Dublin City Council has confirmed that there has been an increase in vandalism and theft of DublinBikes bicycles but has refused to disclose the extent of the issue.
IrishCycle.com contacted the council after members of the public pointed to what seemed to be examples of an unusually high level of vandalism and theft in recent weeks — including one bicycle burnt out, another with a broken handlebar, and a third dumped at the side of the road in a location way outside the service area.
A spokesperson for the council said: “NOW dublinbikes have not experienced a significant level of vandalism historically. Anecdotally there has been an increasing trend in vandalism in the city over the past couple of years and unfortunately NOW dublinbikes has not been immune to this.”
“We are working with the authorities to try to curb this trend, and in addition we have strong support from subscribers and the general public in reporting issues of this nature”, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added: “We do not release specific numbers of incidents or details around locations for operational reasons.”
The council did not respond to requests for general figures covering the level of vandalism and theft of DublinBikes this year compared to previous years.
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Also anecdotal but I’ve gotten on a few bikes that clearly needed a service. Previous year it would be the odd time, seems like it’s every other bike now. Seriously and chronically underfunded project given the usage.