Bike rental scheme worst performing in country

A lack of docking stations and a ban on cyclists riding the wrong way up one-way streets has been blamed for the lukewarm response to the bike share scheme in Galway – which has the worst take up of any city – one year on.

On the week of its first anniversary this week, figures from the National Transport Authority (NTA) show nobody used the bikes at all at some of the stations for months on end.

There was no activity at the station at City Hall for January and Feburary and no bikes were taken from Gaol Road for August or September.

In the first nine months of this year, the most popular location to pick up or drop off a bike was the Cathedral, from where 2,127 bikes were taken out and 1,998 were brought back.

The other key locations for the Coke Zero scheme were Father Burke Road, New Dock Street, Eyre Square South, the Claddagh Basin and the Headford Road.

The operators, the National Transport Authority, insist while the usage is below what was expected in the first year, the annual subscription is above expectations, due mainly to a half price special offer to mark its introduction.

For more details on the bike scheme and a breakdown on figures for its usage, see this week’s Galway City Tribune