From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Use of Galway City’s public bike share scheme has collapsed according to shock new figures that reveal trips plummeted by 80%.

There was a total of 7,642 bicycle trips taken last year on the Transport For Ireland (TFI) scheme, which has 180 bikes at 23 locations in the city.

That represents about 21 trips on average every day – some 31,000 fewer than 2018.

One of the stations, at Gaol Road, was used for just one trip on average every week last year.

The bikes at the station at Galway City Council offices at City Hall were used once every three days on average, while bikes located at Galway County Council headquarters at County Hall were used once every four days in 2022.

The station at the Park and Ride facility on the campus of Ollscoil na Gaillimhe was the most popular last year, with around 800 trips in total, or two trips on average every day.

The figures were released to the Labour Party, and its Galway City Councillor Niall McNelis said they proved the scheme was not functioning.

“It needs a complete overhaul. We can see from these figures that nobody is using the bikes,” said Cllr McNelis.

The statistics highlighted that usage plummeted during Covid-19 and it has not returned to pre-Covid levels.

This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the May 12 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.