International Desktop Study and Proposals for a Village to Village Bike Share Scheme
Prepared by: ...... Checked by: ...... Catherine Swift Keith Dalton Graduate Consultant Senior Consultant
Approved by: ...... Elaine Brick Associate Director
Public Bike Scheme –International Desktop Study
Rev No Comments Checked by Approved Date by 1 Draft Report for Comment KD EB 30/09/2016 2 Final Report KD EB 22/02/2017
Telephone: Website: http://www.aecom.com
This document has been prepared by AECOM Limited for the sole use of our client (the “Client”) and in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM Limited and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM Limited, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. No third party may rely upon this document without the prior and express written agreement of AECOM Limited.
Table of Contents
1 Background ...... 2
2 International Review of ‘Small Scale’ Bike Share Schemes ...... 8
3 Identification of Suitable Schemes ...... 17
4 Summary and Conclusions ...... 30
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study 1
Executive Summary
Based on the success of the DublinBikes scheme, there is interest among the elected members of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to extend a similar scheme to the county. However, a study completed in 2014 examining the feasibility of a bike share scheme in the area estimated that daily usage per bike would be low and likely to require significant subsidy
In order to further investigate the potential for bike share in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, AECOM was appointed to undertake an international review of smaller scale bike share schemes which might be appropriate for the area . Six specific mechanisms of promoting bike share were identified, including:
- Automated ‘A to B’ bike share schemes;
- Attended bike hire schemes operated by local authorities and community organisations;
- Self-service ‘back to base’ bike hire from lockers;
- Low cost bike hire at rail stations;
- Loan bike schemes; and
- Grants for organisations to establish internally operated shared bike schemes.
Two models of operation were looked at including 3rd generation schemes with traditional docking stations as well as 4th generation schemes. The more recent, 4th generation schemes, include innovation in many areas including solar energy and GPS tracking. The latter development has led to the introduction of ‘free floating’ schemes which can result in reduced capital costs and may be suitable for larger geographical areas, like Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. However, there is limited experience of these schemes in Europe at present.
The assessment presented suggests that a ‘Village to Village’ scheme covering all of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown may not be feasible on the basis of low demand and geography. Based on an analysis of existing commuting trips within the county and considering local topography, AECOM has identified three areas which may have potential for local ‘Village to Village’ type schemes, including:
- Coastal Villages: This scheme would extend from Dalkey to Blackrock and would include multiple stations in Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock. Other stations would be located in intermediate locations such as Salthill and Monkstown DART station and Glasthule village and at key trip attractors such as IADT. A coastal scheme would have potential for significant tourist/leisure use at weekends.
- Dundrum/Sandyford: This scheme would link the employment centres of Dundrum and Sandyford and would include a number of stations in each area, including the business parks
- UCD to Booterstown and Windy Arbour: This scheme would cater for last mile trips for public transport passengers travelling between UCD and the Luas Green Line and DART services. Stations would be located in a centralised area within the UCD campus and at Windy Arbour Luas stop and Booterstown DART station.
A trial of one of these schemes could be undertaken to determine demand. Due to technology advances, the capital cost of scheme delivery has reduced however, the ongoing operating cost of these schemes could be prohibitive.
As an alternative to implementing an automated bike share scheme, consideration could be given to improving bike availability in the county through implementing a short term ‘trial’ loan bike scheme for individuals, or a grant scheme for employers and/or community organisations to implement shared bike schemes. Each of these schemes would offer significant flexibility in design and implementation and may be a cost effective way of promoting modal shift.
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1 Background
1.1 Project Description The success of the Dublin Bikes Scheme has prompted interest in an extension of the scheme, or the introduction of a similar scheme, to the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) area. DLRCC has appointed AECOM to undertake an international review of bike share schemes with the objective of identifying examples of smaller towns and cities where bike share has been introduced and to consider how similar models could potentially be introduced within DLRCC.
This study follows a Feasibility Study in 2014 for a bike share scheme in the Dún Laoghaire area only. This was more geographically constrained than the current study which is specifically focused on the potential of a ‘Village to Village’ scheme to link the main towns and villages in the county.
The introduction of a bike share scheme in the DLRCC area could fulfil the following objectives:
- Encourage more cycling in the DLRCC area and facilitate modal shift towards cycling;
- Improve access to key destinations and facilities;
- Promote the health benefits of cycling for utility trips, leisure trips or both;
- Reduce car use amongst residents and commuters; and
- Increase the attractiveness of Dún Laoghaire as a place to visit and provide an opportunity for visitors to discover Dún Laoghaire and the surrounding area by bike.
Despite the potential benefits of a scheme to the area, the challenge will be in finding a model for bike share that is suited to a less densely populated area than the urban areas around the world where bike share has been so successful. An additional challenge may be in sourcing a scheme which is effective both in terms of capital cost requirement and operations.
When considering the potential use of a scheme for recreation and tourism, it should be noted that bike rental is already offered by the tourist office in Dún Laoghaire as well as by three businesses operating on a commercial basis. These businesses include the activity providers ‘CP Adventure’ and ‘Aboveboard’, which are both based near the West Pier and DLB Cycles, who offer bike rental from their shop on York Road. 1.2 Relevant Policy and Previous Studies A number of national and regional policies support the objectives of facilitating modal shift towards cycling, as follows:
- The Smarter Travel Policy set a target to reduce the total share of commuting by private car from 65% to 45% and outlined a range of measures to support more sustainable travel modes, including cycling;
- The National Cycling Policy Framework 2009 – 2020 sets a target of achieving 10% of all trips by bicycle by 2020. The framework includes an objective to provide public bikes in cities, although it should be noted that the policy (9.1) specifically refers to cities above 100,000 population;
- The NTA Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016-2035 has incorporated the GDA Cycling Network plan as a key component of the strategy. The strategy also outlines a number of other actions intended to complement the investment in the cycle network, including an “expansion of the bike share scheme in Dublin City (dublinbikes) and the introduction of similar schemes in other appropriate centres across the GDA”;
- DLRCC published a Cycling Policy for the county in 2010, which sets out a vision for cycling in the county as follows: “To cultivate a cycling culture, through the implementation of appropriate infrastructure and promotional measures, that positively encourages all members of the community to cycle at all life stages
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and abilities as a mode of sustainable transport that delivers environmental, health and economic benefits to both the individual and the community”. Cycling Policy (CP) 9.1 is to “work towards the provision of ‘public bike’ facilities within the central urban areas of the County”, while CP 9.2 is to encourage employers and educational institutions to consider the provision of pool bikes, and
- The DLRCC County Development Plan 2016 – 2022 includes numerous policies to support walking and cycling, including Policy ST8: Public Bike Facilities which seeks to “work towards the provision of ‘public bike’ facilities across the key urban areas of the County”, subject to initial feasibility studies and more detailed business case analysis.
Two previous studies have been completed which have examined the potential for bike share in two areas within Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county, as follows:
- Report on the Feasibility of Providing Bike Rental Schemes within Metropolitan towns was produced by the NTA in 2012. The report assessed scheme feasibility in Tallaght, Dún Laoghaire, Dundrum, Swords, Clondalkin, Blanchardstown and Lucan. The report found that bike rental schemes in the towns of Dún Laoghaire and Tallaght may be feasible based on a relatively high number of destination points (including employment, leisure and cultural) and the relatively high densities within and surrounding the towns; and
- Public Bikes Scheme: Dún Laoghaire – Feasibility Study: Following the initial 2012 NTA study, a more detailed feasibility study of the potential for bike share in Dún Laoghaire town was completed in 2014. Further information on this study is provided in Section 1.4. 1.3 Bike Sharing in Context The term ‘bike share’ is broadly defined by ‘Bike Plus UK’, as ‘any setting where cycles are pooled for multiple users’. However, the term is most commonly understood to refer to systems where bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a self-service, short term basis from dedicated on-street docking stations. These systems generally allow people to borrow a bike from point ‘A’ and return it to point ‘B’ and often include subscriptions that make the first 30 minutes of use free or very inexpensive. These systems operate under a variety of different funding and ownership models as summarised below.
Funding and Ownership Models for Mass Automated Bike Share Schemes Fully Publicly Owned The scheme is fully publicly owned and managed, with a fixed fee provided to an operator. Examples include: Dublin Bikes; Paris Vélib; Capital Bikeshare; Washington DC. It is also common for companies to offer bike share as a package, including all equipment and operate the scheme for an agreed period of time.
Public Private The public authority contributes to the cost of the scheme with public subsidies while Partnership the operator receives all other project revenues, unless a specific profit sharing arrangement is in place for situations where commercial income begins to cover costs. In some arrangements, the public authority owns the equipment and in others ownership is retained by the operator. Examples include: Hirebike Lincoln (Hourbike), Glasgow (Nextbike); Non-Profit Owned This model is not common in Europe but covers a significant number of schemes in North America. Non-profit owned schemes are not under public control but sometimes rely at least partially on public funding to support capital and/or operational costs. Examples include: We-Cycle, Colorado; Great Rides Fargo, North Dakota; Kansas B- Cycle; Privately Fully commercial schemes have only been implemented in a limited number of Owned/Commercial locations to date. The owner/operator takes on all risk and receives all revenues Scheme including advertising/sponsorship. Examples of fully commercial schemes using a docking station model include: Santander Cycles, Milton Keynes, Citi Bike, New York and Nextbike in Limassol, Cyprus and Christchurch, New Zealand.Privately owned bike- sharing systems have recently been expanding rapidly in Chinese cities. The relatively
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Funding and Ownership Models for Mass Automated Bike Share Schemes low price at which these companies have been able to source the bikes they offer has benefited their viability. Two of the main Chinese companies, Mobike and Ofobike, are app based and use a ‘free-floating’ bike share model which does not rely on designated docking stations. Ofobike recently announced its plan to expand into Cambridge, UK in March 2017.
Schemes such as Dublin Bikes and ‘Velib’ in Paris are commonly referred to as ‘3rd generation’ bike share schemes. The development of rental systems which allowed user subscription, smart card technology and credit card payment was a defining factor in the success of these “3rd generation” schemes. The schemes are in contrast to earlier generations of bike share including the ‘White Bicycle Plan’ which attempted to offer free and uncontrolled bicycles in Amsterdam in 1965 but lasted for a very short period, and the coin operated Copenhagen City Bikes scheme which operated from 1995 to 2012.
At the end of 2015 it was estimated that bike share schemes were operating in around 980 different locations, with approximately 1.25 million bicycles, including around 9,300 electrical assist bikes (MetroBike LLC). Alongside this rapid growth in bike share there have been significant technological advances and the ‘4th generation’ of bike share has begun to emerge. While there is no precise definition of ‘4th generation’ bike share, Robert Bradshaw, a researcher at NUI Maynooth, has suggested that 4th generation schemes are characterised by: “(a) increased system flexibility; (b) KVB-Rad ‘Smart Bikes’ in Cologne, improved distribution; (c) enhanced physical and © Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) informational integration with other transportation modes (d) developments such as electric-hybrid bikes and GPS tracking; and (e) increased use of crowdsourcing and participatory platforms”1.
Some ‘4th generation’ technology advances have focused on replacing locking and rental mechanisms which rely on docking stations and ‘smart docks’, with ‘smart bikes’ or ‘smart locks’, where the rental system hardware is integrated into each individual bike. Schemes using these types of systems have been implemented in many different forms. Some schemes, such as those operated by the Chinese companies Mobike and Ofobike, are fully free-floating and without stations which allows users to Solar powered CityBike station in Liverpool. leave bikes in any public place. Outside of China, the type of flexibility offered to users is generally more moderate and there are a number of ‘hybrid’ type systems. For example, schemes operated by ‘Social Bicycles’, including Relay Bike Share in Atlanta, allow users to lock bikes to any public bike rack within a designated area for a small additional fee and reward users who return bikes which
1 http://progcity.maynoothuniversity.ie/author/rbradshaw/
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have been parked away from stations to the designated locations. KVB-Rad in Cologne, operated by ‘Nextbike’, does not require users to lock the bikes to fixed bike parking, instead allowing users to leave bikes at any visible crossroads within a 45km² ‘flex-zone’. Most of these ‘free-floating’ or hybrid schemes use bikes equipped with gps trackers which allow users to locate a bike using an app and also help operators to recover lost or stolen bikes.
While flexible ‘smart bike’ schemes are not as common as traditional systems with docking stations schemes, many schemes developed in recent years still have other features which make them more cost effective to deliver and operate than earlier ‘3rd generation’ schemes. For example, many newer bike share schemes, including those in Liverpool and Sheffield, for example, use solar powered energy at docking stations, which reduces the costs associated with station construction, such as groundworks and electrical connections. This allows the relocation of existing stations which may not be as successful as planned and also facilitates the expansion of schemes without significant issues relating to planning or construction.
The introduction of incentives for users to help in rebalancing the system is an innovation which is increasingly being deployed as a way to improve reliability and reduce redistribution costs. For example, New York’s Citi Bikes scheme introduced a ‘Bike Angels’ programme. Points are allocated to users who move bikes away from a full station or into an empty station and these allow users to be entered into a raffle to win gift cards.
The capital cost of bike share schemes varies significantly depending on the type of scheme, infrastructure and bikes used, the scale of a scheme and specific on-street works required. The capital costs include the assets, such as bikes, stations (including docking spaces and terminals), IT system components, control centre, maintenance equipment, and service and redistribution vehicles. Further information on capital costs (per bike) for a number of international bike-share schemes is included in Appendix C.
In recent years, 4th generation improvements such as solar powered docking stations have reduced capital costs. As part of this study, AECOM contacted providers of several international bike share schemes, who provided indicative per bike capital costs based on more recent schemes, as outlined in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1: Indicative Recent Bike Share Scheme Costs
Provider Country Capital Cost (per bike) Nextbike U.K, Germany, France, Poland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Austria €1,725 Hourbike U.K. only €2,750
Operational costs of bike share schemes also vary significantly and are affected by the scale of a scheme, local geography, the extent of manual redistribution of bikes needed and the level of service required (the Key Performance Indicators which operators are required to meet). In order to cover operating costs fully, many schemes require some level of public contribution. For example, an annual Operations and Maintenance cost of €1.92m is incurred by the Phase 2 expansion element of the Dublin Bikes scheme (as the expansion was not covered by the original concession contract between Dublin City Council and JC Decaux). From this total operating cost, the deficit not covered through user fees and sponsorship revenue was approximately €376,000 in 2015 and this cost had to be met by Dublin City Council.
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It should be noted that Dublin City Council does not plan to extend the Dublin Bikes scheme outside of the Dublin City Council area. The ‘Strategic Planning Framework’ published in 2011 did propose that the scheme would eventually be extended as far as the boundary of Dublin City and DLRCC, but the expansion of the scheme has been relatively slow to date in comparison to the original timeline, in part due to the revenue issues mentioned above.
A ‘Dublin Bikes’ type scheme with dense widespread coverage Image: dublinbikes.ie would be costly to implement and operate in the DLRCC area as the county is characterised by dispersed population and employment centres, located between large areas of suburban housing. Operating a scheme with dense geographical coverage across a large area would therefore require the provision of larger numbers of stations and bikes in proportion to the user base of the scheme and greater levels of operator intervention in redistributing bikes in comparison to bike share schemes in urban centres. 1.4 Previous Demand Assessment for Dún Laoghaire Scheme The level of demand for a bike share scheme in Dún Laoghaire which was estimated in the 2014 Feasibility Study is outlined in Table 1.2 below. The catchment area of the scheme under consideration stretched from Dún Laoghaire outwards to the centre of Monkstown, to Sandycove and to Glasthule Dart station and to just north of the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT). Further detail on the methodology which was used in arriving at the below estimates is provided in Appendix B. The ‘high demand’ scenario levels of demand were considered to correspond to a scheme size of 116 bikes and 151 docking points.
Unsurprisingly, the level of demand is relatively low compared to the Dublin Bikes Scheme which caters for an average daily demand of 11,000.
Table 1.2: Estimated Daily Rentals, 2014 Feasibility Study, ‘High Demand’ Scenario
Weekday Weekend Commuting 76 - Students 48 - Leisure / Social 48 125 Visitor / Tourists 7 14 Total 178 139
For comparison purposes only, data from the bike share schemes in Cork, Limerick and Galway is provided in Table 1.3. The regional bike share schemes are still in their initial stages and it should be assumed that demand will continue to build over a number of years. In addition, the low uptake of the scheme in Galway has been partially attributed to the centralised location of docking stations and significant expansion is already planned for 2017.
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Table 1.3: Regional Bike Share Scheme Rental Information
January to June 2016 (6 months) January to September 2015 (9 months) Regional Average Average Bike Number Total Daily Average Daily Total Daily Average Daily Scheme of Bikes Rentals Rentals Rentals/Bike rentals Rentals Rentals/Bike Cork 330 140660 771 2.34 197,200 720 2.18 Limerick 215 16478 90 0.42 30,244 110 0.51 Galway 195 6876 38 0.19 15,500 57 0.29
1.5 Report Structure The remainder of this report is structured as follows:
- Section 2 (International Review) outlines a variety of different models of bike share based on an international review of 10 schemes of relevance to Dún Laoghaire’s requirement for a bike share scheme;
- Section 3 (Identification of suitable schemes) considers how a number of the scheme types identified in Section 2 could potentially be introduced in Dún Laoghaire; and
- Section 4 provides a summary of the findings of the report.
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2 International Review of ‘Small Scale’ Bike Share Schemes
2.1 Overview
In general, the most well-known, successful bike share schemes have been implemented on a relatively large scale in cities. The guide ‘Bike Share Success Factors’ produced by ‘Bike Plus’, a UK representative body for bike share, suggests that a station density of 300-400m between stations, in a minimum area of 10km2 with high footfall is necessary for bike share to flourish. However, smaller scale schemes may not be able to meet this criterion and in conducting the international review, AECOM sought to identify examples of where ‘A to B’ bike share has been implemented on a smaller scale, with regard to the size of the scheme, the scheme location, or both, as these may provide a more suitable reference point for a future scheme in DLRCC. In addition to conventional ‘A to B’ bike share, a number of other models of providing shared access to bikes were also examined, including:
- ‘Free-floating’ or ‘hybrid’ (semi-flexible) bike share; - Attended bike hire; - Community wide attended bike hire; - Self-service electric bike hire; - Self-service folding bike hire; - Rail station bike hire; - Bike libraries/loan schemes
The specific case studies examined in the most detail included:
- Cycle Hire Slough, UK; - We-Cycle Aspen, Colorado, US; - Southport Cycle Hire, UK; - Blackpool Yellow Bikes, UK; - Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme, Cork; - Co-Wheels self-service electric bikes, Inverness and Gateshead, UK; - Brompton Bike Hire, UK; - OV Fiets, Netherlands; - Swindon Borrow a Bike Scheme, UK; and - Edinburgh Further and Higher Education Transport Group eCycle Project, Scotland.
The first two of the schemes listed above are ‘conventional’ bike share schemes and the third also includes an element of automated ‘A to B’ cycle hire. The remaining schemes listed are examples of where access to bikes has been provided using alternative models.
The case studies include examples of successful schemes as well as schemes that have been discontinued due to operating issues, all of which provide useful lessons learnt for a potential scheme in DLRCC.
The following section outlines each of the different models of providing shared access to bikes which were examined for the international review and summarises key points from the case studies which may be of relevance to DLRCC. The full case studies are presented in Appendix A.
It should be noted that unfortunately cost information was not readily available for all schemes.
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2.2 Models of Shared Bike Provision and Key Points of Relevance from Schemes Examined
Automated ‘A to B’ Bike Share In conducting the international review, it was not possible to identify any clear existing examples of the type of ‘Village to Village’ bike share scheme in which interest has been expressed in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. However, a variety of ‘A to B’ bike share schemes have been introduced on different scales. Some examples are as follows: - In Slough, a bike share scheme has been introduced on a small scale and is operated by a social enterprise in cooperation with the local authority. The scheme opened in 2013 with just four stations and now has 9 stations and 83 bikes. Slough has a significant number of train commuters and there is an estimated 86,000 jobs in the area, but despite this, the scheme has had a relatively low number of hires to date. This indicates the potential difficulty of attracting sufficient user numbers outside of densely populated catchment areas. There is a greater distance between stations in Slough than observed in many similar schemes and while this indicates that common guidance that stations should be just 300-500m apart is not universally applied, the low density of stations may be a barrier to attracting users in Slough. The scheme has had difficulty retaining sponsors and is still heavily reliant on public funding for operating costs; - In Aspen, an outdoor recreation resort town in Colorado, bike share has been introduced with a high density of stations and is funded through a public/private partnership. The scheme is relatively unique in being successful in a small town. However, a substantial proportion of the scheme users are tourists/visitors. Significant levels of inward bus commuting and high car parking costs have also contributed to the scheme’s popularity. Despite the scheme’s success, user fees still only account for around 21 percent of revenues, while a variety of private sponsors provide about one third of the funding; and - The Southport Cycle Hire scheme, which is owned by a local authority tourism body and now managed by bike share operator Hourbike is predominantly an attended bike hire scheme, but also includes five automatic docking stations spread around the region which offer hourly ‘A to B’ hire. Usage of the automated stations in general is low. The main trips for transport purposes are in the town of Ormskirk between the bus stations and Edge Hill University and there are no or very few inter town/village trips.
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Free-Floating’ Bike Share As described in Section 1.3, some bike share schemes now operate as ‘free-floating’ schemes, or as hybrid systems which combine designated docking locations with the flexibility to lock bikes to other public bike parking, or do not require the returned bike to be locked to a fixed object at all. Examples of ‘free-floating’ bike share operators include:
- Nextbike, predominantly operates station based schemes, however, in some German cities their schemes offer free-floating ‘flex zones’ within which users can return the bike to street intersections. Outside of the ‘flex zone’ (further from the city centre), the bike can only be returned at designated stations. The extent of the ‘flex zone’ in each city varies; - MoBike, a privately owned free-floating bike share scheme which launched in 9 cities in China since April 2016 allows users to park anywhere. The smart lock locks the rear wheel and can be unlocked through scanning a QR code in the mobile app. Users must manually close the lock at the end of the trip and the smart lock is equipped with a GPS device; - Ofo Bike also operates many schemes in China but uses more basic technology and a very low cost bicycle. The user obtains a code for the combination lock from the app and the bikes do not have embedded GPS; and - Dropbyke, which operates in Vilnius, allows users to lock bikes to any public bicycle parking stands using a combination lock and code which is accessed through an app.
Fully free-floating schemes may not be feasible outside of densely populated cities due to increased redistribution and maintenance costs for the operator. Operators of these schemes in China have experienced significant issues in relation to management of bike distribution and theft.
Although the two Chinese operators, featured above, have implemented their free-floating schemes without public support, the potential feasibility and cost effectiveness of their model in a European context has not yet been tested.
Ofo (yellow) andMoBike (orange) bicycles at
Dongdan, China Dropbyke screenshots, source: bikeradar.com source: Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Attended Bike Hire (publicly owned) Publicly owned bike hire schemes commonly offer bike hire by the day/half day from attended locations, sometimes utilising existing public buildings. They may be able to offer bike hire at a lower rate than commercial bike hire businesses. They are most suitable where there is a potential demand for bike hire and where a publicly owned scheme can offer economies of scale and/or improved access to lower cost bike hire in comparison to private sector providers. Examples are as follows:
- In Southport, the attended bike hire scheme is owned by ‘Visit Sefton and West Lancashire’ and includes three attended bike hire locations. One of these is based in the Southport Eco Centre, an educational facility operated by the local authority. Unfortunately no usage statistics or cost information for this scheme is available. - In Blackpool, the ‘Yellow Bikes’ hire scheme was launched in order to bring some of the bikes originally procured for the towns discontinued bike share scheme back into circulation. The hire scheme operates on a small scale from the multi-purpose ‘Solaris Centre’ on the South Promenade and the council’s three leisure centres, with bikes being hired for a low rate. According to scheme managers, bikes located in the Solaris Centre are well used by visitors, but hires from the leisure centres are only sporadic.
Community Wide Attended Bike Hire Attended bike hire may also be run on a community wide basis, for example, through collaboration between businesses and may offer the opportunity to return bikes to different locations. A community wide attended bike hire/bike share scheme is most suitable for areas where there is a demand for ‘A to B’ type bike hire between suitable locations, or a dispersed demand for ‘back to base’ hire, and there is strong community support.
An innovative example in Ireland is the Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme, County Cork. This scheme provides low cost, short-period rental of bicycles to visitors and local community. It operates from drop off and collection points at the town’s hotels who manage the hiring out of bikes and taking of payments using a software tool developed by the scheme. The scheme is funded by the participating hotels, the main sponsor (Clona Dairies) and a variety of other local businesses, while some grants were also received from other sources. The operation of the scheme relies on very significant volunteer involvement as volunteers undertake bike redistribution, maintenance and scheme administration.
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Self-Service Electric Bike Hire Electric bikes offer the potential to promote cycling as a suitable transport option for a greater range of individuals and journey types than conventional bikes. Two main types of automated ‘self-service’ schemes offering electric bikes were identified through the international review. The first type is a version of standard ‘A to B’ bikes share which utilises bikes specifically designed for use in a bike share system and are most commonly made available to users through a system of open docking stations. The second type identified is a ‘back to base’ hire system, which eliminates redistribution costs and is particularly suitable for smaller scale schemes where demand is concentrated in a single area. The ‘back to base’ electric bike hire schemes identified in the review utilise standard electric bikes which are accessed via a customised locker system. As an alternative to a locker system, it should also technically be possible to utilise ‘bike share’ hardware similar to that used in ‘A to B’ schemes to provide a ‘back to base’ electric bike hire scheme, but a specific example of this could not be identified in the international review.
In some ‘A to B’ bike share schemes, the entire fleet of bikes is electric. Two large scale examples of a fully electric bike share scheme are Madrid’s ‘BiciMAD’ system and Copenhangen’s ‘Bycyklen’. Some controversy has surrounded both of these schemes, particularly in relation to their relatively high cost.2 A smaller scale example of a fully electric scheme is the recently launched ‘Co-Bikes’ scheme in Exeter, which is operated by Nextbike. However, electric bikes can also be integrated into a more conventional bike share scheme with a mixed fleet of electric and non-electric bikes, such as in the case of Oxon Bikes in Oxford, operated by Hourbike.
The ‘back to base’ electric bike hire scheme model which has been piloted by Co-wheels car club in the UK makes bikes available through the use of a customised locker system. The bikes must be returned to the same location at the end of rental period. The use of the locker system means that there is no requirement for the scheme to use specific bikes. The need to return the bike to the same location means that users are more restricted and therefore this type of scheme is only suitable where a demand for automated ‘back to base’ hire has been identified. The first pilot of the automated ‘back to base’ model undertaken by Co-wheels was in Inverness, where the trial lasted for two years and is no longer operating. In 2015, another scheme was launched by Co-Wheels at the Gateshead council offices, with two e-bikes and two standard bikes.
People making business trips during the working day are one of the primary target groups for this type of ‘back to base’ model. In some cases, it may be more cost effective for this demand to be provided for by organisations
2 The ‘BiciMAD’ system experienced significant levels of theft and vandalism, much of which appeared to be linked to a single organised crime ring uncovered in 2015. In September 2016 the city council announced their intention to purchase the scheme from Bonopark, the private company which had managed it up to that point, as Bonopark was in serious financial trouble and claimed the scheme was experiencing losses of up to 300,000 per month. The council announced intentions to change the GPS on each of the bicycles and strengthen security at stations. In Copenhagen, the ‘Bycyklen’ scheme was criticised by well-known cycling design expert Mikael Colville-Andersen for the cost of the project to the city and the relatively high cost to the user, as well as the low take up of the scheme, particularly amongst locals.
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including electric bikes within internal ‘pool bike’ fleets. A conventional ‘pool bike’ scheme is particularly suitable if the main source of demand comes from just one organisation and there are existing staff within the organisation with the capacity to manage access to pool bikes. However, an automated system has the potential to provide more streamlined access to bikes and to provide access for a wider range of people, such as employees of multiple organisations located in the same area and/or the general public.
Folding Bikes Folding bikes can be useful for users who wish to combine cycling with public transport journeys, or need to take a bike indoors where security is an issue. Offering hire from lockers presents a convenient way to meet demand for folding bike hire.
Currently, Brompton Bike Hire operates an extensive system of automatic Brompton hire ‘docks’ in the UK. However, in order to achieve a critical mass of users and sufficient revenue to support the operation of this type of scheme, multiple centres are required. Brompton have suggested to AECOM that a minimum of 15 locations would be needed for it to be viable for the company to operate this scheme in Ireland.
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Rail Station Bike Share/Hire While conventional privately operated bike hire may be offered at train stations, some rail companies also operate schemes which offer hire to registered members at a low rate, as follows:
- In the Netherlands, the Dutch National Train Company operate ‘OV Fiets’ (‘Public Transport Bikes). The system offers low cost bike hire at day rates to members at over 250 locations including public transport hubs, a few city centres and park and ride car parks. The scheme has over 100,000 members and has reached around 1,000,000 trips per year. The system is not aimed at tourists and registration requires a Dutch bank account. Locations include a mixture of supervised staffed areas and self-service lockers. Bikes cannot be pre-booked. - In the UK, the ‘Bike and Go’ scheme currently has locations at train stations in Northern England, East Anglia and Scotland and members can collect the key for their hire bike from the station ticket office. While detailed statistics are not available for the scheme as a whole, there were just 84 rentals across 19 ‘Bike and Go’ stations on the Merseyrail network in April 2015, indicating the scheme is not as successful as OV Fiets.
Rail station bike share schemes are most suitable for stations where there are sufficient volumes of train users who could benefit from affordable bike hire as a way to connect with their end destination but do not visit the destination regularly enough to store a bike of their own at the station. However, in order to attract sufficient numbers of registered users, these schemes may need to operate at the national or regional level in many centres, as is the case for the ‘Bike and Go’ and ‘OV Fiets’ schemes.
Bicycle Library/Loan Scheme Loan bike schemes give people an opportunity try cycling for a longer period of time, usually ranging between 1 month and 3 months, before committing to the purchase of a bike. Many such schemes offer loans of electric bikes, folding bikes and/or cargo bikes in addition to ordinary bikes. These schemes can be operated in a variety of ways, such as directly by the local authority, by the local authority in collaboration with local bike shops or hire businesses, by bike projects and by other community organisations.
Loan bike schemes are most suitable for areas wishing to increase the modal share of cycling amongst people who live and/or work in an area and may particularly target individuals new to an area or those on lower incomes. Loan bike schemes are also effective in promoting the potential benefits of less conventional bikes and practical accessories. Increasing the availability of less conventional bikes can encourage borrowers to invest in their own after the loan period and can also create a talking point in the community.
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Some examples of loan bike schemes include: Elcyklist E-bike loan project in Halmstad, Sweden; E-cargo bike loans in Manchester; Journey Matters – Rotherham, The Gloucester Bike Project Bike Loan Scheme and the Borrow a Bike scheme in Swindon. In 2015, 148 people borrowed bikes from the Swindon Borrow a Bike scheme and 61% reported that after 6 weeks of the loan, they cycled most days, compared to only 2.2% before. In 2014, the city of Halmstad in Sweden loaned electric bikes to 100 committed car users and in the following year, half of the participants continued to cycle on at least three days per week.
2.3 Conclusions of International Review
Following the review, an example scheme which might be a ‘perfect’ fit for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was not explicitly identified. However, there are aspects of each case study which are relevant to understanding the appropriateness of potential future schemes in Dún Laoghaire, as follows:
- The number of ‘last mile’ journeys by public transport users which can be facilitated through a bike share scheme is an important factor influencing demand: Bike share is ideal for combining with public transport for the first or last part of longer trips where public transport does not directly serve the end destination of the user. A survey of 360 Dublin Bikes users at six randomly selected sites found that 39% of respondents used the Dublin Bikes scheme in conjunction with another mode, primarily rail and bus. The importance of ‘last mile’ trips was reconfirmed by the case studies examined. In Slough, the greatest number of hires was between Slough Railway Station and Slough Trading Estate. In Aspen, the significant amount of inward commuting by bus from other nearby towns has been cited as one of the reasons for the success of the ‘We-cycle’ scheme. Attracting these ‘last mile’ trips, which may be particularly important for a smaller scale scheme, requires not only that the scheme be well integrated with the public transport system in terms of information and the location of stations, but also that there are sufficient numbers of public transport users who would find the scheme useful for the particular trips that they make.
- Smaller scale bike share schemes need to be carefully targeted: The examples highlighted in the international review demonstrated that bike share schemes have been introduced on a variety of different scales and cannot always provide the large and dense network of stations which is commonly recommended. The mixed success of smaller scale schemes is partially attributable to effective targeting of station locations and the convenience which stations provide for users. For example, Hourbike has highlighted to AECOM that the ‘Oxon Bike’ scheme in Oxford works very well, as the relatively low number of station locations correspond well to a clearly identified demand between hospitals, university campuses and Park & Rides. In contrast, in Southport, two of the five automated stations are mainly used only for occasional round trips by visitors as they do not cater for any clear ‘A to B’ travel demand. In Slough, where the scheme attempts to cover a relatively large geographical area with a relatively small number of docking stations, usage of the scheme to date has been much lower than originally anticipated. Similarly, although the ‘back to base’ co- wheels electric bike schemes operate according to a different model, there is also a clear need to identify potential users of this type of scheme in advance.
- The extent to which schemes should be targeted at visitors needs careful consideration: The extent to which a bike sharing scheme caters to visitors needs therefore needs to be considered where there is a possibility of boosting demand. However, some bike sharing schemes and in particular some attended hire schemes, such as those operated in Blackpool (return to base) and Clonakilty (multiple locations with ‘A to B’ option) are predominantly or almost exclusively used by visitors. These schemes cannot be expected to have a significant impact in promoting modal shift amongst residents and a conscious decision would therefore be required about the extent to which the promotion of cycling amongst visitors is a central objective of the local authority.
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- Some schemes can experience low demand which may result in a scheme offering poor value for money: Bike share schemes often require ongoing public subsidy for operating costs which in many cases can be justified due to a scheme's importance as a core part of the public transport system or other social objectives. However, where demand is low and where there is a significant gap between operating costs and revenues from user fees and sponsorship, significant ongoing support for operating costs can represent poor value for money. Demand is difficult to predict, particularly outside larger cities and a number of schemes examined for this review have to date experienced substantially lower demand than initially anticipated. In some cases, including in Dumfries and in Blackpool, the amount of public funding required to cover operating costs for an automated bike share scheme was deemed to be unjustifiable for the observed demand level and schemes were discontinued.
- Community operated bike sharing/ bike rental schemes are exceptional and may rely on a small number of individuals to maintain them: Clonakilty Community Cycle scheme is an example of a successful 'A to B' bike rental scheme which has not relied extensively on public funding. However, the project has largely been driven by a single committed individual and a small number of others who have contributed substantial volunteer hours. The scheme also operates in an area with a strong tourism offer where the participating hotels have a commercial interest in offering the scheme. This model is therefore unlikely to be very widely applicable to different types of areas. Automated bike share schemes which are community/non-profit owned are more common in North America than in Europe, but many of these schemes are still relatively reliant on local authority funding in addition to any other funding they can attract from a range of public and private sponsors and grantors.
- The most successful low cost rail station bike hire schemes are operated as national/regional schemes: OV-Fiets in the Netherlands and Brompton Bikes in England are two examples of successful low cost bike hire schemes which are predominantly based at public transport hubs. However, each of these operates on a national level and includes some large cities amongst their stations.
- Providing a bike share scheme is not the only means of improving access to bikes: A county wide loan bike scheme or competitive grants for organisations to establish internal pool bike schemes may be cost effective ways of promoting cycling and improving access to bikes.
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3 Identification of Suitable Schemes
3.1 Overview The potential to implement the various types of schemes identified through the international review in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is considered in this section. The following options were investigated:
- A ‘Village to Village’ automated ‘A to B’ bike share scheme across the whole of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown; - Smaller scale schemes within narrower geographic areas also using an automated ‘A to B’ approach; and - ‘Back to Base’ cycle hire schemes.
As an alternative to bike share, the potential to promote cycling through alternative sharing initiatives is also looked at.
For each option, the potential method for the operation of the scheme is outlined. However, it should be noted that all proposed schemes could be operated through the 3rd generation, more common approach similar to the Dublin Bike Scheme, or it could deploy the features of modern 4th generation systems as set out previously.
The main factors determining the appropriateness of each option for implementation in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are presented. For most options, Demand and Cost are the main factors considered, although additional factors such as topography, the distance between stations and the potential for a phased introduction of services are considered for certain options, where appropriate.
The potential demand was assessed using the 2011 POWSCAR dataset as well as Smarter Travel survey data for UCD. The potential costs were assessed based on cost information provided by international scheme providers (outlined previously in Table 1.1), as well as known average costs of different types of bicycle.
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3.2 Bike Scheme Option 1 – Village to Village Scheme A ‘Village to Village’ bike share scheme linking the main villages in the county of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown has generated considerable interest from DLRCC elected members and, as such, was given consideration as a first priority.
Notionally, the scheme could operate similar to the Dublin Bikes scheme, i.e. an automated cycle hire scheme, with designated stations in each of the main ‘villages’ within the county. However, the scale of the areas covered by a ‘Village to Village’ scheme would mean that stations would generally be much further apart than is the case for the Dublin Bikes scheme.
It is assumed in this report that a station based model for DLRCC would use 4th generation technology which would make it more cost effective in comparison to 3rd generation schemes, like DublinBikes. 4th generation schemes would also result in a more flexible system, depending on the specific operator.
In assessing the potential of a ‘Village to Village’ scheme, the following key points were taken into consideration:
- Demand; - Distance between stations; - Topography; and - Cost.
The main factors determining the appropriateness of a Village to Village Scheme option are summarised below.
Demand
The demand for a Village to Village scheme was investigated using the 2011 POWSCAR dataset which allows us to understand the existing number of trips taken between the villages and modes of transport used. The main villages selected for the analysis were: Blackrock, Dalkey, Dún Laoghaire, Sandyford, Dundrum and Stillorgan. Given the scale of trip generation at the university, UCD was considered to be a ‘village’ and was included in the exercise.
The number of trips between each village, for work and for college, was extracted from POWSCAR. Given the high-level scope of this study, analysis was undertaken at an Electoral District level only. As such, the electoral districts that best represent the catchment areas of each village were chosen. It should also be noted that the POWSCAR data used only focuses on trips with both an origin and a destination within Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County and, as such, would not take account of trips that originate outside of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown but terminate there, by public transport, for example. Another limitation of the POWSCAR dataset is that it only includes commuting trips, i.e. trips to work and education and therefore no data is available which could help to understand the potential demand for bike share trips between villages for other purposes. Tables 3.1 and 3.2, below, highlight the number of trips between each village for each trip type. Considering the overall modal split for cycling in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is just over 5% (Census 2011), internal and inter-village movements with less than 100 trips were not considered to have a level of demand that would justify inclusion in the scheme. With this in mind, 100 trips was considered to represent the minimum threshold for consideration for inclusion in a full Village to Village scheme. As such, Tables 3.1 and 3.2 also highlight all of the internal and inter-village movements with at least 100 trips.
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Table 3.1: Summary of Village to Village Work Trips – All Modes (Source: 2011 POWSCAR Data)
Destination Dún Origin Blackrock UCD Dalkey Laoghaire Sandyford Dundrum Stillorgan Blackrock 235 100 Dalkey 190 261 100 Dún Laoghaire 104 611 Sandyford 569 190 Dundrum 172 465 432 Stillorgan
The results outlined in Table 3.1 indicate that there is a disparity in the level of trip making between the villages in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, with relatively significant levels of trip making between some villages and very low levels between others. There is a high level of internal work trips within Dún Laoghaire, Sandyford and Dundrum. The largest number of inter-village work trips are from Dundrum to Sandyford. There is also a significant level of inter-village work trip making from Dalkey to Dún Laoghaire and from Sandyford to Dundrum.
The results outlined in Table 3.2 highlight the importance of UCD as a trip generator within Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown. In 2014, there were 29,000 students and staff commuting to UCD and 4% of these travelled by rail (DART and Luas). This equates to approximately 1160 commuters3 who could use a bike share scheme for the final part of their journey i.e. from the DART station / Luas stop to the university campus. It is also possible that, if a bike share scheme which improves connectivity between DART / Luas and UCD were provided, there may be some switching from existing bus users to rail and bike.
Table 3.2: Summary of Village to Village College Trips – All Modes (Source: 2011 POWSCAR Data)
Origin UCD Blackrock 167
UCD 573 Dalkey 137 Dún Laoghaire
Sandyford Dundrum 216 Stillorgan 172
On the basis of the travel demand identified within DLRCC, it is suggested that the most appropriate locations within the county for a bike share scheme would be in Dún Laoghaire, Dundrum and Sandyford, with these villages experiencing a significant volume of internal work trips.
For inter-village trips, only a limited number of origin / destination pairings have a level of trip demand considered appropriate to meet the identified minimum threshold:
- Dalkey to Dún Laoghaire; - Dún Laoghaire to Blackrock;
3 Smarter Travel in UCD Infographic - https://www.nationaltransport.ie/bus-forms/ucd-results-show-sustainable- commuting-programme-works-donohoe/
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- Sandyford to Dundrum; and - Dundrum to Sandyford. Based on the information gathered, there is insufficient demand to implement a full, county-wide Village to Village scheme. There is, however, higher demand within certain villages and between certain geographically-adjacent origin / destination pairings. This proposal is outlined in greater detail in Section 3.3.
Distance between Stations
Generally, bike share schemes are used for ‘last mile trips’ between public transport modes and the ultimate journey destination or for short distance trips between city centre locations. For example, the average journey time for the Dublin Bikes Scheme is 14 minutes4, which illustrates the short distances travelled by users of the scheme.
Table 3.3, below, outlines the distances between the main villages in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and indicates that the distance between many of the villages in the DLRCC area is greater than what would be considered appropriate for a bike hire scheme.
Table 3.3 also highlights the distances between the villages that were highlighted in Table 3.1 as having relatively high demand for inter-village trips and shows that these distances, in general, are some distance shorter than a lot of the village to village distances. This is discussed further in Section 3.2.
Table 3.3: Distances between Villages in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
Dún Blackrock UCD Dalkey Laoghaire Sandyford Dundrum Stillorgan Blackrock - UCD 3.9km - Dalkey 6.3km 10.0km - Dún Laoghaire 3.3km 7.0km 3.1km - Sandyford 6.0km 5.2km 8.9km 8.3km - Dundrum 5.5km 3.0km 10.5km 9.2km 4.0km - Stillorgan 2.8km 2.9km 7.5km 6.0km 2.5km 3.2km - Locations with Significant Inter-Village Demand in the vicinity of the coast Locations with Significant Inter-Village Demand around Sandyford / Dundrum
Another impact of the distances between the villages is that it is likely that there will be significant costs for re- distribution of bikes, as maintenance crews would have to cover a large area with a relatively low number of stations. Furthermore, the time taken to re-distribute the bicycles across a wider area, with stations that are relatively sparsely-located may lead to a situation whereby certain stations are empty for significant amounts of time while other stations are full.
Topography
The hilly topography of parts of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (as illustrated, overleaf) also limits the potential attractiveness for bike share trips between some villages, particularly trips from coastal villages to areas such as Stillorgan, Dundrum and Sandyford. The bike models used in bike share schemes are generally heavier than most personal bikes and also tend to have fewer gears for ease of use and maintenance. The terrain could also make the scheme more unbalanced as some people may be inclined to cycle towards the coast and use public transport for their return journeys.
4 http://www.dublinbikes.ie/Magazine/Reports/Coca-Cola-Zero-dublinbikes-the-stats!
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Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Topography Source: topographic-map.com
Cost
The estimated cost of operating the Village to Village scheme using a 3rd generation approach is outlined in Table 3.4. This is informed by the indicative costs provided by international providers Nextbike and Hourbike. The cost of operating a Village to Village scheme using 4th generation technology would require further work in determining scope of the scheme before estimating, however, the costs are likely to be significantly reduced where stations are not required and redistribution costs may be lower.
International suppliers of automated bicycle rental schemes generally quote the cost on a ‘per-bicycle’ basis, which would include the bicycles as well as stations. Per-bicycle cost can vary significantly, depending on the number and size of the stations included in the scheme. The estimate outlined in Table 3.4 assumes a total of 300 bicycles spread across the various villages.
As with capital costs, the operating costs of the various schemes investigated varied, depending on the number of bicycles and stations. The figure outlined in Table 3.4 represents a best estimate of the required operating cost based on an assumed requirement for 300 bicycles. It should be noted, however, that since the bike share schemes generally tend to have much shorter distances between stations than the distances between the villages in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, the actual operating cost may end up being higher than the ball park figure provided.
Table 3.4: Indicative Cost Estimate for Implementation of Village to Village Scheme using 3rd generation Estimated no. of Bicycles Cost Per-Bicycle Required Total Cost Capital Cost €2,100 300 €630,000 Operating Cost (per annum) €1,100 300 €330,000 (Source: Consultation with Nextbike & Hourbike) Conclusion Based on the information outlined above, it is considered that there may not be sufficient demand across the DLRCC area to warrant a full Village to Village, ‘A to B’ type bike scheme.
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In addition to concerns about demand for a scheme like this, costs for a 3rd generation type scheme to cover all county villages could be very expensive, with the cost of redistributing bikes also high. One means of reducing these costs would be to opt for a 4th generation scheme where bikes could be tracked using GPS across the county and made available on a ‘free floating’ basis or through a hybrid type scheme with bikes locked to traditional sheffield stands in designated areas. The viability of this option would need to be looked at in more detailed as there is little experience of the schemes within Europe at present.
While demand for Village to Village scheme, across the entire county, is deemed to be too low to warrant investment in a 3rd generation scheme, there may be potential for a smaller scale scheme, as presented in the following section.
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3.3 Bike Scheme Option 2 – Local Schemes Demand for a series of smaller ‘Local’ bike share schemes on a narrower geographic scale may provide a stronger basis for investment in bike sharing in DLRCC. Based on the demand analysis, three potential schemes were identified:
- A Coastal Scheme, to link the key employment centres of Dún Laoghaire and Blackrock and also extend to Dalkey. The proposed scheme would include multiple stations in both of these villages. There is also scope to provide stations at
intermediate locations such as Salthill & Dún Laoghaire Town Hall Monkstown DART station and Glasthule village as well as to connect major trip attractors such as IADT to the DART line for last mile trips. There is also potential for significant tourist / leisure use of the service at weekends, since it is concentrated along an attractive coastal area with good cycling facilities.
- A Dundrum / Sandyford Scheme, linking the employment centres of Dundrum and Sandyford, which would entail a number of stations in each area including the business park.
- A UCD Scheme, catering for last mile trips for
public transport passengers travelling between Dundrum Town Centre UCD and the Luas Green Line and DART services. It is envisaged that the scheme would operate with stations in a centralised area within the UCD campus, as well a single station at each of Windy Arbour Luas stop and Booterstown DART station.
The approximate extent of each scheme is outlined in Figure 3.1, below. It is envisaged that each scheme would operate relatively independently of the others, although travel between the schemes would still be possible.
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Figure 3.1: Approximate Extents of Local Schemes (Source: Google Maps)
UCD Scheme
Coastal Scheme
Dundrum / Sandyford Scheme
The main factors used to assess the Local Schemes are summarised as follows:
Demand
The three schemes outlined above were identified based on the demand analysis (outlined in Section 3.1). This analysis highlighted a significant volume of internal trip making within each of Dún Laoghaire, Dundrum and Sandyford villages as well as significant inter-village travel demand between the villages in the Coastal Scheme and the Dundrum / Sandyford Scheme.
The demand analysis also highlighted the volume of students and staff, approximately 1,160 commuters, currently travelling to UCD by rail (DART and Luas).
The demand analysis indicated that there is relatively high demand for each of the local schemes identified. By concentrating on these core areas of demand, rather than trying to implement a Village to Village scheme that cover the entire county area, more stations and bicycles can be provided to cater for the demand in these areas than would be available under the Village to Village scheme. With this in mind, it is considered that one or more Local scheme would generate higher usage per scheme and would therefore represent a greater value investment than a Village to Village scheme.
Distance between Stations
Table 3.3 in Section 3.2 highlighted how the distances between the villages in the local schemes are, in general, shorter than a lot of the village-to-village distances within Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Table 3.5, below, highlights the relatively short distances between UCD and the DART / Luas stations proposed for inclusion in the UCD scheme.
Table 3.5: Distances between UCD and DART / Luas Stations
UCD Windy Arbour Booterstown 2km 4.5km UCD 2km
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One of the benefits of the Local schemes is that the task of re-distributing bicycles would be made simpler by the narrower geographic scale of each scheme since, although it is possible that there will be a limited number of trips between the schemes, it is envisaged that the majority of trips in any individual scheme would be contained within the scheme area.
One of the reasons why many urban bike share schemes provide stations every 300-500m is to ensure there is an accessible alternative station in cases where a destination is full. While the schemes proposed above are narrower in scale to a county wide Village to Village scheme, they are still unlikely to provide this density of stations, given that they would be attempting to connect destinations which are some distance apart and that it may not be cost effective to place stations in areas of lower demand. In a station based scheme, the issue of full stations would need to be overcome by allowing users to lock bikes in the vicinity using a provided combination lock and alerting the scheme operator (as implemented by Hourbike schemes in the UK). This would ensure that all stations have sufficient capacity to accommodate bikes. In a ‘free-floating’ or ‘hybrid’ scheme where the rental system is integrated into the bicycle, this problem is eliminated or minimised.
Topography
The areas covered by each of the three proposed schemes have relatively consistent topography so hills are less likely to present a significant barrier to take up or contribute as significantly to redistribution problems as may be the case for a Village to Village scheme.
Cost
Using a 3rd generation approach to establishing the scheme, the proposed schemes could operate with approximately 100 bicycles each - 300 in total. On this basis, an indicative capital cost estimate for each scheme would be €210,000 with operating costs of €110,000 as summarised in Table 3.6.
It should be noted that these costs are indicative only, there may be routes to cheaper bike share implementation for a similar scheme using 4th generation bikes.
Table 3.6.: Indicative Cost Estimate for Implementation of Smaller Individual Schemes Estimated no. of Bicycles Cost Per-Bicycle Total Cost Required Capital Cost €2,100 100 €210,000 Operating Cost (per annum) €1,100 100 €110,000 (Source: Consultation with Nextbike & Hourbike)
Despite lower costs for an individual scheme, it is still very likely that the schemes would require funding support from public or private sources. Relatively low demand for the schemes would limit user revenue potential which can be collected from users.
Sponsorship can contribute to narrowing this gap, but the value of this to potential sponsors in Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown would be much lower than is the case in more dense urban areas. Nevertheless, there may be a ‘good fit’ for local businesses to sponsor the scheme. As a number of UK schemes have experienced difficulties in obtaining or retaining sponsors, an alternative is to sell advertising space on individual bikes (although the revenue potential from this can be much lower in comparison to operating costs). For example, the Lincoln bike share scheme is currently offering advertising space on 25 bikes for 12 months for a total of £3,390. The development of large format advertising structures has also been a source of funding for some large bike share schemes including Dublin Bikes.
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Potential for Phased Introduction
A significant advantage the smaller scale schemes presents is that they are relatively self-contained and therefore can be implemented individually, or on a phased basis. This would allow the implementation of one of the schemes first, as a trial, to gauge the level of use, before implementing the other schemes. Conclusion The demand analysis undertaken indicates that there may be scope to provide a number of local schemes, concentrating on three core areas. By concentrating on these three smaller schemes, rather than trying to spread the service across the entire county, a better level of service can be achieved in areas with the highest level of demand. This scheme could be delivered using 3rd or 4th generation delivery approaches.
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3.4 Bike Scheme 3 - ‘Back to Base’ Scheme The international review identified three main types of ‘back to base’ cycle hire scheme, as follows and described below:
- Attended bike hire by the day or half day;
- Self-service bike hire at public transport nodes; and
- Self-service electric bike hire
Attended bike hire
Operation
A council backed ‘back to base’ attended hire scheme would involve the council purchasing bicycles and offering them for hire by the day/half day at reasonable rates. The scheme could be operated on a relatively larger scale with dedicated staff work from a standalone location, or on a smaller scale, by utilising existing staff (if they were in agreement) and existing public buildings, such as the council offices or the library in Dún Laoghaire. However a smaller scheme operating without specialist staff would still require the engagement of a qualified mechanic to undertake regular maintenance.
Demand
The majority of hires from the attended bike hire schemes examined for the review (in Blackpool, Southport and Clonakilty) are by visitors. This is likely to also be the case in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and therefore no significant demand from residents is anticipated. Demand by visitors would be dependent on factors such as the total number of visitors to the area, pricing and opening hours and would be strongest during summer months and weekends.
Conclusion Bike hire is already offered on a commercial basis in Dún Laoghaire and a scheme which is primarily used by visitors would not contribute sustainable commuting targets. A council backed ‘back to base’ attended hire scheme should therefore only be considered if there is a strong desire to Dún Laoghaire Library prioritise a tourism focused scheme.
Streamlined/self-service bike hire at public transport nodes
The international review identified examples of low cost, daily rate bike hire offered on a self-service or streamlined basis at public transport nodes, such as train stations. Bicycles are only available to users who have registered in advance. OV-Fiets, a successful example of this scheme in the Netherlands, suggests the scheme is more suitable for recreational and business trips. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, it may be possible to operate a relatively low cost system based on online booking and key collection from DART station ticket offices (as in the ‘Bike and Go’ scheme in the UK). This would be dependent on co-operation from Irish Rail. A more expensive automated locker system would be required to operate a self-service scheme from Luas stops.
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Demand
There may not be sufficient demand for back to base hire at any location in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown for the above models of provision. There are limited numbers of potential trips from DART and Luas stops in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to destinations which are not already a convenient walking distance from the stations, particularly if trips by regular commuters are excluded. Conclusion This type of scheme is not recommended for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at present due to insufficient demand. Dún Laoghaire DART station Automated ‘back to base’ electric bike hire
Operation
A small scale ‘back to base’ electric bike scheme would include a base or multiple bases at locations where there is estimated to be a sufficient number of users who could use electric bikes to make round trips. Scheme users would normally be charged by the hour or day and with bicycles returned to the same location.
A ‘back to base’ model operated by Co-Wheels in Gateshead, as described in Section 2.2, involves the release of pre-booked ‘standard’ electric bicycles to members from pin and/or smartcard operated customised lockers. However, as the market for bike share systems is continually advancing, it might be equally cost effective to deliver a ‘back to base’ scheme using specific electric bikes, rather than a locker based system .
Demand
A key source of demand for ‘back to base’ trips is business travel. However, organisations can already encourage employees to undertake these trips by electric bike through providing in house ‘pool bike’ fleets which include electric bikes.
A ‘back to base’ scheme for business travel is likely to be most effective in areas where there are clusters of businesses. While Sandyford could be a model for this, it is unlikely that there are a sufficient number of short distance business trips suitable for such a scheme.
Visitors and leisure users would present an additional source of demand for a ‘back to base’ electric bike scheme. However, this demand would be concentrated in more touristic parts of the county, which may not correspond to locations where there is demand from business users. Conclusion The use of electric bikes presents potential benefits in increasing the profile of electric bikes and would potentially be suitable for the hilly topography of parts of the county. Indeed, electric bikes could be deployed for use in any bike share scheme but costs are likely to be prohibitive.
A ‘back to base’ electric bike share scheme would be particularly well suited to business travel needs in areas of high employment concentration. Further investigation would be needed to into whether the level of business travel and length of trips would be suitable for such a scheme in DLRCC.
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3.5 Alternative Options for Improving Access to Bikes The two schemes outlined below may be relatively cost effective ways of facilitating improved access to bikes in the DLRCC area and could be considered for implementation as an alternative or in addition to a conventional bike share scheme.
Loan Bike Scheme
The international review highlighted that loan bike schemes can be an effective means of encouraging participants to ‘trial’ cycling and of promoting the potential of folding bikes, electric bikes or cargo bikes and accessories such as child seats and pannier bags. Some loan schemes are combined with other forms of support, such as cycle training, route advice or regular ‘check ins’ with participants. These schemes are commonly operated through the local authority but in some cases have been operated through local bike shops.
A smaller number of individuals overall would access a loan scheme in comparison to the potential users of a bike share scheme. However, some international evidence indicates that there is significant potential for modal shift associated with these schemes, as participants can integrate cycling into their daily life and make door to door journeys across a wider catchment area than a bike share scheme could feasibly cover. The cost of a loan scheme is primarily dependent on the number and type of bikes which is very flexible and would be need to be determined following a more detailed analysis of the objectives of a scheme, potential demand and available budget.
Competitive Grants for organisations to set up Shared Bike Schemes A competitive grants scheme providing full or partial/match funding for ‘shared bike’ projects to successful applicants would seek to encourage organisations in DLRCC to think innovatively about how their organisation can promote cycling through providing access to bikes. Applicants would be required to demonstrate that they have identified demand amongst their employees or community for their potential project and provide information on usage criteria, expected usage and promotional plans. The cost of implementing a grant scheme is flexible and would be dependent on the budget available and specific scheme objectives and criteria as set out by DLRCC. Organisations would be responsible for secure storage, management and maintenance of bikes and could be required to contribute partial funding for their projects. These conditions would help to control costs incurred by DLRCC.
Some examples of the type of projects which could potentially be funded or partly funded through a ‘shared bike’ grant scheme include: internal pool bikes to support business travel during the working week, which could potentially also be offered for loan to employees for evening and weekend use; the connection of multiple workplace sites using automated bike share hardware; small scale loan bike projects operated by community organisations and shared cargo bike projects involving businesses or community organisations.
Electric Bicycle Example of Cargo Bicycle Source: ecf.com
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study 30
4 Summary and Conclusions
DLRCC appointed AECOM to undertake an international review of bike share schemes with the objective of identifying examples of smaller towns and cities where bike sharing has been introduced and to consider how similar models could potentially be introduced within DLRCC.
In the course of the international review AECOM identified a wide range of bike share and bike hire schemes, including:
- ‘Conventional’ bike share (automated A to B system);
- ‘Free-floating’ or ‘hybrid’ (semi-flexible) bike share;
- Attended bike hire;
- Community wide attended bike hire;
- Self-service electric bike hire;
- Self-service folding bike hire;
- Rail station bike hire;
- Bike libraries/loan schemes
An example scheme which provided a ‘perfect’ fit for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was not explicitly identified. However, aspects of each case study were relevant to understanding the appropriateness of potential future schemes in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
The potential to implement the various types of schemes identified through the international review in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was considered and assessed using a range of criteria. The main conclusions drawn from the international review and subsequent assessment of applicability to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are as follows:
- Demand for bike share schemes outside of large cities is difficult to predict: A number of schemes examined for the review have, to date, experienced lower demand than initially anticipated.
- The capital cost of introducing bike share has fallen: Technological improvements such as GPS and solar powered docking stations have resulted in more flexible and cost effective schemes.
- Operating costs may still present a barrier to the viability of bike share: Operating costs can vary substantially depending on requirements and are dependent on the size of a scheme, the extent of natural ‘balancing’ as opposed to manual redistribution and on the agreed ‘level of service’ to be provided.
- There may be some potential for automated ‘A to B’ bike share within specific areas of Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown: There is low demand for a ‘Village to Village’ scheme covering all of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown due to relatively low population and employment density. The cost of delivering a 3rd generation scheme on this scale would be very high but could be reduced by applying the recent innovations of 4th generation schemes. As an alternative, three local schemes orientated around Dundrum/Sandyford, the coastal villages or UCD would have potential based on existing travel demand. One or more of these schemes could be chosen for
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study 31
implementation depending funding. A more detailed analysis of costs, docking station locations and predicted demand would be required which could potentially be undertaken in conjunction with a bike share system operator/supplier.
- 4th Generation Schemes: Improvements in technology have resulted in the development of more flexible scheme models which do not require conventional docking stations as the rental system is integrated into each individual bike. Within DLRCC, a more flexible scheme would assist in overcoming issues of cost and geography. However, the scope of such a scheme would need to be carefully planned to mitigate issues experienced internationally with this model (e.g. significant management challenges have been raised by operators of free floating systems in China including theft and vandalism).
- ‘Back to Base’ schemes: A ‘back to base’ scheme focused on public transport nodes is not recommended for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at this time based on a lack of a specific demand. Business travel during the working day may present a potential source of demand for the small scale, self-service electric bike schemes within some parts of Dún Laoghaoire-Rathdown. However, unless a cluster of organisations in close proximity to one another were identified who would use a shared scheme, it may be more cost effective for organisations to provide for business travel by bike/electric bikes in-house.
- Alternative schemes to promote bike availability: Consideration could be given to implementing a loan bike scheme for individuals as a cost effective way of promoting modal shift. A competitive grant scheme could also be considered as this would be a way of stimulating interest amongst organisations in providing shared bikes.
Appendix A - Case Studies
Cycle Hire Slough, UK
Type of Scheme ‘Conventional’ bike share (automated A to B system)
Operator Groundwork South (social and environmental regeneration charity)
Population and area 140,000 (2011), 32.5km² (both approx.) This is a social enterprise with Groundwork providing the on-going maintenance and Overview operation of the scheme. They also manage an accredited bike maintenance course and other training opportunities for adults and young people as well as bike recycling/sales. Initial set up of scheme (four stations) funded by £175,000 Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) grant from Department of Transport. Three later stations funded by LSTF, one through developer contribution and one as part of a sponsorship agreement. Funding Information First year sponsored by Anesco – an energy efficiency company, another sponsor being sought. Anticipated annual operating costs for expanded 83 bike scheme with 9 docking stations is £150,000 including work on a Cycling Hub. Bike ‘Smoove’ bike share bikes using ‘Smoove Box’ system, see photos overleaf.
Docking Station ‘Smoove’ docking stations – posts or horizontal rails with docking points into which the front wheel of the bike is inserted. Operational Recently expanded to 9 Docking Stations and 83 bikes, 24/7 operation. Docking station Information size ranges from 32 spaces at Slough Train Station to 8 spaces at smallest station. Longest distance between stations Approximately 9km (see map for scale of scheme). Pay as you Cycle Power to the Pedal £10 annual membership £10 membership card and £8/month for 4 Tariff System – Two hours free per day Options £1 for first 30mins and then £0.50 for After initial 4 hours - £1 for first 30mins and every hour thereafter then £0.50 for every hour thereafter £150 if exceed 24 hours £150 if exceed 24 hours
Booking Users must pre-register online to access the system. Arrangements Dedicated membership card needed to release bikes. Target Market Residents and commuters (3 docking stations within vicinity of Slough Trading Estate and two at train stations). Available Usage 6,919 hires between October 2013 launch and October 2015 (Note the scheme Information commenced with only 4 of the current 8 docking stations open). The Slough scheme is one of the smallest bike share schemes of this type in the UK. There is a greater distance between stations than observed in many similar schemes, illustrating that the guide usually applied to city centre schemes that stations should be between Relevance to Dún 300-500m apart is not universally applied. Laoghaire- Rathdown Slough has significant number of train commuters and there are an estimated 86,000 jobs in the area. Despite this, the scheme has had a relatively low number of hires to date. This indicates the potential difficulty of attracting sufficient user numbers to bike schemes outside of densely populated catchment areas.
Cycle Hire Slough Locations. Basemap: Google Maps
1km (approx.)
Docking point at Burnham Station, Image: Des Blenkinsopp, www.geograph.org.uk/reuse.php?id=3756540
WE-Cycle, Aspen, Colorado
Type of Scheme ‘Standard’ bike share (automated A to B system)
Operator WE-cycle, non-profit organisation, funded through public/private partnership.
Population and area 6,658, 9km². Aspen is located near Pitkin county, which has a population of approx. (approx.) 17,787. Aspen is a ski resort town and year round outdoor recreation destination. The bike Overview system operates for a season in Summer/Autumn every year. We-Cycle opened in 2013 and in 2016 another system was opened in the nearby town of Basalt – approx. 30km away, with one pass allowing access to both systems. Start-up capital came from founding partners, private donations and an Adopt‐a‐Bike Campaign, as well as from Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding administered by the Federal Highways Administration. Funding Information Private sponsors, provide about a third of the program’s funding. User fees account for about 21 percent of revenues, with public and private grants making up most of the remainder. The system has a main ‘presenting’ sponsor, a title sponsor, multiple station sponsors and many bike sponsors. Donations are also encouraged through the website. Bike ‘Bixi’ bike share system supplied by Montreal based ‘Public Bike System Co.’
Docking Station Bixi solar powered modular docking stations, see photos overleaf.
Operational Information 20 stations in Aspen in 2016, 110 bikes (in Aspen), 24/7 operation (summer months) Docking station size ranges from 9-18 spaces per station Longest distance between stations Approx. 4.8km (see map for scale of scheme) Unlimited 30 minute rides for as long as a pass is active. Tariff System $9/24 hour pass $22/3-day pass $50/season pass Booking Arrangements Short term passes can be purchased at any station; all passes can be purchased online. Target Market Tourists and residents During the 2015 season the system recorded 21,000 rides and 2,600 unique riders (The system had 100 bikes and 16 stations at that time) Available Usage 62% of all trips in 2015 were taken by season pass holders. 43% of these pass holders Information live outside Aspen but within the wider region (the Roaring Fork Valley), with the Basalt area (a similarly sized town) accounting for a higher percentage of season pass holders than any community besides Aspen. The relevance of Aspen is that bike share has been introduced successfully in a small Relevance to Dún town and that a portion of the funding from the scheme has been garnered from many Laoghaire-Rathdown different sponsors, as opposed to a single sponsor. However, Aspen is a resort town and a substantial proportion of scheme users are tourists/visitors.
We-Cycle Aspen Locations. Basemap: Google Maps
1km (approx.)
Image: Aspen Public Radio Image: ‘twoleavesandabud.com’
Image: Aspen Public Radio
Image: we-cycle.org
Southport Cycle Hire, UK
The scheme consists of a combination of attended bike hire and automated bike hire. The majority of bikes are available via attended bike hire (by day/half day) and the five Type of Scheme automatic docking stations offer hourly hire. These two aspects are jointly managed/operated but they are separate from the perspective of the user (i.e. bikes hired at attended hire cannot be returned to a docking station and users of the automated cycle hire are required to register for membership. Operator Hourbike (Hourbike operate 9 automated cycle hire schemes around the UK) Population and area (approx.) 90,000, 23 km² Southport Cycle Hire is owned by ‘Visit Sefton and West Lancashire’, a partnership between Sefton Council and West Lancashire Councils funded by the Department for Transport Overview through the local sustainable transport fund (LSTF) which promotes sustainable travel to modes for visiting the area. The scheme launched in 2009 as a manual hire scheme primarily aimed at tourists. However, bike share operator HourBike are now managing the scheme and five automatic bike share docking stations have been added. Funding Information The scheme was funded through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF).
Bike Bikes were purchased from UK manufacturer Pashley, originally for the attended hire scheme but the same bikes are also in use in the automated docking stations. Docking Station Provided by Hourbike, modular electromagnetic locks can be fitted to ordinary bike stands. 3 attended hire locations (130 bikes), two in Southport one in Crosby. Southport locations varied opening hours but approx. 9am to 5.30pm Mon to Sat, with one of Operational the two locations open on Sunday. Information Bikes can only be hired from attended locations by day and not kept overnight. 5 docking stations with 24/7 operation (Southport, Burscough, Ormskirk Bus Station and two on the Edge Hill University Campus (also in Ormskirk), 32 docking spaces in total. Longest distance Within Ormskirk – Bus station to University, 1.4km. between stations Between The Ship Inn Burscough and Edge Hill University, 7km. The scale of the scheme is illustrated on the map below. Tariff System £1/hour for automated bikes. £6/ up to 4 hours, £10/full day, £12 or £20 for adults bike with either trailer or child seat. At attended centres – complete registration form prior to hire, photo ID and proof of address Booking required. Arrangements For self-service docking station - registration for the automated hire is done over the phone and usage must be pre purchased. Target Market Tourists (Southport locations). Students (Edge Hill University is one of the automated stations). Usage in general is low and the scheme predominantly operates as a tourist scheme. Available Usage The main trips for transport purposes are in Ormskirk between the bus station and university Information There are no/very few inter town/village trips. In Ormskirk – trips between bus station and university. There are only a small number of automated cycle hire locations in the Southport scheme. This may indicate some potential for a very small scale automated cycle hire scheme in Dún Relevance to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown but this would require the scheme to be viable without the addition of Laoghaire- the attended hire which forms the main part of the Southport scheme. Unless very specific Rathdown trips were identified, a very small scheme would be a tourist focused scheme and would not achieve the wider objective of modal shift.
Southport Cycle Hire, attended locations (yellow) and docking stations (red).
Basemap: Google Maps
Southport Cycle Centre Image: cycle-works.com
Yellow Bikes, Blackpool
Type of Scheme Attended hire
Operator Blackpool Council Leisure Services (‘Sport Blackpool’)
Population (approx.) 142,000, 35 km² Blackpool launched a bike share scheme in 2009 which at its peak period in summer 2010 included 300 bikes and 60 stations. This scheme closed in winter 2012 due to insufficient use and high running costs. Since 2014, some of the bikes Overview have been available to rent from a centre on the South Promenade (on weekdays) and the council’s three sports centres. Other cycling initiatives also run from some of the same leisure centres, including ‘Wheels for All’ sessions for beginner and disabled cyclists and Bikeability training. The discontinued bike share scheme was funded by a Cycling Town grant from DfT. The current hire scheme utilises the same bikes and no specific information is Funding Information available in relation to costs, as the hires are administered by existing council staff in leisure centres/the Solaris Centre, and maintenance is also undertaken internally. Bike Original bike share bikes (heavy, one size, step through frame).
Docking Station n/a
Operational Information 4 attended locations, 20/30 bikes, operates during the opening hours of the attended locations. Tariff System £10/full day, £5/half day
Booking Arrangements Book in person at a leisure centre, over the phone, or online.
Target Market Visitors, parties, locals who do not have a bike and wish to cycle for leisure Bikes in the Solaris Centre (on the prom) are well used by visitors throughout the week. No interest has been expressed at one of the three leisure centres (located Available Usage Information on a busy road), and there are sporadic hires at the other two. One of the latter two is located in a park and the other has a 1km off road cycle track attached to the leisure centre. The Blackpool model is not directly applicable to DLRCC as leisure centres do not currently operate cycling programmes and leisure centres are less conveniently Relevance to Dún located for visitors (not in town/village centres). Laoghaire-Rathdown Bike hire is already offered from the tourist office in Marine Road but opening hours are more restricted than in the Blackpool leisure centres. Directly offering hire to visitors at very low rates similar to Blackpool may be opposed by existing commercial bike hire operators.
Solaris Centre (one of the yellow bike hire locations);
Image: liveblackpool.info
Former docking Station (automated hire scheme now discontinued); Image: The Gazette
Blackpool Bikes is being operated from public leisure centres and generally suits recreational/tourist trips
Palatine Leisure Centre Closed Circuit Cycle Track
Clonakilty – Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme
Type of Scheme Low cost bike rental with possibility to drop off and collect at multiple points. Operator Organised through Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme – not for profit. Hotels manage the hiring of bikes. Population (approx.) 4,721 over 10.33 km². Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme is a rural bike rental scheme in Clonakilty developed with the support of local community organisations and businesses. It provides low cost, short-period rental of bicycles to visitors and the local Overview community. It operates from drop and collect points located at the towns hotels, who manage the hiring out of the bikes and payments using a software tool developed by the scheme. Bike redistribution, bike maintenance, and scheme administration is undertaken by volunteers. Approximately €60,000 has been spent to date. Participating hotels were required to contribute €1000. Clona Dairies is the main sponsor and a number of other local Funding Information businesses also contribute and receive advertising space. Grants were also received from a variety of sources, such as the SEAI. There are significant volunteer hours involved in the operation of the scheme. Bike ‘Town bikes’ with rack and front basket.
Docking Station Sheltered bicycle stands on hotel property (using ordinary locks).
Operational Information 10 locations – 9 hotels and a Model Railway Village, 70 bikes (approx.) Operates during hotel reception hours. Longest distance between 21km (Clonakilty to Bandon) – but majority of locations are in or around Clonakilty stations itself. Tariff System Locals: €20 annual locals card, first hour free per day, then €1/hour max of €10/day Visitors: €10 two day card, first hour is free, then €1/hour to max of €10/day Fill in a registration form at hotel reception, provide credit card information and Booking Arrangements receive bicycle scheme card used to collect and drop off bicycles. The potential for replacing this system with a cash system is currently being reviewed. Target Market Visitors and locals There were approximately 700 users of the scheme in 2015. Available Usage Information Approximately 80% of current users are visitors and 20% are locals, but it is hoped to grow the number of locals who use the scheme in the future. A hotel-centred bike hire scheme which is ideal for longer leisure trips may not appeal to visitors in Dún Laoghaire to the same extent as Clonakilty due to the suburban nature of the area, the hilly topography of the county, the fact that most key destinations are already accessible by public transport and that many visitors Relevance to Dún are likely to be using the area as a base to explore Dublin. Laoghaire-Rathdown Some hotels in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are in or close to Dún Laoghaire town. Rochestown Lodge and Killiney Castle are each located outside of easy walking distance and within cycling distance of the Dún Laoghaire town, but each of these involves cycling uphill. Some other hotels are clustered in the Sandyford area where it is not particularly attractive for visitors to cycle.
Clonakilty Community Cycle Scheme Cycle Hire Locations. Basemap: Google Maps
Operation of the Clonakilty Bike Share Scheme relies heavily on local volunteers
Scheme launch, Image: West Cork People
‘Back to Base’ Self-service Electric Bike Hire
Type of Scheme Self-service electric bike rental.
Operator Co-Wheels Car Club (Social Enterprise operating in many UK locations). Co-wheels car club have trialled or are in the process of introducing self-service e-bike hire at a number of locations around the UK. A pilot scheme in Inverness was initially trialled for approximately two years with funding provided by SSE, the Highland council and the Inverness Common Good fund. The Inverness project is no longer operating. However, insights gained as a result of some problems which Overview were experienced with the equipment and booking system allowed for modifications to be made in advance of commencing other projects. In 2015, Co- wheels launched at scheme in Gateshead with two e-bikes and two standard bikes available from outside council offices. At present, these are only available to council staff, but it is planned to open the bikes out for general use to all co-wheels members outside of office hours.
Bike Electric Bikes
Docking Station Secure lockers with charging infrastructure Register for membership and reserve a bike online. Currently, users of the Booking Arrangements Gateshead system receive a text with a pin number to unlock bike locker but Co- Wheels have also proposed that lockers could be operated using smartcards. Target Market Employees based near the e-bike location during office hours and residents during evenings and weekends This type of scheme may be beneficial in increasing the profile of electric bikes and could provide an opportunity for users to access a wide area in comparison to Relevance to Dún conventional bikes, in particular given the hilly profile of the county away from the Laoghaire-Rathdown coast. However, a ‘back to base’ system is most suited to round trips, particularly for business travel during the working day. The number of these trips originating from concentrated origins in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown would need further investigation.
Electric Bike used in Inverness Scheme. Inverness Self-service electric bike lockers Image: The Press and Journal.co.uk
Promotional event for Gateshead Electric Bikes
Use of Electric Bikes for on-street ‘A to B’ schemes While the scheme model described above uses a ‘back to base’ model and a customised locker system, electric bikes have also been deployed in a number of places as part of a more conventional on-street bike sharing system. Including electric bikes in an on-street bike sharing system increases the cost of the system as in addition to the additional cost of the bikes themselves, the inclusion of the necessary charging infrastructure creates a requirement for additional groundworks and power connection at docking stations. Users are generally charged something for each trip using an electric bike, in contrast to standard bike share schemes where the first 30 minutes of each trip is often free.
Oxonbike in Oxford, operated by Hourbike, now includes sixteen e-bikes in its mixed fleet of 80 bikes. Exeter based car club co-cars will shortly launch co-bikes, a network of on street e-bike hire stations in various hubs around the city. The scheme is operated in partnership with nextbike, the global bikeshare operator and will initially launch with three stations but is planned to soon progress to six and eventually more. Each hub will have between four and six bikes.
Bike-sharing schemes involving electric bikes have also been launched on a larger scale in other countries with mixed success. The Madrid scheme ‘BiciMAD experienced very significant problems with theft and vandalism, although it should be noted that a substantial amount of this appears to have been linked to a single organised crime ring uncovered in 2015. The Copenhagen ‘GoBikes’ system which also uses electric bikes has been criticised for its high cost to the public purse and high user fee, as well as the low take up of the scheme by local residents.
Brompton Bike Hire , UK
Type of Scheme Self-service folding bike hire
Operator Brompton Dock
Population One of smallest tows with a Brompton Dock is Hassocks, a commuter town in S.E England, population 7,667. Brompton Bike Hire operates 36 hire locations across the UK. Return is possible to Overview any public dock, but in most towns there is only one dock. Folding bikes offer the flexibility to take the bike on public transport and to take it inside when reaching a destination and avoid security concerns. Funding Information The scheme is privately owned and operated by Brompton.
Bike Brompton folding bikes
Docking Station Brompton Dock
Number of hire locations/docking stations 36 public locations around England
Number of bikes Varies per dock
Hours of Operation 24/7 Longest distance between stations n/a Average distance between stations n/a
Tariff System Annual fee : Frequent (£20), Leisure(£1) Daily hire charge: Frequent (£2.5), Leisure (£5) Booking Arrangements Users register online and bikes and empty bays can be reserved online or by text message. Target Market Commuters/utility trips, particularly those needing to combine bike trip with public transport trip. As Brompton operate this scheme in England as a national scheme, it would not be viable for the company to operate a single location in Ireland. Brompton has suggested to AECOM that a minimum of fifteen locations would be needed for a Relevance to Dún scheme to be viable). Laoghaire-Rathdown Brompton also supply a non-automated locker system for pool bike schemes which may be suitable for pool bike schemes in individual workplaces or residential developments in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown where there is a potential demand for folding bikes.
Brompton Dock Locations. Basemap: Google Maps
Brompton Locker (non-automated storage for pool bike schemes) for pool bike schemes)
OV Fiets/Public Transport Bikes, Netherlands
Type of Scheme National scheme of bike rental, mostly at train stations (self-service at some locations) Operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch National Train Company Population and area (approx.) n/a The OV Fiets system offers low cost bike hire at day rates to scheme members at over 250 locations including train stations, bus and metro stops, a few city centres Overview and park and ride car parks. Registration requires a Dutch bank account so the system is not aimed at tourists. Returning the bike to a station other than the hire location incurs an additional €10 fee. The scheme is operated by Dutch Railways (NS) in collaboration with the cyclists union and several local councils and received a development subsidy from the Funding Information Dutch government. One study found that the system pays for its operational cost if the sale of additional train tickets as a result of the added convenience of the scheme is taken into account. Bike Basic comfortable Dutch town bike (upright position, step through frame, no gears)
Docking Station Mixture of supervised areas and self-service lockers (OV-fietsbox) Number of hire locations/docking stations 250 locations
Number of bikes Varies across locations
Hours of Operation 15 minutes before the first train in the morning until 15 minutes after the last train at night. Tariff System Subscription charge of €10/year and each individual rental costs €3.15 for 24 hours. Booking Arrangements Users must register for the scheme in advance. Bikes are obtained from a self- service or attended location on arrival and cannot be pre-booked. Target Market Travellers who need a bike for the last portion of their journey and do not commute to the same location every day (e.g. business people attending meetings). Available Usage Information The scheme has over 100,000 members and has reached around 1,000,000 trips per year. Relevance to Dún As the scheme is operated as a national scheme in the Netherlands and Laoghaire-Rathdown preregistration is required, a similar scheme which only had locations in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown may not attract substantial numbers of users.
OV Fiets, operated by
the Dutch
OV Fiet Bike national train Image: nu.n/regio
company, has
resulted in
increased rail
passengers as well as an
improved
image for the rail operator
Image: bureauh2o.nl
OV Fiets, Self-service Bike Hire Station (Fietsbox) Image: sleutelkast-sleutelkluis.nl/
Borrow a Bike Scheme, Swindon
Type of Scheme Bike Library/Loan Scheme
Operator Swindon Borough Council (Swindon Travel Choices)
Population 209,156 (2011), 230.10 km
The Borrow a Bike scheme in Swindon is now in its third iteration (2016/2017). The first scheme from March 2012 to December 2014 was operated through a local enterprise, but in 2015 the council brought the scheme back ‘in house’ to reduce costs and give the council more control over the scheme. The scheme is managed by the council Overview cycling officer. Participants borrow a bike for up to 6 weeks and at the end of the loan period, participants who follow the conditions of the scheme and use the bike regularly are given the chance to purchase the bike and equipment at a discounted price. Local bike retailers tendered for the supply of the bikes. The scheme is funded by the Department for Transport Local Sustainable Transport Funding Information Fund (LSTF). It is estimated that in 2016, the scheme will cost approximately £30,000 in addition to the salary cost of the cycling officer. In 2016, there are 80 bikes incl. 63 hybrids, 8 folding bikes and 5 electric bikes. Pannier Bike bags, child seats and a trailer are also available in addition to standard accessories.
Number of hire Bikes are collected from a central location in the town centre. locations
Number of bikes 84 in 2015 and 80 in 2016
Tariff System Loans are free
Participants complete an application form (online or in print) and are contacted by the cycling officer when a bike becomes available. Participants need to pay a small deposit Booking Arrangements and complete a loan agreement and a pre-loan questionnaire. Many participants in 2015 were ‘referred’ to the scheme through other organisations or had personal contact with the cycling officer at an event. Local residents who wish to try out cycling before committing to the purchase of a Target Market bike. In 2015, the scheme ran for 8 months and 148 people borrowed bikes. The 2015 scheme was restricted to people living in specific areas of Swindon and 6th form students. In 2016, the scheme is open to anyone living, working or studying in Swindon. Available Usage There have already been 140 applications since the new scheme launched in June Information 2016 and there is a target of 200 participants over the course of the year. At the end of the 2015 loan scheme 47 bikes had been bought by participants and 28 had been donated to engaged schools, colleges and local charities with the objective being for these organisations to set up their own in house loan schemes. A loan scheme would be beneficial, particularly one including electric bikes, due to the Relevance to Dún hilly profile of the county and the low uptake of electric bikes in Ireland to date. While in Laoghaire-Rathdown Swindon the collection of bikes was generally at a single central point, DLRCC may need to consider offering collection of bikes at a few different village centres within the county rather than Dún Laoghaire only due to the size and topography of the area.
61% of
participants in the 2015 Swindon ‘borrow a bike’
scheme reported that after 6 weeks they cycle most days,
compared to only 2.2% before the scheme
Image: swindonweb.com
Grant Scheme - Edinburgh Further and Higher Education Transport Group, UK
Type of Scheme Electric Pool Bike Scheme
Operator Six universities and colleges in Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Further and Higher Education Transport Group purchased electric bikes and an electric cargo bike to form the eCycle scheme. The Overview eCycles are managed local at each institution and available on a shared basis for business and personal journeys. The initiative was supported by a grant of £25,000 from SEStran, the South East Funding Information of Scotland Transport Partnership, with match funding from the participating institutions.
Bike Giant Prime E+2 2015 - Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle (EAPC)
The bikes are distributed in different locations around the participating Number of hire universities. For example, at the University of Edinburgh, the bikes are located at locations/docking stations six different locations.
Number of bikes 28 (across the group of six universities)
Varies according to the booking and bike/key collection system at each Hours of Operation university. Taking a bike home and returning it the next day if it is not possible to return out of hours may also be an option for some staff. Varies across the different universities. Bikes are managed by a local coordinator, centrally and/or in each school/department where a bike is located. Booking Arrangements At Edinburgh, staff can book a bike using their outlook calendar once they have registered for the scheme. At Edinburgh University the scheme is only available to staff but at some of the Target Market other participating universities the bikes are also made available to students. A grant system to encourage organisations to set up their own internal bike share schemes could be a cost effective way of promoting cycling, particularly if organisations were also required to contribute their own match funding to a defined level. Organisations would also be responsible for the secure storage, management and maintenance of the bikes attached to their organisation. Including or focusing on e-bikes would provide a useful way to increase the Relevance to Dún profile of electric bikes within the county. Organisations could be encouraged to Laoghaire-Rathdown allow their employees to borrow the bikes during evenings and weekends in order to give a wide range of people the opportunity to try out using electric bikes. Although the scheme described in this case study is relatively unique, the concept of offering grants to organisations to promote active travel is very common in many countries and setting up or expanding a pool bike scheme is usually included amongst the possible actions organisations can choose from.
Launch of eCycle Initiative, Representatives from Six Universities Image: Transition Herriot Watt
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study
Appendix B – 2014 Feasibility Study
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study
Summary of Demand Assessment for Dún Laoghaire Public Bike Scheme – 2014 Feasibility Study The level of demand for a bike share scheme in Dún Laoghaire which was estimated in the 2014 feasibility study is outlined below. Market research was conducted in order to gauge the general attitude of the public towards a bike share scheme and to estimate the potential uptake of the scheme for different types of trips. Four separate surveys were undertaken targeting residents, employees, students and visitors/tourists. Demand for a scheme was calculated from the market research data by examining responses from people who took short trips and said they did not currently cycle. These respondents also said they would use a bike share scheme either every day or every weekday if made available. The estimated proportion of all trips in various categories is outlined in Table 1 below.
Table 1 Estimated demand uptake calculated from analysis of market research (2014 Feasibility Study)
Trip % Uptake Commuting Short distance trips (< 5km) 3.7% ‘Last mile’ of long distance trips (> 5km) 0.9% Students Short distance trips (< 5km) 20.6% ‘Last mile’ of long distance trips (> 5km) 5.6% Leisure / Social Short distance trips (< 5km) 4.0%
This demand uptake was applied to existing trip data in order to estimate the daily demand for bike share trips. For the purpose of the analysis, the study defined a scheme catchment area which stretched from Dún Laoghaire to the centre of Monkstown, to Sandycove and to Glasthule Dart station and to just north of the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT). The Place of Work, School or College – Census of Anonymised Records (POWSCAR) 2011 database was used to determine the level of existing commuter trips travelling within and to this catchment, as outlined below.
Table 2 2011 POWSCAR Data
POWSCAR 2011 Total population (aged between 15 and 54) 4,940 Commuting trips within catchment 815 Commuting trips by rail from outside 1,325 catchment Student trips within catchment 69 Student trips by rail from outside catchment 225
For leisure and social trips, information on trip purpose and trip frequency was taken from the NTA Household Travel survey as these journeys are not included in POWSCAR. As there was no available data on total visitors and tourists in Dún Laoghaire, visitor / tourist bike share trips were
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study
estimated in accordance with previous research on the Dublin Bikes scheme, which found that 4% of total trips at peak periods are by tourist or other purposes and 10% at off-peak periods.
When the estimated demand uptake was applied to the existing trip data and estimates of visitor/tourist trips were included as outlined above, the daily demand for bike share trips in Dún Laoghaire was estimated as shown in Table 3. The figures in the table correspond to a ‘high demand’ scenario considered in that report and it was suggested that in a ‘low demand’ scenario these demand levels could be halved. The ‘high demand’ scenario levels of demand were considered to correspond to a scheme size of 116 bikes and 151 docking points.
Table 3. Estimated Daily Rentals, 2014 Feasibility Study, ‘High Demand’ Scenario
Weekday Weekend Commuting 76 - Students 48 - Leisure / Social 48 125 Visitor / Tourists 7 14 Total 178 139
This level of demand is relatively low compared to the Dublin Bikes Scheme which caters for an average daily demand of 11,000.
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study
Appendix C – Capital Costs of International Schemes
AECOM DLRCC Public Bike Scheme – International Desktop Study
The table below was extracted from “The Bike Share Planning Guide”, published by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in 2011. City Country System Name Capital Cost (per bike) London U.K. Barclays Cycle Hire €3,550 Barcelona Spain Bicing €2,800 Montreal Canada Bixi €3,550 Mexico City Mexico Ecobici €3,025 Rio de Janeiro Brazil Bike Rio €1,600 New York City USA Citi Bike €4,225 Denver USA Denver B-Cycle €3,775 Minneapolis USA Nice Ride €4,000 Madison USA Madison B-Cycle €4,450