News
Dublin's Velib-scheme comes under fire
Carlton Reid Oct 9 2007, 12:45pm
How many poster sites does JCDecaux get for its 'free' bikes?
According to RTE News, the Irish planning appeals board will today open a hearing into the decision by Dublin City Council to allow large billboards be erected at key sites in return for free bicycles.
The free city bikes are to be provided by outdoor advertising specialist JCDecaux. The French company cut its teeth on such bikes-for-posters deals in Lyon. The Vélo'v scheme was renamed and rolled out in Paris in the summer, and London is said to be eyeing up the benefits of a similar bike rental scheme.
The Parisian Vélib’ scheme is already very popular. By the end of the year it will have 20,600 bikes and it costs nothing to use one of the bikes for half an hour. Rental prices after the first half hour are low and there are 'docking stations' all over Paris.
The 22kg bikes are sourced from Bikes Lapierre of France and Orbita of Portugal.
The scheme was nearly scuppered in February - are reported on BikeBiz.com - when rival bidder Clear Channel Communications of the US filed a lawsuit, claiming 'irregularities' in the tendering process.
This lawsuit was dismissed but the Liberation newspaper has since carried out an investigation into JCDecaux's methods.
RTE News reveals that the JCDecaux deal with Dublin is believed to be worth tens of millions of euro over a 15-year period and that the free poster site deals includes the provision of 70 freestanding large boards and 50 smaller boards. The larger ones may carry moving images and be illuminated at night.
However, the deal has angered some Dublin City councillors who say the executive did not provide critical information before the deal was done.
Other objectors argue a city like Paris is getting three times more bicycles than Dublin.
Comments
“Lord”
Posted by: Jack - Jan 11, 8:24pm
What it cost to run Velib? Twenty thousand is a lot of bikes, and those are high-tech bikes (information-technology-wise, if not cycling-wise). But bikes are a well-understood technology after all these decades. What does it cost to put that fleet on the street? It doesn't make sense to ask whether the deal is worth the billboard rights without determining what the payment is worth.