There are reportedly only 70 trips a day being made on Melbourne’s new public bike hire facility.
The scheme which has 600 bikes and 50 docking stations, faces a real challenge to beat the compulsory cycle helmet-wearing laws.
Supporters of the bike share scheme who blame low usage on the helmet laws recently protested without helmets, and were fined.
A spokesman for the Melbourne Bike Share says that: “Those using the scheme will need to bring their own helmet, or purchase one from a handy location near the bike station.’’
The scheme is in sharp contast with the Dublin Bikes scheme which has been a resounding success without Helmets!!
There are no reports of injuries in Dublin despite initial concerns about the need for helmets.
Official opinion on helmet wearing remains as divided as ever. Few countries have any national laws and some, such as the USA leave it to local jurisdiction. Requirements for young people to wear a helmet seem more popular than ones covering all ages.
Public bike hire schemes continue to be introduced all across the globe, and appear to be going from strength to strength:
UK: London’s scheme begins on Friday and 3000 people have already registered as users
USA: Nice Ride Minnesota in Minneapolis reported 25,000 trips in its first 40 days.
Germany: Metroradruhr is bringing bike sharing to ten industrial Ruhr valley cities, a bit of a departure as most schemes up to now have been for one city – this is a single system connecting nearby cities.
Canada: Montreal’s scheme registered more than a million rides in its first month of operation, and Toronto launches its facility in May 2011.
UK: Blackpool were happy enough with the performance of their initial 60 bike scheme to be expanding it to a 500 bike one over the rest of this year.
Cyprus: 285 bicycles and 24 docking stations should be in place in Nicosia by early autumn.
China: There are reports that Beijing will have 50,000 bikes for public hire by 2015.
Dublin calling what’s your view helmet or not?
Paul Tracey
28/07/2010