Re: Re: The Velibs are coming?

The only bikes that are referred to as “Velibs” are the ones in Paris. In Dublin the bikes will be called ‘Dublin Bikes’ (how imaginative) and will presumably have the logo ‘dbs’ (http://www.dublinbikes.ie/misc/construction.html)

Does anyone know what the pricing stucture will be? I know that in Lyon – where the bike scheme has had a profoundly positive impact on the culture of cycling in the city – the bikes are incredibly easy to use, always in plentiful supply, and very affordable (provided you have a bank account with a laser/credit card). There it costs any tourist 1 euro per day if you use the bike for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time. Otherwise its an additional 1 euro per hour. There is such an abundance of stations around the city though that there is never any need to go over the 30 minutes. You simply use the bikes to get (cruise) from A to B. The inner suburbs are all generally within walking distance of a station. Residents of Lyon can pay a flat rate of 15 euro per year. Once you sign up with your card at the machine (takes two minutes) you get a pin number which you use every time you want to pick up a new one. No worries about having a decent lock for your bike, no worries about having proper lights at night, no maintenance costs and a big basket to put your shopping / football boots / schoolboks etc into while you cycle. The phrase ‘quality of life’ kept coming to me when I observed how incredibly popular they were with all sorts of characters using them in Lyon. My big hope is that we don’t stuff it up here in Dublin with an inflated pricing structure (like the Luas) or with an off-putting overly bulky/heavy design.

Tried to upload a few images but they failed (even though their under 100kb each) ??