THE GOVERNMENT is not in a position to reverse any decision on cuts to regional airports, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said.
However, the Minister said that Dublin city’s successful bike-sharing scheme may be extended to Galway and other regional cities.
Mr Varadkar was speaking in Galway yesterday, where he held meetings with Galway harbour and airport boards, and initiated plans for Galway’s bike week, which will be held as part of National Bike Week from June 18th to 26th. Asked about the future of Galway harbour and Galway airport, Mr Varadkar said the public service obligation subsidy on regional air routes – which was removed by the last government – would not be reinstated.
“The financial situation is very tough, and the money that was allotted to regional airports in the last budget was cut by 50 per cent essentially,” he said.
“The Government is not in a position to reverse any of the cuts in the last budget, so really it is a case of teasing out with the regional airports how they are going to bear those cuts.”
While he said he believed it was a “plus” to have an airport in a city like Galway, the road link between Dublin and Galway had improved considerably and this was one of the reasons for removing the subsidy.
It would “not be reinstated”, he said.
Asked about his plans for rationalising smaller ports, Mr Varadkar said he would regard Galway as being in the “medium-sized” category.
He was aware the harbour had “very ambitious plans” which he was interested to hear about – but could not yet endorse.
The harbour company, which is due to host the finish for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race, has prepared a strategic infrastructure application for a deepwater port, which it hopes to submit to An Bord Pleanála.
Speaking about National Bike Week, Mr Varadkar said cycling was a “key priority” in his department as a “sustainable, healthy and low-carbon means of travel”.
The success of Dublin’s bike-sharing scheme was such that he was in favour of extending it to regional cities such as Galway, in co-operation with local authorities.
“There is a provision in the programme for government for this,” he said, and Galway was “exactly the type of city” where the scheme would work very well.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label dublin bike scheme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dublin bike scheme. Show all posts
Monday, 16 May 2011
Monday, 5 October 2009
Bike rental scheme overwhelmed by applications
The Dublin City Council bike rental scheme has received so many applications in its first two weeks that it has run out of subscriber cards.
The council had originally targeted 5,000 subscribers in the first year of the Dublin Bikes scheme, but was overwhelmed with 11,000 applications in the first fortnight of operation, according to a council spokesman. He confirmed that the scheme, which is administered by advertising company JC Decaux for the local authority, had temporarily run out of cards. New cards for the scheme are expected to arrive within the next week.
New applicants for the Dublin Bikes scheme received letters last week informing them that the supply of cards had been exhausted.
They have instead been given 60-day cards and will receive a further 60 days to their annual subscription once their card arrives.
Under the terms of the deal, JC Decaux is supplying 450 public hire bikes and a network of 40 docking stations in exchange for 72 advertising panels in city centre locations.
Subscribers pay an annual fee of €10 to join the scheme and can use the bikes free of charge for journeys of less than half an hour in duration, or for a small fee for longer trips.
It was reported last week that one bike had been stolen and two were not returned by subscribers. However, all three bikes have since been recovered.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
The council had originally targeted 5,000 subscribers in the first year of the Dublin Bikes scheme, but was overwhelmed with 11,000 applications in the first fortnight of operation, according to a council spokesman. He confirmed that the scheme, which is administered by advertising company JC Decaux for the local authority, had temporarily run out of cards. New cards for the scheme are expected to arrive within the next week.
New applicants for the Dublin Bikes scheme received letters last week informing them that the supply of cards had been exhausted.
They have instead been given 60-day cards and will receive a further 60 days to their annual subscription once their card arrives.
Under the terms of the deal, JC Decaux is supplying 450 public hire bikes and a network of 40 docking stations in exchange for 72 advertising panels in city centre locations.
Subscribers pay an annual fee of €10 to join the scheme and can use the bikes free of charge for journeys of less than half an hour in duration, or for a small fee for longer trips.
It was reported last week that one bike had been stolen and two were not returned by subscribers. However, all three bikes have since been recovered.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Council assures public it won't be taken for a ride
Dublin City Council claims "passive surveillance" and electronic locking means its bike rental scheme, which will be launched in two weeks, is unlikely to suffer the fate of a similar scheme in Paris where over half the bikes have been stolen.
Under the scheme, Dublin citizens will have access to 450 bikes at over 40 stations for use within the city centre.
The outdoor advertising company JC Decaux is funding the operation in return for planning permission to erect 72 metro advertising panels on which it can sell advertising.
But in Paris where the advertising company operates the same scheme, over half the original 15,000 bikes have been stolen or vandalised in the two years since it was set up.
The bikes have been strung up on lamp posts and dumped in the River Seine, while some have turned up in eastern Europe and even Africa.
JC Decaux said the €400 cost of replacing each stolen bike is so high in Paris that it can no longer afford to operate the scheme.
But Dublin City Council is confident the capital won't suffer the same fate. "The council has chosen the location of the bike stations very carefully. They are all located in city centre streets with extensive footfalls so the bikes will be subject to passive surveillance by passers-by, making theft more difficult," a council spokesman said.
And if that doesn't work, each bike stand in the station has an electronic locking device which tells the user through a green/red light indicator whether the bike has been successfully locked.
This was not present in other European cites, where many users were unaware
they hadn't locked the bike, thereby presenting a golden opportunity for the random thief.
"We have learned from mistakes made elsewhere" said the council spokesman.
A third line of defence against widescale theft is that each citizen who subscribes to the scheme will have to pay a notional €150 deposit which will only be debited from your account if the bike is stolen or not returned to the station within 24 hours of first being taken out.
But the council spokesman added that the same deposit will be used to cover any damage done to the bike while you are cycling, including a puncture.
Under the scheme, a person can purchase a long-term hire card or subscription for €10 a year debited from your bank or credit-card account, with a three-day card costing €2 targeted at tourists. This card is then used to release and lock the bike.
The first half hour is free; one hour's rental costs 50 cent, two hours cost €1.50, four hours cost €6.50 and every extra half hour costs €2 thereafter.
But as Parisians use the bikes for an average of 18 minutes, the spokesman said the idea is to provide free cycling limited to the city centre.
Dublin City Council is also indemnified against claims should anybody be injured or killed while using a rental bike but it has no immediate plans to expand cycle lanes to make cycling safer. It recommends you wear a helmet but one will not be supplied.
The council also defended the deal with JC Decaux. "The advertising company funds the scheme which is worth €26.5m over the 15 years of the deal. Also, the council will have access to the advertising panels worth €23m," added the spokesman.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Under the scheme, Dublin citizens will have access to 450 bikes at over 40 stations for use within the city centre.
The outdoor advertising company JC Decaux is funding the operation in return for planning permission to erect 72 metro advertising panels on which it can sell advertising.
But in Paris where the advertising company operates the same scheme, over half the original 15,000 bikes have been stolen or vandalised in the two years since it was set up.
The bikes have been strung up on lamp posts and dumped in the River Seine, while some have turned up in eastern Europe and even Africa.
JC Decaux said the €400 cost of replacing each stolen bike is so high in Paris that it can no longer afford to operate the scheme.
But Dublin City Council is confident the capital won't suffer the same fate. "The council has chosen the location of the bike stations very carefully. They are all located in city centre streets with extensive footfalls so the bikes will be subject to passive surveillance by passers-by, making theft more difficult," a council spokesman said.
And if that doesn't work, each bike stand in the station has an electronic locking device which tells the user through a green/red light indicator whether the bike has been successfully locked.
This was not present in other European cites, where many users were unaware
they hadn't locked the bike, thereby presenting a golden opportunity for the random thief.
"We have learned from mistakes made elsewhere" said the council spokesman.
A third line of defence against widescale theft is that each citizen who subscribes to the scheme will have to pay a notional €150 deposit which will only be debited from your account if the bike is stolen or not returned to the station within 24 hours of first being taken out.
But the council spokesman added that the same deposit will be used to cover any damage done to the bike while you are cycling, including a puncture.
Under the scheme, a person can purchase a long-term hire card or subscription for €10 a year debited from your bank or credit-card account, with a three-day card costing €2 targeted at tourists. This card is then used to release and lock the bike.
The first half hour is free; one hour's rental costs 50 cent, two hours cost €1.50, four hours cost €6.50 and every extra half hour costs €2 thereafter.
But as Parisians use the bikes for an average of 18 minutes, the spokesman said the idea is to provide free cycling limited to the city centre.
Dublin City Council is also indemnified against claims should anybody be injured or killed while using a rental bike but it has no immediate plans to expand cycle lanes to make cycling safer. It recommends you wear a helmet but one will not be supplied.
The council also defended the deal with JC Decaux. "The advertising company funds the scheme which is worth €26.5m over the 15 years of the deal. Also, the council will have access to the advertising panels worth €23m," added the spokesman.
Sunday Tribune
www.buckplanning.ie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)