The struggling DublinBikes bike rental scheme has secured sponsorship from car and home insurance company RedClick.
DublinBikes suffered from a reduction in subscriptions during the Covid-19 pandemic and has been without a commercial sponsor since the start of this year following the end of a three-year deal with television streaming service Now TV. The scheme – which allows subscribers to take and leave bikes at designated “stations”, largely in the city centre – is also facing increased competition from “stationless” bike services which operate across a wider area.
DublinBikes was introduced in 2009 as a partnership between outdoor advertising company JCDecaux and Dublin City Council. The company funded the scheme in exchange for advertising panels on the city streets, with additional revenue coming through subscriptions and hire charges. Despite the instant popularity of the scheme, it ran at a loss and in 2014 a three-year sponsorship deal was struck with Coca-Cola.
In 2017, the council secured a new sponsor, takeaway delivery company Just Eat, switching in 2020 to Now TV in a deal worth €2.25 million over three years.
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Despite the sponsorship deals, the service has not been expanded in more than six years. On Monday night, city councillors of all parties supported a motion by Green Party councillor Ray Cunningham to expand the area covered by the scheme. However, council chief executive Richard Shakespeare said expansion was “currently not under consideration”. The scheme had been without a sponsor for a considerable length of time, Mr Shakespeare said, adding the council had “no capital funding” for its expansion.
“The service is running at a deficit. This was occurring prior to pandemic and has only gotten worse. The current deficit is probably north of half a million per annum,” he said.
Subscriptions had “reduced dramatically” during the pandemic, he said. Although the council was working to try to address this, he noted stationless bikes were expanding operations in Dublin.
In addition, he said, the principal contract with JCDecaux was due to expire in 2027. “I think it would be folly to try and expand it in advance of a new contract being awarded.”
More than 38 million journeys have been completed on DublinBikes since its introduction. The annual membership charge was increased by 40 per cent in 2020 from €25 to €35 but has not since been increased.
Members can use a bike for free for the first 30 minutes. The next half-hour costs 50 cent, with charges thereafter increasing on an hourly basis. The average journey time is 15 minutes and 96 per cent of journeys are free.
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