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.

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 My information was outdated and I appreciate you pointing out the error.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?

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 42 REF-225435-1

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A WET COLD DAY AT SMITHFIELD PLAZA

Smithfield Square is not a place that I visit on a regular basis but I usually visit at this time as they usually have an interesting Christmas Tree but this year it was not worth photographing so I photographed the DublinBikes Docking Station instead. The weather was horrible … wet and cold.

DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 42

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SMITHFIELD PLAZA OR SQUARE – CHOOSE WHICH YOU PREFER

Every time I research this specific location I am informed that Smithfield Square is an up-and-coming area on Dublin’s Northside and after almost twenty it becomes tedious.

Recent commercial, residential and cultural developments led to the area becoming newly fashionable in the first decade of the 21st century. However, most notably in the period 2008 to 2010, stagnation set in as developments stalled and the Irish economy/property market nose-dived once the post-Celtic Tiger economic recession struck. The significant issues of variable apartment occupancy rates, coupled with closed retail spaces and a number of unfinished and unoccupied commercial units at Smithfield Market have created a highly visible reminder of the economic and community challenges still to be addressed in this historic part of Dublin.

Several hotels are situated in Smithfield Square itself. The biggest is the 3-star Maldron Hotel Smithfield, with 92 rooms, from junior suites to family rooms. The well-known European accommodation chain Generator is adjacent to Jameson Distillery Bow St, and the newest addition is The Hendrick, which opened in 2019. All three hotels also have their own bars and restaurants.

ALL BIKES HAVE BEEN CHECKED OUT

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DUBLINBIKES DOCKING STATION 28 AT MOUNTJOY SQUARE

There are usually plenty of bicycles available at this popular docking station at Mountjoy Square but today there was not one available … maybe they were being used by the students at the nearby schools.

Mountjoy Square is a Georgian garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the north side of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and developed in the late 18th century by Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy. It was surrounded on all sides by terraced, red-brick Georgian houses. Construction began in the early 1790s and the work was completed in 1818.

Over the centuries, the square has been home to many of Dublin’s most prominent people: lawyers, churchmen, politicians, writers and visual artists. The writer James Joyce lived around the square during some of his formative years, playwright Seán O’Casey wrote and set some of his most famous plays on the square while living there, W.B. Yeats stayed there with his friend John O’Leary, and more recently, much of the Oscar-winning film Once was made in the square. Historic meetings have taken place there, including planning for the Easter Rising and some of the earliest Dáil meetings. Prominent Irish Unionists and Republicans have shared the square.

Mountjoy can boast being Dublin’s only true Georgian square, each of its sides being exactly 140 metres in length. While the North, East and West sides each have 18 houses, the South has 19, reflecting some variation in plot sizes.Though each side was originally numbered individually,the houses are now numbered continuously clockwise from no. 1 in the north-west corner. While its North and South sides are continuous from corner to corner, the East and West sides are in three terraces, interrupted by two side streets, Grenville Street and Gardiner Place to the West and Fitzgibbon and North Great Charles Street to the East. Gardiner Street passes through the West side of the square, while Belvedere Place and Gardiner Lane run off the North- and South-East corners.

Although some of the original buildings fell to ruin over the 20th century and were eventually demolished, the new infill buildings were fronted with reproduction façades, so each side of the square maintains its appearance as a consistent Georgian terrace.