One Million

There’s been lots of stories in the press over the last few days, because the Dublin Bikes scheme has clocked up its one millionth rental over the weekend – the the person who made that ride even won a holiday to Paris and €2,000 in cash.

The thing that caught my eye, however, was the feature article The life of a cycle where the reporter talked to a bunch of DB users at one of the stations – and pretty much everyone he spoke to seemed to already be a cyclist, with a bike of their own, which they left at home (mostly because of concerns about theft) and used the Dublin Bikes instead.

So instead of encouraging pedestrians and car drivers to try out cycling, it would appear that the scheme is being used extensively by existing cyclists.  And if so, then the scheme is not going to deliver the expected modal shift in transport towards two wheels – because people are just swapping one bike for another.

Maybe instead of trumpetting the ‘most successful bike hire scheme in the world’, the local authorities would be better off tackling the very real threat of bike theft across the city – so that existing bike owners can use their own bikes without fear, and non-cyclists can be tempted onto the Dublin Bikes.

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