Council removes 126 abandoned bikes from Dublin city centre

Dublin City Council removed more than 120 abandoned bicycles from parking stands, sign poles, fences and other structures around the city centre over a six month period this year.

The council said 126 bicycles (or part bikes) have been removed between March and September, including eight bikes that were removed from Drury Street car park.

A report from the the council earlier this year said the demand for on-street cycle parking within the city is growing as the number of cyclists increase.

“Abandoned bicycles take up valuable space that cyclists could otherwise be using,” the report said. “They are unsightly and can at time pose a hazard to other pedestrians and cyclists.”

The report, issued in February, estimated there were at least 70 bicycles in various states of repair abandoned in the south east and central areas of the city centre and proposed introducing a formal procedure to deal with them.

Under the procedure an abandoned bicycle is defined as a bicycle located on a public street or car park that would appear to have been in the same location, un moved, for a period of at least three months.

Once a council official identifies a bicycle as potentially abandoned he or she can monitor it for three months or consult Google Streetview to establish whether it has been in the same location for more than three months.

Once the official has determined that a bicycle is abandoned they place an abandoned bicycle tag on it to inform the owner of the date when the bike will be removed.

After two weeks the official arranges a follow up visit and if the bikes remains in the same place with the tag attached, it will be removed.

All bicycles that are in reasonable consition are kept in asecure storage for a holding period of four weeks during which time the owners will be able to reclaim them.

A spokeswoman for the council said “after storing the bicycle in our depot for a minimum of 4 weeks they are donated to the Rothar charity if not claimed”.