Bike hire scheme exceeds projections in first two months
The bike hire scheme introduced in Athlone and Mullingar two months ago is outperforming its pre-launch projections.
Managed by Moby Bikes in partnership with Westmeath County Council, the aim of the scheme is to reduce car usage in Westmeath's largest population centres by giving the public the opportunity to hire bikes for short journeys for €1 an hour. The scheme is being run on a pilot basis for six months to see if there is enough public demand for a permanent service.
Westmeath County Council's environmental awareness officer John Jackson says that the take up from the public has been very encouraging.
“Prior to launching the scheme, we had forecasts and projections on expected usage with our operators Moby Bikes. At present, we are delighted with the progress and are ahead of what we projected. We continue to monitor the usage on a weekly basis.
“Athlone continues to have a better take up and participation than Mullingar, but the gap has started to close in the past few weeks.
"Athlone was showing 60 per cent higher usage up until two weeks ago, that has now closed to 50 per cent. The number of new users registered on the app has increased 41 per cent in the past two weeks in Mullingar, whilst Athlone new users increase was 30 per cent for the same period," he said.
The average ride time in Athlone is 91 minutes and 88 in Mullingar
Initially, Athlone and Mullingar were allocated 30 bikes each which were located at 10 stations in both towns. However, following the addition of new stations at TUS Athlone, a further 10 bikes have been added to Athlone's fleet.
Mr Jackson says the council is exploring the options for new bike stations in both towns on an ongoing basis.
“We are particularly grateful for the co-operation of Mullingar General Hospital, Golden Island Shopping Centre, TUS College Athlone and Athlone Regional Sports Centre who have facilitated the placing of bikes at their locations. This has helped to ensure the bikes are located at some of the most convenient locations for the public."