Dublin City to seek second stationless bicycle operator

— One current license holder to trial electric bicycles this year.

— Second license holder “not in a position to commence operations.”

A second licence to run stationless bicycle share in Dublin City is to be up for grabs soon, Dublin City Council has said. The city is using a hybrid where stationless bikes must be locked to official bicycle parking stands.

In a briefing note to Dublin City Council’s cycling and walking sub-committee, a council official said: “As the second licenced operato Urbo is not in a position to commence operations, and their licence expires in May, the Council intends to advertise for applicants for the second licence in a similar process to original applications. The second operator’s licence is expected to be awarded in May 2019.”

As this website reported in January, Uber’s Jump Bikes still interested in running a stationless system in Dublin.

The briefing note also said that the current license holder which has bicycles on the street, BleeperBike is testing ebikes “with the hope to launch a pilot scheme in Q2 2019”.

Bleeperbikes has 450 bikes on street and the council holds the view that “operations are progressing satisfactorily with no major issues arising since the scheme commenced.”

The note from officials optimistically states the BleeperBikes “are averaging 2 rides per bike per day which will hopefully improve again once warmer weather comes in.” The average use for the city’s docked system, DublinBikes, is around 10 rentals per bike per day.

BleeperBike users originally complained online about issues with the bicycles including the use of solid tires tires and an issue with not being about to raise the saddle high enough. The company has worked on these issues and the council officials says that BleeperBike now has “converted almost 70% of their fleet to standard air tyres and feedback is positive as they are much easier to cycle.”


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2 comments

  1. they should add a provision to include electric bikes most cities have electric bikes available in their bike rental schemes

    Reply

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