Where to now for the DublinBikes scheme as contract with French operator comes to a close?
Hailed as one of the most successful bike-sharing schemes in the world in its honeymoon years, DublinBikes was a watershed moment for cycling in the capital.
But the public system has aged since its 2009 debut, and the advent of better technology and lighter bikes is now coinciding with the end of Dublin City Council’s contract in September 2027.
Other than a goal to move the bike scheme out of private hands – French advertising giant JCDecaux owns the bikes and infrastructure under the current system – the council has provided precious few details on what it intends to replace it with.
But opinions on what shape the new system should take are already forming.
Karl Stanley, Social Democrats councillor for Clontarf, said he welcomes an opportunity to refresh the city’s bike-share scheme, but cautioned that it must remain affordable to succeed.
“At a guess, I’d say a fiver a month is probably palatable. That would be €60 [a year],” he said.
“After that though, it starts to become unaffordable for people, or only a certain kind of person could use it. You want it to be open to students and everybody, not just people who are on their way to work.”
The current system costs users €35 a year for unlimited journeys under half an hour, which Mr Stanley said was “unbelievably cheap”.
He does not think it is likely that the current cost could be maintained in the new system, but said it would be a mistake to allow a private operator to set the charge.
Social Democrats councillor for Clontarf Karl Stanley
“[If a private operator sets the price] it’ll be cheap for the first couple of years, and then you know how it is. The shareholders will be screaming for more money, and they’ll just turn the screw on it over and over again. We can’t let that happen,” he said.
That subsidised rate is reached through an unusual “bikes for billboards” arrangement in the existing contract that allowed JCDecaux to install 72 digital advertising boards around the city.
Mr Stanley wants to see these large displays removed, although he felt Dublin City Council (DCC) management would seek to retain them as a fundraising mechanism into the future.
Jason Cullen of the Dublin Commuter Coalition agreed that the advertising displays should not form part of any future bike scheme.
“We have a big problem with how that contract currently exists, in that it is an advertising contract that supplies bikes,” he said.
“If a sponsor wants to come in and take the name, like we had a Coca-Cola bike scheme in the past, then that’s fine. But certainly, the physical signage in the roads is too obstructive to remain. That needs to get removed.”
Green Party councillor Feljin Jose said the current contract was born of a different economic reality, hence the advertising element.
“[It] was thrown together in 2008 at a time when there was virtually no money. There were people writing newspaper columns about how this was going to fail. It was one of the first large-scale bike-share schemes in the world, and there was a lot of uncertainty,” he said.
“I’m not too keen on [the billboards], but at the end of the day, we have to come up with some sustainable funding model where DCC can provide this public service sustainably and make sure that it’s robust and able to expand.”
While the council said it has not yet decided whether the scheme will expand in coverage, it is aiming for around 4,000 bikes in the mix in future, more than double the existing 1,600.
Some of these would be pedal-assisted electric bikes, although the future proportion of electric versus standard bikes remains an open question.
On whether those bikes would be docked to fixed stations, as with the current system, or dockless, the way Bleeper and Moby operate, there seems to be an appetite for maintaining a docked element, particularly in the city centre.
“Docked schemes are quite handy for people,” Mr Cullen said. “You can go to your docked station like you do every day, get on your bike and go where you need to go. And that creates a habit in people.”
Mr Jose said the system’s 115 stations are very popular with users, but suggested a hybrid system that maintains docks in the city centre and turns dockless on the outskirts could represent the best of both worlds.
Siobhán McNamara of the Dublin Cycling Campaign cautioned that whatever scheme is arrived at, it is only as good as the cycling infrastructure the council puts in place.
“The active travel network also has to be implemented in full,” she said. “The conditions have to be there for people to be safe. A lot of progress has been made, but there’s still a lot of gaps.”
On top of infrastructural worries, all parties raised the need for interoperability between the updated DublinBikes scheme and any potential bike-share schemes that might be implemented by neighbouring councils.
Otherwise, a situation could arise where users must change bikes when they reach the boundary of Fingal County Council, for example.
Precise arrangements for how these mobility hubs will operate, including any co-ordination with neighbouring local authority areas, are still being considered
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
When queried about this, DCC said it recognises “the importance of connectivity and integration across the wider Dublin region”.
“The market research process will help inform the council’s consideration of the future scheme and its potential operation within the broader shared mobility network,” it added.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said it is a “firm believer” in the positive impact of bike sharing, and it would work with the National Transport Authority (NTA) and other councils to “provide Fingal residents with access to the best bike-share services possible”.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said it was progressing with an NTA pilot for shared mobility hubs.
“The precise arrangements for how these mobility hubs will operate, including any co-ordination with neighbouring local authority areas, are still being considered as the project develops,” a spokesperson said.
South Dublin County Council did not reply to a request for comment, but it is exploring the potential for a public bike-sharing scheme, after an attempt in 2009 proved unsuccessful.
In recent days, the Green Party organised a workshop with members of the public, councillors and industry to discuss the future of DublinBikes, an event Mr Jose described as “really productive”.
“We had over 60 people in the room, which was great,” he said.
“It wasn’t a talking shop, it was a workshop. So, it was very much designed to get ideas from people, what people want to see, what people like about the current DublinBikes, and what people want to see change.
“The overall theme was, people wanted more coverage, more bikes and more stations, because DublinBikes hasn’t expanded since 2018.”
Along with greater reach, he wants to see tighter integration between the public transport network and bike dock locations.
“When you go outside Heuston Station, there’s DublinBikes stands there, there’s two or three there. But Connolly [Station], it’s a bit of a walk, it’s not as convenient as Heuston,” Mr Jose said.
“There should be better integration with public transport stations and locations, and better integration into the public transport technology, the apps.”
Ultimately, he said whatever the council cooks up must be worthy of its trailblazing predecessor.
“This is our scheme, this is associated very strongly with Dublin. There’s a sense of pride there in that we have this scheme that is easy, affordable and popular, and it’s a public service. It’s probably one of the council’s most successful services.”