Friday, August 16, 2013

Limerick public bike scheme due for autumn 2014 launch

Limerick Smarter Travel has announced that the proposed Public Bicycle Share Scheme for Limerick City Centre will be up and running by autumn 2014.

The Scheme will feature 23 Docking Stations housing 400 individual Bicycle Docks across the City and is styled on the hugely successful Public Bicycle Share Scheme in Dublin, which has so far recorded over 3 million journeys since its launch in 2009.

The announcement for Limerick comes ahead of a public information session to be held in Limerick City Hall this Tuesday (20th August) from 2.00pm to 6.30pm in relation to the scheme.

Hosted by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Limerick Smarter Travel, the information session takes place in conjunction with an ongoing public display of maps identifying the proposed Docking Station locations within the city and illustrations of how some of the Docking Stations might appear. The information will remain on display in the public lobbies of City Hall and County Hall until 5th September next.

Pat O'Neill, Project Manager, Limerick Smarter Travel said: "Following the success of the Public Bicycle Share Schemes in Dublin, the NTA has initiated the introduction of similar schemes in the regional cities of Cork, Limerick and Galway. We are delighted to work with the NTA on the roll-out of this project which aims to develop an environmentally-friendly means of public transport that is healthy, relatively inexpensive, brings jobs closer to where people live, and ensures an improved quality of life in the City's natural and built environment”.

Mr. O’Neill continued: "The NTA has recently commenced the Tender process for the award of a contract to supply, install, operate and maintain the Public Bicycle Share Scheme for Limerick City Centre. Under the proposed scheme, 200 bicycles will be deployed in the city at 23 Docking Stations and will be redistributed throughout the city during the day to cater for demand by ensuring that there are both sufficient vacant Docks to dock Bicycles and sufficient Bicycles at each Docking Station."

Interested parties are invited to send any comments or queries in relation to the Public Bicycle Share Scheme for Limerick City Centre to ntabicyclesharescheme@arup.com or before 5pm on Thursday 5th September, 2013. The drawings are also available to view at www.nationaltransport.ie and www.limerickcity.ie.