Bolt to launch 100-bike electric bicycle share pilot scheme in Sligo

Shared mobility company Bolt is to launch a stationless bicycle share trial in Sligo town next month.

Such trials or pilot scheme in smaller areas, such as university campuses, are seen as a way of international companies dipping their toes in the Irish market, especially as Dublin City Council has adopted a system limited to a small number of operators.

Bolt said that their pricing in Sligo will be 15 cent per minute.

The company said it is to try a range of bicycle parking methods. Although it didn’t go into detail on these, it seems that Bolt will fund bicycle parking stands which will be used by the public’s own bikes.

The funding of bicycle parking stands by operators is a system also used in Dublin, although members of the public with their own bicycles sometimes complain that the bike share bicycles take up all the spaces at popular locations.

Aisling Dunne, Bolt’s head of public coverage in Ireland, said: “Sligo is a perfect [town] wherein to launch Bolt’s e-bikes in Eire, with the college, latest elevated funding in biking infrastructure and actual public help for making sustainable selections.”

While glowing of cycling infrastructure investment in Ireland, the company seemed to be clear about the challenges, pointing out that only around 2% if work and education trips in Sligo are currently undertaken using bicycles.

Dunne added: “We’re excited to help a forward-thinking council decided to supply options to non-public automobile use. We all know from Bolt analysis that just one in 10 Irish automobile house owners at present see themselves with the ability to surrender their non-public car.”

As as the case with most other bike share companies in Europe, Bolt also runs other services such as ride-hailing which is already operating in Dublin and Cork. In other countries, it also runs shared vehicles, scooters and meals/grocery deliveries.