Bicycle sharing scheme for Mullingar a ‘work in progress’

Westmeath County Council is due to meet a number of providers about introducing a bike-sharing scheme in Mullingar.

Environmental officer John Jackson says the council is discussing the feasibility of introducing the scheme in Westmeath’s county town. Bike sharing schemes have proved popular in cities such as Dublin and Galway since their introduction a number of years ago.

Mr Jackson told the September meeting of the Strategic Policy Committee on Environment, Climate Action, Water and Emergency Services that one of the issues that have to be explored is the potential funding model. Some schemes are funded primarily through advertising, others through public funding from subscriptions, while schemes like the one in Dublin are funded through a combination of both.

Other considerations are the locations where the bikes would be situated and the most suitable locking and unlocking mechanism.

While stressing that the project is a “work in progress”, if it is deemed viable, Mullingar would become the smallest town in Ireland to have a bike sharing scheme.

SPC member Cllr Louise Heavin said that as Athlone is a town of “equal size” to Mullingar and with as many “dispersed zones”, the council should be exploring the possibility of introducing the scheme in both places.

She also suggested the IDA as a potential sponsor, noting that both towns had IDA parks on their outskirts which are “traffic generators”. She also suggested the Department of Education, which has a base in Athlone, and the LWETB in Mullingar as other potential sponsors.

Cllr Johnnie Penrose voiced his support for the scheme and said that it would be “great if the two towns could be brought on board”.

Committee chairperson Cllr Frank McDermott said an introduction of a bike sharing scheme in Mullingar “would be a feather in our crown”, particularly as the town was recently chosen as Westmeath’s first Decarbonisation Zone.

Mr Jackson said he agreed that it would be “lovely to have it set up in both towns”.

“We chose Mullingar because we wanted to see if there would be interest in setting up in a small, rural town. It would make sense to have it in both towns because then you could hire a bike in Mullingar and then travel to Athlone.”