CITY BICYCLES, due to be provided by JC Decaux in exchange for outdoor advertising space in Dublin estimated to be worth €1 million annually, will not be available until next year, even though the advertising panels will be erected by this summer.
JC Decaux has agreed to provide 450 bicycles for rent at 50 locations around the city, as well as four public toilets and a number of tourist signposts and freestanding maps, in exchange for 15-year permission for about 80 advertising panels.
The freestanding double-sided panels range in size from 2sq m - approximately the size of a bus shelter advertisement - to 7sq m and will be placed on prominent sites, including Henry Street, Liffey Street and Smithfield Plaza.
Dublin City Council originally intended that the bicycles would be provided free. However, it could not find anyone to run a free scheme.
In April 2006, the council announced that JC Decaux had been selected to run a bicycle rental scheme. The company was already running similar schemes in several European cities including Vienna and Lyon.
In April 2007 the council granted JC Decaux permission to erect in the region of 100 advertising panels across the city. In 24 cases appeals were made against the panels to An Bord Pleanála.
Last February the planning board upheld 18 of these appeals on the basis that these panels would cause a traffic hazard.
However, JC Decaux said the number of bicycles it would provide would not be reduced as it had based its agreement with the council on the number of panels which it was granted and were not appealed. This agreement was finalised in mid-2007.
A spokeswoman for the council said that JC Decaux had informed council officials that it intended to erect its panels by "this summer". However, the bicycles will not be on the streets until next year.
"We don't have an exact date from JC Decaux for the panels, but they have their planning permission and it's up to them now when they use it," she said.
Labour councillor Andrew Montague said he understood the scheme involved a significant amount of infrastructure, particularly the bicycle stations. However, he said JC Decaux should not have prime advertising space for free in the city in the meantime.
"If they are getting the advertising without the bicycles being available, they should pay for it, either by providing more bikes . . . or making a cash payment to cover the intervening period."
