Galway City bike rental scheme is delayed further

The Galway bike scheme also faces widespread political criticism that the docking stations for the bicycles are too close together and concentrated in the city centre, ignoring suburbs.

The scheme, which has been in the pipeline for years, was supposed to be finally up and running by this Summer.

However, City Councillors were told last night that it will be the autumn, possibly October, before the bikes are operational.

Nearly every elected member who spoke about the scheme criticised the location of the docking stations for bikes, which completely ignore the suburbs of Knocknacarra, Salthill, and areas on the east side of the city such as Mervue, Doughiska and Roscam.

A map of the stations shows that the 19 docking stations are all concentrated in close proximity to each other.

City Councillors pointed out that there is no docking station planned for GMIT or the far side of NUI Galway, while Salthill was another glaring omission, given how it is supposed to be targeted at tourists.

Director of Services, Billy Dunne, told the meeting that the location of the docking stations was a matter for the National Transport Authority and the consortium that won the contract to roll out the scheme.

He said plans for two stations at Salthill had to be reassessed due to recent flooding.

Mr Dunne outlined, however, that the Junior Minister with responsibility for Transport, Alan Kelly, has indicated that more docking stations could be rolled out in future.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel