Stationless bike share is now available in the four Dublin council areas to some extent, as well as Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Castlebar, Westport, Navan, Kilkenny, Wexford, Athlone, Mullingar, and Bray but not in Cork City and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon.
Cork City Council were contacted for comment on Monday and again today ahead of the publication of this article, no response has been forthcoming.
Campainers have said that the council have been draging their heels on the issue, and that lack of urgency is indicative of the wider issue of the council’s desire on climate action.
“During my time as chair of the Cork Cycling Campaign, I highlighted the many benefits that a dockless e-bike scheme would bring to Cork. A number of operators were keen to bring investment into Cork and had already met City Hall officials,” said Conn Donovan, a former chairperson of the Cork Cycling Campaign.
“Local Cllrs informed me that City Council wanted to join a dockless e-bike scheme with an e-scooter scheme and were waiting for the legal situation regarding e-scooters to be brought into legislation,” he said.
E-scooter are to be made legal for use on Irish roads towards the end of 2023. Supporting primary legislation already in place and the Department of Transport has said it is to put in place more detailed regulations by the end of the year.
Donovan added: “Unfortunately Cork now finds behind even regional towns who have operational e-bike schemes. The lack of urgency on this issue is indicative of a wider issue in Cork City Council where there seems to be no real desire to tackle the climate crises head on.”
CLARIFICATION: Bray was added to the list of towns with bike share and the headline was adusted according.