Few things in Ireland can be rated as an unqualified success, but the Dublin Bikes scheme is certainly one of them. Since its inauguration in September 2009, modelled on the Vélib public bike rental programme in Paris, it has racked up more than 15 million journeys, of which 96 per cent were free of charge.
Dublinbikes has nearly 60,000 long-term subscribers, paying €20 per year for the privilege, while a further 6,000 (mostly tourists) shelled out €5 for a three-day spin. The busiest day so far was on October 8th last when more than 17,200 journeys were made on the distinctive blue bicycles.
Given all of the public benefits, which include reduced car use in the city as well as promoting personal fitness, one might have expected that the scheme would continue to expand.
But this being Dublin, it has run into funding problems. Initially, 450 bikes and their 40 "stations" were financed and operated by French outdoor advertising company JC Decaux in return for the right to erect a large number of "public information" panels at highly visible locations throughout the city. Since then, the Coca Cola company has become the main sponsor.
However, plans to expand the network of stations to 300, extending from Dublin City University on the north side to UCD Belfield on the south side, and to increase the size of the fleet to 5,000 bikes have fallen on hard times.
Coca Cola's sponsorship is worth €300,000 per year while revenue from subscribers amounts to €1.2 million, and this falls short of even the current annual operating cost of €2 million. As for further expansion, Dublin City Council has approached the National Transport Authority for capital funding, so far without a positive response.
There are ways of raising money to support the operational and capital costs of dublinbikes. One of the most obvious would be to impose a significant levy on all off-street commuter car parking spaces in central Dublin, the vast majority of which are currently free. Such a quid pro quo would send out a signal that cycling deserves to be prioritised in the "hierarchy" of urban transport.