Investment needed in City Bike Scheme

Labour spokesperson on Transport, Senator Kevin Humphreys, has said the Government has missed a trick by not outlining plans to expand and extend the hugely successful public bike scheme in Budget 2020.

Senator Humphreys said:

“The public bike scheme, which was first proposed by Labour in Dublin back in 2004, has been incredibly successful in cities across Ireland.

“But yet again the Government has missed a trick in this Budget to expand and extend it, only outlining a paltry €9m investment in 2020 to ‘greenways and urban cycling’ coming from Carbon Tax revenue.

“Ask anyone in Dublin in particular who uses the city bike scheme and they will tell you how useful it is to get around town. But the scheme has reached full capacity, with bike stands often full at peak times in some areas, leaving people with nowhere to park their bikes, or in other cases with no free bikes.

“With tourism numbers rising also ,we need to ensure there are enough bikes and stands to meet demand.

“In our Alternative Budget for 2020, Labour allocated €30.5m for the expansion of the City Bike Scheme and rollout to five new towns, as well as €880,000 to provide a subsidy of 20c for every journey taken on a public bike. We would then progressively increase this year on year.

“This investment would not only benefit those who use the scheme but encourage more people to use it, and in turn get more commuters to leave their cars at home.

“When we do have something that really works, why not build on it?