PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All Photographs Supplied By William Murphy

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 BOLTON STREET DURING A SNOW STORM

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DECEMBER 2010 LEGACY PHOTO COLLECTION

Dublinbikes, launched in 2009, was still in its infancy in 2010. The scheme, with its distinctive blue bicycles and prominent docking stations, was designed to provide a public bicycle rental service for residents and visitors to Dublin.

In 2010, Dublinbikes was notable for its lack of a commercial sponsor. This meant the bikes were simply branded with the Dublinbikes logo and the city council’s emblem. This was a conscious decision by Dublin City Council, who wanted to establish the service as a public utility before seeking commercial sponsorship.

The winter of 2010 was particularly harsh in Dublin, with several heavy snowfalls. This was unusual, as snow in Dublin is typically infrequent and doesn’t tend to disrupt daily life significantly. However, 2010 was different. The heavy snow and ice caused widespread disruption to transport and daily life, including the Dublinbikes service. Many docking stations were temporarily closed due to the hazardous conditions, and the use of the bikes was significantly reduced as people opted to stay indoors.

Despite the challenges posed by the weather, Dublinbikes continued to operate throughout the winter of 2010, providing a valuable service to those who braved the elements. The lack of a commercial sponsor did not hinder the service’s popularity, and it continued to grow in popularity in the years that followed.

REBRANDED DUBLINBIKES BIKES AT DOCKING STATION 04

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PEDAL POWER AT THE FOUR COURTS TRAM STOP

PHOTO COLLECTIONS: PUBLIC TRANSPORT

This docking station serving the Four Courts Tram Stop is on Greek Street across the road from the Hampton by Hilton hotel,

It seems that DublinBikes has rebranded with the new “Pedal Power” logo, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they have a new sponsor.

Here’s what I understand: JCDecaux, the French outdoor advertising giant, is seeking a new brand to take on a €750,000-a-year contract to sponsor the Dublin Bikes scheme. The managing director of JCDecaux’s Irish business, said the company will be going to market this month seeking a “strong partner” for the Dublin Bikes Scheme, which currently has close to 30,000 annual subscribers.

A CLUSTER OF DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATIONS A LOWER AND UPPER GRANGEGORMAN

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PHOTOGRAPHED USING A CANON 1DsIII

DublinBikes, a popular bike-sharing service in Dublin, provides convenient access to bicycles for both residents and visitors.

Docking Stations 103, 104, and 105: These three docking stations are strategically placed near the TU campus (Technological University Dublin) in the Grangegorman area. The proximity of these stations suggests that there might indeed be a high demand for bikes in this location. Having multiple stations close together ensures that users can easily find an available bike or return one without having to travel far.

The stations are situated on Upper Grangegorman and Lower Grangegorman, making them accessible to students, faculty, and nearby residents.

The Grangegorman area in Dublin has undergone significant redevelopment in recent years.

Key points about the area include:

TU Dublin Campus: The consolidated Technological University Dublin campus at Grangegorman is a major centre for education, bringing thousands of students and staff to the area daily.

Luas Green Line: The tram line provides fast and convenient public transport connections to the city centre, creating a multimodal transport network.

Regeneration: The wider Grangegorman redevelopment project has revitalised the area with a mix of educational, residential, and some commercial buildings, increasing the population density and need for transport options.

ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE GOOGLE BUILDING ON GRAND CANAL STREET

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 14

Google employees will be able to cycle to and from work as there is a DublinBikes docking station across the street from their workplace.

I have not visited this area for a few years and today I was surprised to discover that the Treasury Building is currently a construction site.

When I returned from California in the 1980s I lived at the corner of Eblana Villas and Lower Grand Canal Street and at the time the building was the Hertz HQ in Ireland. There were three apartments but mine was the only one that was occupied. I think that the building is now named Wentworth House and it may have been home to a language college. I was offered all three apartments at a very good price but decided against buying as there was serious anti-social activity in the immediate area.

Google bought the Treasury Building from Ronan Group Real Estate for €120 million in early 2020 to further expand their Silicon Docks campus which is nearby. In February 2022 Dublin City Council granted planning permission to Google Ireland to increase the height of the building from six to eight storeys.

The Treasury Building was the headquarters of the Irish government’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) for many years. Redeveloped by Ronan Group, the Treasury Building was described as a landmark six-storey Grade A office building that previously housed Boland’s Bakery. This historic building was occupied by Éamon de Valera, later President of Ireland, during the 1916 Easter Rising.

Following its purchase in 1984, a major redevelopment saw the building stripped back to its concrete framed structure and reimagined for a new commercial future with the first 20,000 sq ft floorplates ever delivered in the Irish market.

Rowan Gillespie was commissioned to create a sculpture for the outside wall of the building. The statue, named ‘Aspiration’, was originally of a naked man climbing the outside wall, but Johnny Ronan insisted that the sculpture be changed to a woman. The statue was made of fibreglass. The sculpture was removed in 2020 when the building was sold.

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 03 AT BOLTON STREET COLLEGE

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THE SUNLIGHT WAS INTENSE TODAY

As I walked along Capel Street towards I was blinded by the sunlight.

When I returned home I was a bit exhausted a somewhat lazy so decided to ask Google’s AI known as Bard [name changed to Gemini a few days ago] about Dublinbikes and after a number of attempts to get accurate information I eventually get the following: “I apologize, I made a mistake in my previous information about Dublinbikes. You are correct, there are not 600 docking stations. As of today, February 12, 2024, there are actually 115 Dublinbikes docking stations operating in the city. My information was outdated and I appreciate you pointing out the error. Is there anything else you’d like to know about Dublinbikes? I’d be happy to provide accurate and up-to-date information.”

Google explained the reasons for the name change as follows: ” “For us, Gemini is our approach overall in terms of how we are building our most capable and safe AI model and Bard was the most direct way that people could interact with our models so it really made sense to just evolve it to be Gemini because you are talking directly to the underlying Gemini model when you use it.” Does this actually explain anything?