Tag: #dublincitycouncil

Virgin Media Business and Dublin City Council empowering local communities with superfast Wi-Fi supporting digital inclusion and engagement #worldwifiday

Virgin Media, in partnership with Dublin City Council, are proud to support World Wi-Fi Day 2021, a global initiative which takes place on June 20th each year to help bridge the digital divide. Wi-Fi is playing a significant role in cities and communities around the world by driving exciting and innovative projects to ‘connect the unconnected’. While Dublin households have the highest levels of fixed internet access in Ireland with over 92% of households connected (CSO, 2020) there are still a number of areas and communities across Dublin who don’t have the quality of connectivity required to achieve their true potential. Dublin’s Wifi4EU programme is connecting communities and families across the city with over 30 locations connected including the Cabbage Garden Interagency Project in Dublin city centre.

Aidan D’Arcy, Director of Business at Virgin Media Ireland said: “It’s fantastic to work with Dublin City Council on these projects and help improve the offerings for local communities. World Wi-Fi Day is a great opportunity for everyone to recognise just how significant a role the internet plays in all of our lives and how important it can be in creating more engaged and connected communities across Dublin and the country.”

Kelley Bermingham, Community Officer, St Patrick’s Cathedral & The Iveagh Trust said: “The Cabbage Garden Interagency Project is a collaboration between key stakeholders including Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and the Iveagh Trust, situated in Dublin 8, originally formed to create a communal and friendly environment for local residents and visitors and help mitigate any limiting, risky behaviour or negative activity in the area. The installation of a robust and accessible Wi-Fi network will help the programme to run positive and engaging activities, such as fitness sessions, social gatherings and street festivals, as a means to building trust with a wide variety of groups in the area.”

Nicola Graham, Smart City Operations Manager for Dublin City Council said: “Partnering with Virgin Media Business to deliver reliable and fast public Wi-Fi services to communities that need it most is exactly what our Smart City programme is all about. We want to support connectivity with a particular emphasis on strengthening community engagement and supporting wider digital innovation initiatives.”

Dublin City Council launches cycling app for safer routes. Dublin Cycling Buddy. #Apps #Cycling

Cycling in Dublin is best described as risky due to no room on the road and again when it comes to sharing roads and not forgetting being lit up having the right gear on and the clash with motorists and cyclists breaking red lights and much more but this is not about who is right or wrong this is a new app which will be welcome amongst the cycling community. I cycle myself and will be giving this a go and also we have some cycling tech accessories in for review so stay tuned for that.

Dublin Cycling Campaign, Dublin City Council, and Smart Dublin, have been working together to produce the ‘Go-To’ cycle routing and gamification app curated just for Dublin. Through the participation of our cycling community, this app will continue to crowd-source critical information to provide more ‘localised’ and accurate cycle routing data. This will help Dublin City Council to create a safer and more bike-friendly environment for all.

Dublin Cycling Buddy helps make your cycle rides around Dublin safer and more enjoyable!  Built using a new community-powered cycling navigation engine, the app will find safe, bike-friendly routes for your commuting and recreational rides. It utilises large data sets, including GPS trajectories and crowdsourced issue reports, with a data engine that analyses the collected data to produce these optimised routes. The solution will give cyclists peace of mind when planning their ride, knowing full well that they’re getting the best selection of cycle routes available.

The collection of data from cycling routes will help the city council’s planning department determine which ‘non official’ routes that cyclists are organically taking, in order to improve cycling infrastructure in these key locations.

The app is also expected to foster a deeper digital community for Dublin cyclists through the real time feedback (e.g. potholes, traffic jams, near misses etc.), as well as taking part in the friendly competitions across the city and county.

As quoted by DCC’s Chief Executive Owen Keegan:

“The app offers Dublin’s cyclists a smarter way to engage with the Council, build a community of cyclists, as well as share trip information and advice on safer routes. This will help inform our investment priorities and also help us measure the impact of current investments across the city.”

DOWNLOAD ON ANDROID             DOWNLOAD ON IOS

A world-first in Dublin as @UPS and @DubCityCouncil innovate to reinvent sustainable last mile deliveries. #Cycling #Walking #Logistics

An innovative walking and cycle based system designed to optimise deliveries in city centres has launched in Dublin. Operating out of mini urban distribution centres and combining powered e-Walkers and e-Quad cycles, this model allows for last mile deliveries that don’t add to local emissions or congestion, enabling a step change in the way goods are delivered in busy city locations.

Funded by Dublin City Council, Enterprise Ireland and Belfast City Council, the unique solution was developed as part of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) challenge that sought new approaches to optimising deliveries. Participating in the challenge enabled Fernhay, an innovative design and manufacturing consultancy, to develop the new zero emissions delivery solutions for global logistics carrier, UPS, to trial.

The e-walker and e-Quad operate from “urban package eco hubs” that UPS has introduced around the city. The eco-hubs take in larger consignments of deliveries and redistribute them to walkers and cyclers using removable Cube containers. There are already two of these mini distribution centres up and running in Dublin which has facilitated the removal of five diesel vehicles from the road, reducing carbon emissions by up to 45%.

Speaking at the launch, Owen Keegan, Dublin City Council Chief Executive, said: “collaboration is key to tackling the challenges facing our city right now so we are very happy to see our Transportation Department and Smart City programme working with innovative partners such as Fernhay and UPS to address last mile deliveries. This solution helps the city adapt to the Covid-19 situation by enabling foot and bike deliveries and discouraging the return of congestion.”

“It is really exciting to be piloting this in Dublin –the first city to test the Fernhay eWalker. As cities reopen for business after the Covid-19 shutdowns, those looking for ways to keep goods moving while minimising the return of congestion and pollution, should take note.” – said Frances Fernandes, Director, Fernhay.

She explained: “Fernhay’s eWalker and eQuad are part of a wider system that enable key workers to deliver groceries, medicine and parcels without the use of vans. Cities are facing huge change to respond to ‘social distancing’ with pavements widened outside shops and roads narrowed to make more space for walking and cycling. Our system offers a clean and viable option and rethinks how cities can support last mile deliveries now and in the future.”

UPS International Sustainability Director, Peter Harris, said: “This is about reimagining last mile logistics. Cities need solutions that eliminate emissions and congestion and this system achieves that. But it goes further. The ability to load the box that the eWalker and the eQuad carry anywhere within our network will help UPS operate more efficiently. Taking this concept of removable containers, long since practiced in long haul freight, into the urban environment is a game changer and furthers UPS’s long-standing commitment to bring its customers sustainable solutions.”

Finally, Tom Kelly, Head of Innovation, Enterprise Ireland, said: “We are happy to support this challenge which delivers benefits both for Dublin citizens and the innovative technology companies that are helping the City Council address the issue and public impacts of last mile delivery. The SBIR programme is unique in providing public sector bodies and innovative companies the opportunity to work together to develop innovative solutions to big problems, such as optimising deliveries in cities”.

The UPS/ Fernhay partnership won SBIR support because it encourages safer, cleaner, more pedestrian friendly urban environments, and for its potential replicability in other contexts. As pressure mounts to ditch diesel and switch to sustainable, this dynamic consolidation and redistribution model is already contributing to emerging conversations on urban mobility and liveable cities. Other carriers have registered interest in operating similar systems in Dublin, and Belfast are assessing learnings from the initiative for potential applicability there. Last mile deliveries may never be the same again.