JCDecaux Ireland have signed a contract with Dublin City Council to carry out an expansion of the hugely successful dublinbikes scheme with work to start over the coming months. The extension of the bike sharing scheme East to the Docklands and West to Heuston station will also reinforce the footprint of the current scheme with additional stations in a number of key locations in the city. A full list of the additional 58 planned station locations is contained in the below map. Once the expansion has been completed the number of stations will be more than doubled to 102 and the number of bikes will be almost trebled to 1,500 in total. The extra stations and bikes will greatly enhance the entire dublinbikes network with the area covered by the scheme doubled.
JCDecaux has been operating the dublinbikes contract on behalf of Dublin City Council since its launch in 2009. The scheme currently has 550 bikes with 44 bike stations located in the city centre. Since launch in 2009 dublinbikes has exceeded all expectations in terms of uptake and use and it is generally acknowledged to be one of the most successful bike sharing schemes in the world. To date, over 5 million journeys have been made on dublinbikes and there are over 31,000 active long-term subscribers. 95% of journeys take less than 30 minutes and are therefore free to subscribers.
Commenting on the expansion Jim Keogan, Acting Assistant City Manager in Dublin City Council’s Planning and Economic Development Department said “the expansion of the dublinbikes scheme will provide significantly more people with a high quality means of transport that is not only environmentally sustainable and encourages a more healthy lifestyle but is also complementary to other modes of public transport. The expanded dublinbikes scheme will also continue to contribute to a significantly decreased motor presence in our city centre”.
Joanne Grant, Managing Director JCDecaux added “JCDecaux are delighted to be carrying out the dublinbikes expansion. This will ensure that more people will be able to enjoy the convenience that the bikes provide to thousands of users every day. We are looking forward to building on the success of the scheme already in place.”
Joanne Grant, Managing Director - JCDecaux Ireland