Council calls for Dublin Bikes expansion

Dublin City Council members have called on city management to expand the Dublin Bikes scheme.

A motion proposed by Green councillor Ray Cunningham at this week’s council meeting heard that since 2009, the Dublin Bikes scheme has been “immensely popular”, with over 2 million journeys taken in 2023 and lifetime cycles of over 37 million.

Cunningham said in his motion that Dublin Bikes has not seen an expansion since 2018, with the current plan seeing bikes positioned in “small clusters” around the city centre.

Cunningham expressed frustration that there is no station in his local electoral area of Ballyfermot-Drimnagh and said that the scheme should be rolled out elsewhere across the city.

“The demand is there, we know how to run the program and we know that it works. It fits in with our transport and climate strategy. We need to add stations until everyone in the city has a Dublin Bikes stand nearby.”

Dublin City Council boss Richard Shakespeare said the scheme is currently not under consideration by the council at this time as the tender runs out in 2027.

Shakespeare said the scheme was occurring at a deficit of over €500,000 a year, with pre-pandemic deficits only worsening since then.

He said that subscriptions have “reduced dramatically,” since the pandemic and that the current contract between the operators JCDecaux and Dublin City Council is due to end in 2027.

Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said that Cunningham’s motion was “excellent,” and supported it.

Doolan noted he was on Dublin City Council when the scheme when it was first introduced and recalled “there was a lot of cynicism in this chamber that it wouldn’t work.”

“It has proven to be one of the major attractions of the city for tourists and businesses alike. Rather than saying ‘it can’t happen, it won’t happen, we don’t have the money to make it happen’, we need to be proactive and engaging with it.”

“We need a critique of what has and hasn’t work and how we can expand it; if the contract is up in 2027, we should look to expand it.”

“We need to improve cycling in Dublin and not simply have a defeatist attitude,” he said.

Independent councillor Vincent Jackson supported the motion, and questioned the narrative that usage has gone down.

He questioned if bike usage has declined because private bike ownership has gone up in that time.

“We had sponsors in the early days of the scheme and I don’t have any difficulties with sponsors as long as they’re appropriate for the scheme.”

“I know when JCDecaux got the contract they put up electronic signage around the city; that was the quid pro quo per my estimation. We got lots signs on Long Mile Road and Ballyfermot heading into Walkinstown but we didn’t get any bike stations; I think it’s important that each part of the city gets an equal share of infrastructure.”

Fellow independent councillor Mannix Flynn said “it beggars belief that we still haven’t expanded this scheme, particularly in working-class areas. You cannot go into a block of flats anywhere in Dublin and see cycling infrastructure. In a block of flats you have to carry bikes up the stairs. Lord Mayor, with all due respect, if we are really serious about walkability and sustainability and all that, we have to take this seriously.”

Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said he was “seriously alarmed” by Shakespeare’s response about there being no plans to expand the scheme.

He said that Shakespeare’s comments were “contradictory,” noting that the official party line from Dublin City Council is that they want to meet sustainability and transport goals, but won’t expand Dublin Bikes.

“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.

“I’m a representative from Dublin South Central; there is some access in the South Inner City then it just cuts off, totally runs dry. We should be making active travel more accessible for more people in our communities.”

He agreed with Doolan’s notion that Dublin City Council has a “defeatist” attitude on the topic.

“We have a central government with pots of money to spare, the NTA rolling out the Bus Connects, rolling out the active travel network; there has to be funding there to expand Dublin Bikes.”

“We are hearing from people in our areas all the time that they want it expanded. I’d ask strongly that the City Council manager reconsiders his view and puts a stop to that.”

Social Democrats and Kimmage-Rathmines councillor Eoin Hayes said that the lack of options was brought up during the local elections.

“There seems to be unanimous consent across these different parties but there is a deficit there and there is a funding obligation.”

Hayes noted, “most of the people in this chamber voted against an increase in the local property tax which would have given us €15.5 million which would have more than covered the deficit and the capital investment required.”

“There seems to be a speaking out of both sides of your mouth from people in this chamber who want capital investment and more services but don’t want to fund them.”

Lord Mayor Geoghegan noted that the same debate was had in a meeting of the South-East Area Committee following his election in 2019.

“The response at the time was there was no further expansion and there was a similar debate. For five years we’ve been knocking on doors in areas all over the cities and we’re getting the same response that we think Dublin Bikes is brilliant, why can’t we expand it further.”

“There should be nothing stopping us from attaining additional capital, but we’ll have to meet the revenue side of it. That is a challenge, but it is something elected members and the Dublin public want to overcome.”

Shakespeare reiterated “it would be folly to advance the scheme in advance of a new contract being awarded.”

He noted he was responsible for the last expansion of the scheme and said that the scheme is valued – it is merely a matter of cost analysis.

“It’s not inexpensive, but we seriously have to look at the choices we make, particularly around budgets. We’re not against it.”