. So I hope the pricing never changes.

      1. george

        We need to start funding it like we do other forms of transportation. We are not reliant on sponsorship to fund bus routes or road resurfacing.

        1. Otis Blue

          True.

          Aside from the sponsorship, the Dublin scheme is heavily subvented by DCC, as user subscriptions and fees comprise a very smalI proportion of costs. AFAIK the National Transport Authority now foots the bill for the expansion of the infrastructure.

          The schemes in Cork, Limerick and Galway are likewise subvented heavily by the National Transport Authority.

  2. Joe Small

    The annual charge went from €10 to €25 over that decade. I cancelled my card. I just wasn’t getting enough use out of it anymore. I think its only fair to add that, in general, Dublin Bike users are even worse at obeying rules of the road that general bike users.

Comments are closed.

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