Bicycle Hire Scheme, winning tender announced

[beauyboy]

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

www.brisbanetimes.com.au
On your bikes, Brisbane: Paris-style cycle scheme for CBD
Marissa Calligeros and AAP | January 22, 2009 - 2:57PM

Brisbane has adopted a Paris-style bicycle hire scheme in a bid to lead a revolution in the way Australians move around cities to cut traffic congestion and pollution.

Canary-yellow coloured two-wheelers will be stationed at 150 hire points throughout the CBD next year, after Lord Mayor Campbell Newman today formalised a contract with the company behind Paris' bicycle revolution, JCDecaux.

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YOUR SAY: Will you make use of the bicycles for hire?
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In 2007, Parisian authorities introduced a self-service bike hire scheme, which in its first two months saw more than four million trips made.

From March 2010, subscribers to the Brisbane scheme will be able to access 2000 bicycles at depots in the city, from inner-northern Newstead to the western university suburb of St Lucia, about four kilometres from the CBD.

People wanting to use the bikes can buy a swipe card costing $55 a year, $25 a quarter, or $10 a day.

As long as the bicycle is returned to one of the locations within 30 minutes, there are no extra charges.

However, cyclists who head out on longer jaunts will be hit with a sliding scale of charges.

A two- to three-hour hire will cost $18 and a 10- to 24-hour hire will be $150.

The bike docking stations, which will be positioned no more than 300 metres apart, will operate from 5am to 10pm daily.

The grey and yellow bikes come with a metal basket on the handlebars and are heavier than standard bicycles, built to withstand heavy use.

The city will spend a record $100 million on new bikeways by 2012.

"JCDecaux operates similar schemes in 16 countries, including the highly successful Paris scheme, which was one of the inspirations for doing it here in Brisbane," Lord Mayor Newman said.

"This is a great outcome that should see installation by the end of the year," Cr Newman said.

"When this is all up and running, it will encourage more people in the CBD to undertake short trips by bicycle, bringing with it the benefits of reduced congestion and better personal health.

"Brisbane will be the first city in Australia to deliver a public bicycle hire scheme with Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and even London following in our footsteps."

[beauyboy]

Heres a beat-up done by the Courier Mail that completely misses the point of the scheme

www.couriermail.com.au

Cheaper to fly than hire a bike in Brisbane
By Alison Sandy
January 22, 2009 11:00pm

IT'S cheaper to hire a car, fly to Sydney or take a limousine to the Gold Coast than ride a bike all day as part of Brisbane's new cycle hire scheme.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman came good on an election promise by awarding the contract to JCDecaux to provide 2000 bikes at 150 stations across the inner-city.

But despite claims it would be free, that only applies for the first half-hour and users will still be charged $20 to buy a helmet and up to $300 deposit. For an hour's hire it will be $2, for 11/2 hours $5.50 and up to $150 for more than 10 hours. Which means a person wanting to hire a bike for an entire day on a casual basis, once adding in the helmet fee and subscription fee ($10), will pay $180.

At yesterday's launch, Cr Newman denied he had misled voters. "What I said is we were endeavouring to introduce a scheme like in Paris," he said.

"I said we would try and get as close as possible to that and I'll just maintain, I was there at the announcement, I know what I said and that's exactly what we delivered."

It's the first scheme of its kind in Australia with stations to be located between St Lucia and Newstead.

The council signed a 20-year contract with JCDecaux and ratepayers will pay about $1.5 million over the next three years, but Cr Newman was unsure what the contribution would be each year after that.

"Over a 20-year life, it could potentially generate $9 million of revenue for council. So ultimately it won't cost the ratepayers of Brisbane," he said.

Cr Newman said he was confident the scheme would be successful and promised to use it himself and encourage his staff to do the same. "Let's just see how it goes over the coming months ... ultimately it's going to be very popular," he said.

JCDecaux, which has 16 cycle schemes across Europe, said bikes would be on Brisbane streets by the end of the year.

"It's a new system, using new technology, of course there's going to be glitches, but I think it's an overwhelming success," CEO Steve O'Connor said.

Bicycle Queensland manager Ben Wilson said the bike hire scheme was for short-term not all-day use. "And for that, it's very reasonably priced," he said.

Opposition Leader Shayne Sutton said Labor supported the scheme if it was implemented properly.

"The Lord Mayor needs to ensure there are safe, designated bikeways for cyclists to use," she said.

[beauyboy]

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

www.brisbanetimes.com.au

Improve bikeways for new hire scheme: cycling group
Tony Moore | January 23, 2009 - 4:15AM

Brisbane should improve its inner city bikeways and reduce traffic speeds to get the best value from the $1.2 million bike hire scheme launched yesterday, Bicycle Queensland said.

Bicycle Queensland manager Ben Wilson said the organisation backed the scheme, launched yesterday by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, because it was a step towards making Brisbane a more bicycle-friendly city.

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YOUR SAY: Bikeaway upgrades
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The scheme has been flagged to return a profit of around $9 million for Brisbane City Council over the 20-year period of the contract awarded to French firm, JCDecaux, from its share of advertising and subscription fees.

But Mr Wilson said further improvements were needed in inner-city Brisbane.

He listed better links between North Quay and Victoria Bridge and the gradual introduction of protected bikeways running "north-south" and east -west" through Brisbane were necessary to to make the inner-city safer for cyclists.

However he praised the planned move towards 40 kmh speed limits in Brisbane's CBD.

"The Lord Mayor has already instigated a review of city speed limits and that is quite important to making Brisbane a better place to ride a bike, which is supported by pretty much every group under the sun," Mr Wilson said.

"So when people are either hopping on a bike for the first time or are relative novices, it will feel a lot safer."

Mr Wilson listed improvements to the existing bike lanes in the central city as something already on the planning agenda.

"This will be an instigator of a review of how people get around the city by bike," he said.

"And we know that process is underway - and we have been involved in it - but this will really be the accelerator for getting the city more bike friendly."

Concerns on Bicycle Queensland's agenda include the interaction between North Quay and Victoria Bridge.

"You have buses popping out of a tunnel going straight ahead on one phase and on another phase you have buses coming the other way and turning," he said.

"It's a real hot spot of interaction."

He also said people also wanted easier cross link for cyclists across the city.

"Generally, people want to get across the city in one direction, so we would like to see a north-south, and an east-west city spine for bikes," he said.

"Where any Tom, Dick and Harry can then get to the (Botanical) Gardens, or get to the Valley from George Street, from the Mall, in a protected bike lane."

Brisbane City Council plans to have 2000 hire bikes launched from 150 locations from St Lucia through to Newstead by March 2010.

People wanting to use the bikes can buy a swipe card costing $55 a year, $25 a quarter, or $10 a day.

As long as the bicycle is returned to one of the locations within 30 minutes, there are no extra charges.

However, cyclists who head out on longer jaunts will be hit with a sliding scale of charges.

A two- to three-hour hire will cost $18 and a 10- to 24-hour hire will be $150.

[goneriding]

Whilst I really like the idea I have to question the success of the scheme's use in the hot and humid parts of Summer. One area that might have some success is along the Coro Drive path if there were to be a station at the ferry. You'd be able to capture both the commuter traffic and the weekenders.

[beauyboy]

I believe it may work but there are two things going to impact it with the current network. The Coro Bikeway is about to undergo it's much needed upgrade to segregated corridor. Not to forget it is also at capacity during peak. The other is New Farm is currently partly blocked due to the Partital Closure of the Riverside bikeway due to the structure being "structurely unsound"

AS for the heat thing I don't that as a problem, but it will be if you try to lock the bike upbefore the Half hour is up. I think a Half hour is a little to short and it should be extented out to a hour.
Unless you are doing my speeds which I suspect many users wont making most destinations within 1/2 hour will be tight.

Donald

[toolonglegs]

Heres a link to the costs in Lyon...much the same except bit x'y in Brisy after the intial hour.It is a super system...you can say it is too hot there,but no difference with people using them here even at -8 or more.Great for getting off the train and riding to work...most journeys are very short.
http://www.velov.grandlyon.com/Costs.13 ... ab0.0.html

[beauyboy]

Thanks for the link. good to see that the overseas model has similar costs to it.

Donald