From The Sunday Times

February 15, 2009

N-road adverts ‘a safety hazard’

The NRA is to challenge Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown council’s plan to erect up to 60 roadside adverts on safety grounds

Ruadhán MacEoin

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has warned a local authority that it will oppose its plans to erect up to 60 kerbside billboards, claiming that they would endanger drivers.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown county council has awarded Clear Channel Ireland a 10-year contract to build the scrolling 2.7-sq-metre adverts in an attempt to raise €10m. The roads authority fears they will be placed on national routes.and is also concerned other cash-strapped councils could follow Dun Laoghaire’s lead.

Sean O’Neill of the NRA said the adverts “would be a traffic hazard and would endanger public safety by distracting drivers”. There are four national routes in the area — the N11, N31, M11 and M50 — all with high traffic volumes.

The council, which has already spent ¤700,000 this year in expectation of the revenue the adverts would generate, insists no planning permission is required. But O’Neill said the NRA was examining its options to ensure national routes are not used. “The authority is going to exercise its right to protect the national-route infrastructure and its safety requirements,” he said.

At its monthly meeting last week, the council gave Clear Channel the go-ahead for the billboards, which will be free-standing and illuminated. It used a planning provision known as part 8, normally used to facilitate public works such as sewage pipes.

Richard Shakespeare, the director of the environment and culture department, told councillors, “there \ many in residential estates, but we’ll look again”.

A council spokeswoman said this weekend: “We have not brought forward any proposal to erect advertising signage on any of the four national roads.”

Ciaran Cuffe, the Green Party TD for Dun Laoghaire, called the proposals a “crazy scheme” and “visual pollution which does not respect the heritage of the area”.

A €10m deal to erect 60 billboards? Only in Dun Laoghaire

Sunday, 1 February 2009

A €10m deal to erect 60 billboards? Only in Dun Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has awarded a 10-year, €10m
contract to a company for the rights to erect just 60 advertising
billboards.

A councillor has urged that officials carefully assess the value of
the contract with leading outdoor media company, Clear Channel
Ireland.

The awarding of the contract comes in the wake of a highly
controversial deal struck by Dublin City Council with a French
advertising company, JC Decaux, whereby €1m a year will be paid for 15
years in exchange for 450 bicycles.

After much public and political pressure about the lack of
transparency surrounding the 'billboards for bikes' deal, Dublin City
Council recently relented and agreed to allow an independent audit
committee to examine the contract.

Citing the controversy, Green Party council­lor Gene Feighery has
called on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown to ensure the Clear Channel deal
would represent value for money.

"Of course I would love €10m but I really have to balance the carrot
that is being dangled with whether or not it is going have a positive
impact on the area and where the money is going to go and whether it
is index-linked," she said.

"This is a €10m deal now but if the recession ends and advertising
space is at a major premium I would want more for the spaces... I want
to read the small print on this and I don't want to end up in a
situation that Dublin City Council ended up in."

At a Dún Laoghaire area committee meeting last week, council
management also showed local representatives the proposed locations
for the 2.7 sq m standalone billboards.

But Feighery questioned whether the location of several of the advert
boards would be appropriate, considering some would be situated in
conservation areas.

"Dalkey is an architectural conservation area and (there) are
proposals to place two there. They would be adjacent to protected
structures in Dún Laoghaire and on Marine Road and we have to assess
the cumulative effect and the obstruction they would cause. I would
prefer to see trees being planted and although I know there is no
revenue in trees, we really have to wonder whether we are defacing our
town for the sake of a few pieces of silver."

In a report to councillors, Richard Shakespeare, senior executive
officer of the culture, community and amenities department, said
council management had also entered into talks with another company
regarding the provision of larger metropole billboards.

In addition, the report noted the legal work on the Clear Channel deal
was "nearing completion" and it added that the matter would be
presented to councillors at the next full council meeting on Monday 9
February.

Sunday Tribune

Wait goes on for launch of free rent bikes

By Claire Murphy

Dubliners will have to wait for another month before learning about the exact location of free rental bikes, which will not be made available until the end of the summer.

The scheme was negotiated as part of a deal with JC Decaux, the multinational advertising company and Dublin City Council. The agreement was that the company would provide bicycles free of charge in return for advertising panels, which were in situ last summer.

However, the exact system for the location of the bikes has not yet been finalised. And there has been no exact date confirmed for the release of the bikes yet.
"At the moment it's under the assessment stages and no decision has been made about locations yet," confirmed a spokeswoman for Dublin City Council.

"Areas are being assessed to see if they are suitable. The areas will be announced at the end of January or beginning of February."


It is expected that 450 bikes will be available for hire at city centre locations, free of charge, in return for a returnable deposit, similar to systems operating in other European cities.
A Dun Laoghaire Rathdown councillor has put in a question to the manager of the county council to ask whether the Council has entered into any discussion with JC Decaux in order to provide advertising panels in return for bicycles in the area.
Green councillor Gene Feighery asked the manager "to ensure that the appalling street advertising hoardings recently erected in Dublin City will not be replicated in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown".

The revenue for the outdoor advertising has been estimated to be in the region of €1m annually. JC Decaux will supply four rental bikes for each on-street panel, and has permission to display the panels for 15 years.

It was revealed that a similar scheme operated in Paris saw the local authority receiving annual rent of more than €2,000 per unit and 12 bicycles were supplied in return for each panel by the company involved.

Various groups have criticised the advertising panels, including the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, which said that the panels were a danger to the visually impaired.

Does €100m worth of business in return for 450 bikes AD up?

Evening Herald

By Cormac Murphy

Thursday August 28 2008

DUBLIN City Council should make public a contract in which advertising space is being exchanged for bicycles, a politician has said.

The call comes as controversy continues to surround the deal struck between the local authority and outdoor advertisers, JC Decaux.

Billboard sites worth an estimated €100m are being handed over by the council in return for 450 bicycles.

The bikes, which will not be available for another year, will be provided free of charge to members of the public for short journeys through the city.

Labour's Sean Kenny, who is chair of the council's transport committee, said he would like to see more transparency surrounding the deal.

"I know there is commercial sensitivity but I sometimes do not buy that line. I would be in favour of the information being made available to the public," Mr Kenny said.

Priority

But he said a priority should also be getting the bike scheme up and running.

"It has been a success in Paris and Barcelona. There is a need for it. I would like to see that moving forwards quickly," he said.

Stuart Fogarty, of AFA O'Meara, Ireland's largest advertising agency, has questions about the deal.

"They will be the most expensive bicycles in the world. Those advertising sites are worth at least €100m and we are swapping them for a few hundred bicycles, a few advertising panels and some signage for tourists," he said.

"There are too few bicycles to make any real impact on traffic, so what's in it for Dublin?"

His reservations have been echoed by An Taisce, the Dublin City Business Association, the National Council for the Blind in Ireland, popular architectural website Archiseek and a number of city councillors.

In exchange for 450 bicycles, Decaux has been given 72 lucrative advertising billboards, which have already sprouted up around the city.

Labour's Andrew Montague, who is chair of the council's Cycle Forum, agreed with Mr Kenny that the agreement should be made public.

"The terms of the deal are not public. All we know is that there were five companies that put in a tender. (JC Decaux) was the best tender so it seems like it was a good deal. If it was such a bad deal why would someone else not have had a better deal?" he said.

Comparisons have been made with another city with a similar bicycle scheme.

As part of the Velov scheme in Lyon, JC Decaux has provided 3,000 bikes in exchange for exclusive advertising opportunities in the city centre at 350 sites. Mr Montague said the French city's initiative has had a positive impact on traffic.

"Their scheme started with 2,000 bikes and there are now 3,000, which is testament to its success. It's disappointing that we will begin with just 450," he said.

Price

His Labour colleague Emer Costello said: "We're paying too high a price. We're selling our streets for a few hundred bikes and we have no idea how much JC Decaux is making."

She accused the council of failing to carry out a cost-benefit analysis.

"The project was brought in through a strategic policy committee but it was never voted on by the entire council," said Ms Costello.

"The unsightly signage has been placed disproportionately in the north inner city but its local area committee was never consulted."

The council has said the JC Decaux deal was the best on offer after competitive bidding. It said it will carry out a cost-benefit analysis once the bicycles arrive.

- Cormac Murphy

Dubliners taken for a ride

From The Sunday Times
August 24, 2008
Dubliners taken for a ride
Critics tell city officials to get on their bikes over a cycling
scheme that depends on a huge street advertising scheme

Colin Coyle and Ruadhan MacEoin
When Bill Clinton visited Copenhagen in 1997, he left with an unusual
gift. Instead of the tasteful, culturally appropriate piece of local
craftsmanship usually handed out by city officials, the then American
president was given a bicycle. In a city where one third of commuters
go to work on two wheels, City Bike One, as Clinton's gift was called,
was the perfect symbol.

Dignitaries visiting Dublin are unlikely to leave with a similar gift.
Although the city council has put the wheels in motion on its own
"free bike" scheme, the fledgling project is already having a bumpy
ride.

Instead of following Copenhagen's model and funding the programme by
allowing sponsors to attach their logo to the bicycles, the council
chose to clamber onto a financial tandem with JC Decaux, a French
advertising company.

In exchange for 450 bicycles, Decaux has been given 72 lucrative
advertising billboards, which have begun to sprout up around the city
centre and inner suburbs. But the bicycles will not arrive until next
spring, at the earliest. Critics say that on this tandem, one of the
cyclists is getting an easy ride. Stuart Fogarty, of AFA O'Meara,
Ireland's largest advertising agency, believes Dubliners have been
saddled with a bad deal. "They will be the most expensive bicycles in
the world. Those advertising sites are worth at least ¤100m and we are
swapping them for a few hundred bicycles, a few advertising panels and
some signage for tourists," he said. "There are too few bicycles to
make any real impact on traffic, so what's in it for Dublin?"

Fogarty's reservations have been echoed by An Taisce, the Dublin City
Business Association, the National Council for the Blind in Ireland, a
popular architectural website, and several city councillors. Ciaran
Cuffe, a Green party TD, has described the scheme as "a dodgy deal".
Questions are being raised about how the Dublin scheme measures up to
others around the world. Are Dubliners being taken for a ride?

IN 2004, officials from Dublin city council's architectural and
planning departments visited Lyon in France and the City of
Westminster in London to investigate their outdoor-advertising
strategies. The Velov scheme in Lyon, where JC Decaux has provided
3,000 bikes in exchange for exclusive advertising opportunities in the
city centre, must have had a greater impact on the visiting officials
than the sedate streetscapes of Westminster.

"We get lots of visits from overseas officials but I can't imagine why
they came here in relation to outdoor advertising," a spokesman for
Westminster said. "We have no similar bicycle scheme and tough
restrictions on advertising within the eight square miles of the city.
Westminster is a Unesco World Heritage site with several thousand
listed buildings. We wouldn't see it as our business to swamp the area
with advertising."

The scheme that Dublin city council is now peddling has much more in
common with Lyon, a city similar in terms of population and scale.
Andrew Montague, a Labour councillor and chairman of the Dublin
Cycling Committee, said the scheme had a positive impact on traffic in
Lyon. "Their scheme started with 2,000 bikes and there are now 3,000,
which is testament to its success. It's disappointing that we will
begin with just 450," he said.

"To have a real impact, it's important to have a high density of bikes
in the city but at least it's a start. Once people get out of their
cars and see how convenient and enjoyable it is to cycle, who knows
where it will lead?"

Montague believes that Dublin is ideally suited to cycling. "The city
centre is relatively flat, the trucks are gone since the Port Tunnel
opened, and a recent study by the cycling committee found that it only
rains on about a dozen days a year during the 8am to 8.30am peak time
when most people go to work," he said.

Proponents of the scheme say that if it can work in Paris, it can work
anywhere. In the French capital, the Velib scheme run by JC Decaux has
caused a "velorution", as one city newspaper put it. Parisians can
cycle around the city on one of 20,000 bicycles, and often smoke or
talk on mobile phones while negotiating the notoriously treacherous
streets.

Although nearly 249 miles of cycle lanes were laid in the seven years
preceding the scheme in Paris, three Velib users have been killed so
far — hardly surprising when 71% of Parisian cyclists admit jumping
red lights, more than one third regularly cycle the wrong way up
one-way streets, and helmets are not à la mode.
As in Lyon, registered bikers pay ¤29 a year for the service, while
occasional cyclists can pay a one-off fee. But unlike other cities
with bicycle schemes, vandalism has been a problem, with more than
3,000 bikes damaged in the first year and stolen bikes turning up as
far away as Morocco. Despite this, the scheme will soon be rolled out
to a ring of neighbouring towns. JC Decaux, which has not responded to
criticism of its Irish scheme, admitted that Paris has put a spoke in
its profits, with vandalism and spare parts costing the company ¤20m
in the first half of 2008.

It is much less likely to post a loss in Dublin. In Paris the company
pays an annual rent of ¤2,000 per advertising panel. Dublin is getting
nothing for its signage. Paris has 12 bikes per billboard, Dublin gets
six. Emer Costello, a Labour councillor who favours a bicycle scheme
but opposes the current model, said: "We're paying too high a price.
We're selling our streets for a few hundred bikes and we have no idea
how much JC Decaux is making."

The council says the JC Decaux deal was the best on offer after
competitive bidding. It said five companies offered to provide outdoor
street advertising in exchange for "street furniture", but one company
withdrew, leaving four bidders.

Three of these included a bicycle scheme in their bid. JC Decaux's won
because it was cost-neutral. But what is the real cost of the deal?
"There was, and still is, an incredible lack of information about the
scheme," said Dermot Lacey, a Labour councillor. "How much is it worth
to JC Decaux, for example? We are elected to make decisions but aren't
being given the necessary information."

Costello accused the council of failing to carry out a cost-benefit
analysis. "The project was brought in through a strategic policy
committee but it was never voted on by the entire council. The
unsightly signage has been placed disproportionately in the north
inner city but its local area committee was never consulted," she
said.

Dublin city council says it will carry out a cost-benefit analysis
once the bicycles arrive. It says residents had an opportunity to
bject to planning applications for the advertising billboards. Many
did, including the then taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who objected to one in
Summerhill.

"Instead of one application for the whole scheme, each billboard was
applied for individually, making it impossible to oppose," Costello
said. "The scheme in its entirety will have an impact on the character
of the city's streetscapes and the proposal should have been assessed
in its entirety. And as often happens, fewer people objected in
working class areas."

Of the 120 applications for advertising hoardings lodged by JC Decaux,
48 were turned down, including a number for O'Connell Street.

Archiseek, an architectural website, estimates that it would have cost
¤26,400 to appeal against all of the advertising panels to An Bord
Pleanala. "Of the original scheme, fortunately only half managed to
get through," it said last week. "Any so-called 'metropole' unit \
that was appealed to the board was shot down 100%."

More have since been removed, after motorists complained they were
blocking sightlines and pedestrians said that they were a potentially
dangerous obstruction. JC Decaux has agreed to indemnify the council
against possible accidents.

So, why has JC Decaux experienced such a rocky road in Dublin? Fogarty
said that introducing the advertisements before the bicycles was a bad
PR move. "It creates the impression that JC Decaux are getting
something for nothing," he said. But could Dublin have done any
better? Or are we just moaners abusing a free ride?

IN Copenhagen an unusually high percentage of the unemployed become
bicycle repairmen. Most learn their trade while working for
Bycykelservice, a city-run agency that repairs Copenhagen's 2,000 free
bikes. Thirty are taken on every six months and most end up as bicycle
repairers or as lorry drivers.

It's an example of the pragmatism of the Danes' approach to their
cycling programme. Unlike the Lyon model that turned the heads of
Dublin city council's officials, the Danish scheme is funded solely by
commercial sponsors who attach their logo to the bicycles and on the
city's 110 bike racks.

The Bicing scheme in Barcelona, run by Clear Channel, has a lot in
common with the Copenhagen model. It is funded by a combination of
subscriptions, with every user paying an annual fee of ¤24, and
parking fees introduced to reduce traffic in the city. In the scheme's
first four months, 80,000 people signed up.

London is likely to follow a similar model, paying for a proposed
scheme with new congestion charges targeting vehicles with high
emissions.

Lacey said the council should have tendered specifically for a bicycle
scheme, instead of outdoor advertising. "Local government isn't being
funded properly, so we end up going cap in hand to an advertising
company when what we really want is a bicycle scheme," he said.

"The councils seem to have gone with JC Decaux because it was cost
neutral but what were the alternatives? We may be paying nothing in
cash, but what price are we paying by cluttering our streets with
unnecessary signage?"

The council says that if the scheme is a success, it will introduce
more bicycles, and not necessarily JC Decaux's. "We would have to
re-tender the contract," a spokesman said.

Lacey said the brakes should go on now. "I asked the city manager to
suspend the scheme at the start of August. At a minimum, we should
call a halt to it and renegotiate. Four public toilets that were
originally part of the deal were dropped recently so if the deal can
be diluted, it's not set in stone," he said.

Opposition grows against advertising panel plan in return for bike rental

ARCHISEEK, IRELAND'S architectural discussion website, has added its voice to calls on Dublin City Council to halt the erection of free-standing advertising panels on footpaths in the city pending a review and investigation.

Under a deal agreed by city council management without the prior knowledge of councillors, French-owned advertising company JC Decaux was permitted to erect 120 of these panels in return for a bicycle rental scheme on the Paris Vélib model.

Opponents of what Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe termed a "dodgy deal" include the National Council for the Blind of Ireland, An Taisce and the Dublin City Business Association - mainly because of the obstruction of footpaths by the metal-framed panels.

The arrangement required JC Decaux to supply four rental bikes per on-street panel, amounting to a total of 480, compared to 12 per panel under the Vélib scheme in Paris, where the city council also receives an annual rental of more than €2,000 per unit.

The deal first became public in December 2006 after a contributor to the Archiseek website initiated a discussion under the heading "And you thought Dublin's Streets were cluttered already". Not even then Lord Mayor Vincent Jackson (Ind) was aware of it.

JC Decaux subsequently lodged 120 separate planning applications for the advertising structures with no environmental impact statement (EIS). For anyone to appeal all to An Bord Pleanála, the total cost of the fees involved would have been €26,400.

"Of the original scheme, fortunately only half managed to get through - thanks in many instances to appeals by conscientious Dublin citizens", Archiseek said. "Any so-called 'metropole' unit that was appealed to the board was shot down 100 per cent.

"Since then, it has become apparent that the scheme is an unmitigated disaster and epitomises what-not-to-do when engaging in urban planning . . . Already some of the units have been withdrawn, having been blatantly unsafe and manifestly hazardous.

"Outrageously, this scheme has simply been dumped on poorer and working class areas", Archiseek said. "No billboards for a southside dual-carriageway such as Donnybrook, yet plenty for North King Street and Dorset Street and also Malahide Road in Coolock".

According to Archiseek's Paul Clerkin, who described its statement as unprecedented, "these units were only removed following complaints from the public, and we believe others are a hazard to public safety - Parnell Street being one very obvious example".

He said it was "a gross irony and disgrace that the first clients have been the Department of Environment lecturing the public about not despoiling their environment" - the billboards being the central vehicle of a €200,000 campaign.

Dublin City Council said it "completely refutes" Archiseek's allegations, saying its officials had "implemented an open and transparent process to procure a suitable advertising agency which would provide amenities for the city in a partnership approach".

After being awarded the contract in December 2006, JC Decaux applied for planning permission to erect 120 advertising panels, of which 72 were granted; under the terms of the contract, the level of amenities depended on the number of permissions.

"It was agreed that 450 bicycles would be made available at 50 stations located in the city centre", the council said. These locations are now being identified and the city bike scheme will be launched during Mobility Week at the end of September.

It said there would be a "six-month lead-in phase" from procurement of the bicycles to installation of the stands, with the scheme being implemented "between spring and summer 2009". So far, however, no charges have been fixed for renting the bikes.

"Dublin City Council has exclusive use of all JC Decaux advertising panels at no cost, for public information campaigns until August 31st", the statement said.

"From September 1st, the city council will acquire 38 of these panels, also at no cost."

It added that JC Decaux had "indemnified the city council with regard to public liability claims arising from accidents pertaining to the advertising panels". It had also removed 50 large advertising billboards throughout the city as part of the deal.

© 2008 The Irish Times

Dublin City Council will be liable

Dublin City Council will be liable for accidents caused by advertsing panels that block drivers’ sightlines
Colin Coyle and Ruadhan MacEoin

DUBLIN’S “free bike scheme” for its citizens has encountered an unexpected obstacle.

It has emerged that the city council will be liable for accidents caused by the billboards that have been erected on the capital’s streets as part of the scheme, even though the boards are privately owned.

The council has allowed JC Decaux, a French company, to erect 72 advertising panels in exchange for 450 bicycles in a “bikes-for-billboards” scheme. But the panels have been criticised as unsafe by drivers, pedestrians and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI).

Unlike usual billboards, the advertising panels are attached to the footpath, with edges finished in steel. Drivers claim they block sightlines and could cause accidents.

Legal advice given last year to Jim Keogan, the city planner, from Terence O’Keeffe, a law agent, states that as the council is responsible for all “repairs and maintenance”, it also becomes “responsible for any public liability issues that arise in those areas in the event of accidents etc, occurring”.

The council asked O’Keeffe for legal advice before a hearing into the bikes-for-billboards scheme last October. In Chicago, a similar scheme is on hold because of questions over public liability.

“It’s all about lawyers. That’s the only hang-up,” Chicago’s mayor, Richard M Daley, said earlier this month.

Ian Lumley of An Taisce, said: “It is bizarre that the local authority may be carrying the can of legal responsibility for units belonging to a private developer.”

Lumley’s criticism is echoed by former Lord Mayor and Labour councillor Dermot Lacey, who is calling for the scheme to be “immediately suspended”. Lacey said that it would be “completely, totally, and utterly unacceptable” for the council to be responsible for private commercial hoardings that are “potentially dangerous” and “visually obtrusive”.

In some instances, such as at Synnott Place on Dorset Street, and at Rathmines, billboards were quickly removed after motorists complained they obscured sightlines.

Des Kenny of the NCBI said: “JC- Decaux was offered assistance \ 18 months ago. We were surprised when the offer was not taken up, as it was made free-of-charge.”

He added: “If the company was already aware that it was not legally responsible for the billboards, did it take as much care in its attention to design and location as it would have otherwise?”

The council will receive no revenue from the advertising or rental of the advertising spaces, but 32 panels will carry civic information on one side. However, there is still no sign of the promised bikes. The council said this weekend that they are due to arrive next spring. It has yet to disclose how much it will cost Dubliners to use them.

In other cities where JCDecaux has set up schemes, users pre-register with a credit card, paying about ¤30 a year on top of the charge for using a bicycle. If someone loses a bicycle or fails to return it to a docking station within a set period of time, the replacement cost of a bicycle, about ¤150, is deducted from their credit card.

The company has established schemes in 21 cities, including Paris, Seville, Cordoba, Brussels, Vienna and Lyon.

In Paris, 100,000 people use the 20,000 Velib bikes every day, but vandalism and the cost of spare parts for the bikes cost JCDecaux ¤20.6m in the first half of the year. In the first year, a third of the bikes were damaged or stolen.

Two Velib riders have been killed and the French Cycle Touring Federation said there have been problems with “letting loose hundreds of people who haven’t been on a bike in years”.

Dublin city council said this weekend that its legal department was still examining the issue of public liability over the billboards.

JCDecaux declined to comment.