New sightseeing tours of the city will have real pedal power

There is the tourist train, open top tour buses and guided walks, and now Galway City is set to get a new sightseeing experience – tours of the city on a 16-seat cycle.

The Pedal Power Galway tour is the brainchild of architect Paul Murray, who says he was inspired to introduce the 16-seat cycle as a sightseeing option to Galway after seeing a similar initiative while on a visit to the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Mr Murray says the idea has been approved for finance, both by the way of a bank loan and via funding from Enterprise Ireland and Bord Fáilte, and he plans to unveil the scheme at next year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade in the city.

“These bikes will be the Gondolas of Galway,” claims Mr Murray, who has one confirmed route for the new tour, with three more in the pipeline.

“Our tours are aimed at giving our visitor a memorable, novel and unique tour – where they will see, taste and feel the best of Galway,” he says, explaining that the tour will stop at various points along its circuit to allow participants to “see, taste and feel the best of Galway”.

The initial route is a 2.8k loop, starting at Dominick Street and travelling across Wolfe Tone Bridge, along Cross Street, Lombard Street, Market Street, Mary Street, Eglinton Street and Francis Street before travelling over the Salmon Weir Bridge and turning left at the Cathedral to head back to Dominick Street via Nun’s Island.

The three other routes which are being considered for the tour are Salthill to the Spanish Arch; the Dyke Road to Eyre Square; and one to accommodate students at NUI Galway, travelling from Corrib Village to the Quad at the university.

Tickets will need to be prebooked via the Pedal Power website – no cash will be handled on the cycle – and prices vary from €2 for a “one journey pass” to €20 for a “one seat pass”; while private hire of the cycle will cost €300.

It is not just tourist trails that are being planned either – Mr Murray says he may branch out to accommodate the like of speed-dating events.

For more information, log on to www.pedalpowergalway.com.