The Dublinbikes bicycle-sharing scheme in Dublin, Ireland, has added a total of 15 new stations, making the scheme one of the most successful in the world.
The bicycle-sharing scheme will now operate a total of 116 stations around the city, and along with the new station will introduce an additional 100 bikes into the service, bringing the total number to more than 1,600.
The success of the scheme was demonstrated in usage figures which were published in February, and which showed that the service has almost 68,000 long-term members, who have made more than 22 million journeys since Dublinbikes launched in 2009. The scheme and the expansion are currently funded by food delivery company Just Eat.
The average journey time for users of the services is 14 minutes, and almost 96% of journeys taken are free of charge. Bicycle-sharing schemes have arisen in cities around Europe in recent years as a convenient mode of transport for travellers making small journeys, and as a popular alternative to pollutant-emitting modes of transport.
What impact will the expansion have for Dublin?
TD for Dublin Central and Minister of Finance, Paschal Donohoe, gave a speech at the launch of the new stations where he welcomed the expansion, and the impact that the bicycle-sharing scheme has had on transport in Dublin overall.
He said: “When it was first launched in 2009 no-one could have envisaged the future success of the Just Eat Dublinbikes scheme. With more than 22 million journeys taken since that time, their addition to the Dublin transport landscape has been transformative … The locations chosen, with their proximity to the city centre, make them ideal.”
Donohoe added that the strategic placement of the new stations would broaden the types of journeys they could serve and the people who are interested in using them: “The inclusion of three stations at Grangegorman will provide excellent alternative transport for the thousands of students attending Dublin Institute of Technology. I commend everyone for their work in the further roll-out of the scheme and look forward to the continuation of that work in the years to come.”
