Greetings from Dublin,

I would suggest that it is very early days with the London scheme.  The Dublin scheme was launched in September 2009 and it built up its popularity steadily.

It is the JC Decaux scheme - run by them for Dublin City Council.  We only have 450 bikes and 40 stations located within the inner canal cordon (approx 1.5 X 1.5 miles).  There are now approximately 22,000 annual subscribers (€10/year, 1st half hour is free) + at least 10,000 3-day subscriptions (€2).  There are around 4000 trips/day i.e. 9 per bike per day.  The scheme is now being expanded to 550 bikes, and from 795 to 1087 stands.  Early indications (from a small pilot study) suggest that around 1/3 of the trips are linking to another public transport mode - either heavy rail, light rail or bus.

Most impressively, the profile of the 'typical' Dublin Bikes user is different from 'the typical' commuter cyclist.  Essentially we are seeing far more users in suits (with brief cases carried in the baskets) and glamorous dresses than we see on non-Dublin Bikes.  It does seem to be helping to change the culture of the city - i.e. helping to mainstream cycling.

For recent Irish Times article, see www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0423/1224268952124.html

Regards,
Damien

Damien Ó Tuama
Postgraduate Student
[log in to unmask]
Department of Sociology
Trinity College Dublin
3 College Green
Dublin 2,
Ireland.






On 4 August 2010 18:01, Ian Perry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi ,
Following on from Dave Holladay's post on another thread:

The figures I've seen reported for London suggest that each Barclays Bike was hired just once a day over the first three days.

Each Velib in Paris is used 4 to 8 times a day.  London's once a day is not a disaster, but not what should be hoped for.

London has 12,000 subscribers, but after just one year Paris had 198,913 annual subscribers (approx 12.5 annual subscribers per bike at that time), plus 277,193 seven days subscribers plus another 3,683,714 one day subscribers.  26 million trips were made and they averaged 18 minutes each.

London will eventually have 6,000 bikes...  and eventually 400 stations, with more expected to follow in stages.  Paris launched with 10,000 bikes (with all wheels turning freely and locks) and 800 docking stations (that allowed daily subscriptions, bikes to release and confirmed bike returns). 

Paris had also included a cycling infrastructure as part of the Velib scheme, whereas London has those much ridiculed blue super highways that do not appear to be relevant to the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme.


It is just my personal view, but I think that London is not offering a complete package...  and needs to get its bike-sharing scheme working properly, fast!

Ian.