Dublin City Council’s community cargo bicycle trial, an initiative that aims to “offer residents and businesses a cost-effective way to use electric cargo bikes for everyday tasks and deliveries”, is to switch into phase two.
The community cargo project was launched in May 2024, and is a collaboration between the council’s Environment and Transportation section and the Beta unit in Corporate Services and Transformation. The Beta team in the council is responsible for testing a range of things, from art on utility boxes to better rubbish collection in the city centre to Bike Bunkers.
On the community bikes, a report to councillors explained: “The first phase included the use of a secure bike hangar, which was installed in Portobello, Dublin 8, and housed two electric cargo bike options. The service is provided by Bleeper, and registered users can access the hangar and bikes via an app.”
The report said: “The community cargo bikes have exceeded 4,000km and have taken part in many community cycle parades and events. The next phase of this trial is set to begin in Q2 of 2025, where the bunker is removed and the bikes are tethered to a bike stand. One objective is to understand if the use of a bike bunker on our streets is a barrier to the use of the cargo bikes.”
At the council’s monthly meeting last week, Cllr Gayle Ralph (FG) said: “For the community cargo project, I see there’s one on the south side. Is there any plans to roll this pilot project out of the north side?”
Brendan O’Brien, the head of the transport section of the council, said: “That’s the first one. We haven’t looked at the north side yet, but we hope to.”