JCDecaux is to seek an extension to the planning in order to continue to fund the public amenity contract which includes the Dublin Bikes scheme, Marketing.ie. has confirmed. The company was given the go-ahead by Dublin City Council (DCC) in 2007 to install more than 70 advertising panels in exchange for the provision of 450 rental bikes at various city locations.
While the deal provoked some controversy in the early days, due to the number of signs in public spaces and the potential for on-street clutter, the value of the scheme was soon recognised and the sign-up to the rental bikes proved popular. DCC later agreed to allow an extra 10 signs in exchange for 100 new bikes, with the last four signs approved in 2016.
A condition of the contract signed by the parties in 2007 stipulated that the panels would be removed not later than 15 years from the date of their erection, unless planning was granted for their retention before that date. JCDecaux began installing the panels in 2008, a year before Dublin Bikes, which means that permission to run the ads will end later this year.
Upgraded
JCDecaux will now have to comply with the terms of the new Dublin City Development Plan which imposes tighter restrictions on outdoor advertising. Towards the end of last year, the company decided that rather than applying to retain the panels, they would replace them with upgraded displays. Some 15 applications for replacements were made in December.
Joanne Grant, managing director, JC Decaux Ireland, told Marketing.ie that the Dublin Bikes scheme was part of a wider public amenity contract formally agreed with DCC, which included a number of aspects financed by advertising panels. Grant said that these aspects include way finding systems with heads-up mapping and a civic information network.
Dublin Bikes has been sponsored by Coca-Cola Zero, Just Eat and, more recently, Sky Now. The scheme currently comprises 117 stations and 1,600 bikes. The total number of journeys since 2009 is almost 35 million, with over two million journeys taken last year – all of which makes Dublin Bikes one of the world’s most popular schemes.
