30 August 2018
Cyclists delighted with one million Coke Bike trips; Campaign calls for expansion of the scheme
The Cork Cycling Campaign expressed its delight at the announcement that one million trips have been made using the Coke bike sharing scheme in Cork. The group congratulated the National Transport Authority and the city for the success of the scheme locally.
According to the group, reaching this milestone is clear evidence that more and more people are starting to appreciate the convenience, low cost, health benefits, and environmental sustainability of cycling. There can be no doubt that the the bike sharing scheme has made the centre of the city much more accessible for locals and visitors alike.
The continuing growth in local subscriber numbers reflects the strong demand for the bike sharing scheme. Over the last few years, the Campaign has urged the NTA to expand the scheme. Today, the group repeated its calls to the NTA to build on its success in Cork. The Campaign identified several sites for docking stations that would attract strong usage and further boost the success of the scheme.
At the west periphery of the existing scheme:
● The western end of the Mardyke would have major trip attractors including the Mardyke Arena, UCC’s Western Gateway Building, parking sites, and County Hall.
● A station at the start of the Lee Fields, near the Kingsley hotel, would serve hotel visitors and staff, County Hall workers and visitors, student residences and summer visitors, as well as people visiting the Lee Fields. These stations should secure a natural balance between trip origins and destinations.
On the south eastern side:
● A station near the Red Abbey/Nano Nagle Centre would attract demand from these residential areas, the Nano Nagle Centre, and the new School of Architecture.
● The South Parish, Douglas and Anglesea Street/South Terrace areas are not served by the scheme, even though the area includes segregated bike lanes connections with the bus and train stations. A few stations here would serve the South Infirmary, St John’s College, as well as a substantial population of inner city residents.
On the south side:
● Sites on College Road, particularly near Dennehy’s Cross, Brookfield, and along the UCC campus would be expected to attract very strong demand between parking areas, apartment buildings, and the UCC and Bon Secours.
The Cork Cycling Campaign’s Dr Dean Venables said “The introduction of the Coke Bike Scheme has coincided with a large uptake in cycling in Cork, in line with national and global trends. However, more needs to be done to make Cork cycle friendly. Amazingly, there is not a single continuous cycle route across the city. We need a high quality cycle network in Cork.”
Cork Cycling Campaign called on the city to make cycling provision an integral part of the City Centre Movement Strategy. It urged the city council to plan for much larger rates of cycling in the near future and to fully embrace cycling’s potential to help solve local transport challenges.
The Campaign also added its voice to calls by the national cycling body, Cyclist.ie, and other cycling groups, for a 10% allocation of the transport budget to cycling infrastructure in the next national budget.