THE PUBLIC BIKE schemes for Cork, Galway and Limerick will be in place within 5-6 months after the tender was awarded for the supply, installation and maintenance of the bikes.

A consortium known as An Rothar Nua will has been awarded the contract to implement Coke Zero Bikes in the three cities with the Department of Transport to provide about €4.5 million in set-up costs.

The annual operational cost for the Coke Zero Bikes is estimated at €1.25 million per year.

The National Transport Authority have yet to the outline what the subscription cost for the service will be, saying that they will have “similar or lower membership subscriptions and user fees to Dublin Bikes”.

The annual subscription cost for Dublin Bikes is €20, when a user takes out a bike it is free to use for the first half-hour with a charge thereafter.

Coca-Cola were announced as sponsors of the scheme last September when the operational date was set as July 2014.

Going by the estimate provided by the National Transport Authority today, that target will not be met with the NTA saying the scheme will now be operational in autumn.

Coca-Cola Ireland will invest €3 million over five years for their sponsorship rights.

The final details of the scheme show that there will be 740 bikes across the three cities:

• Cork – 320 bikes ; 31 bike stations.
• Galway – 205 bikes ;19 bike stations.
• Limerick – 215 bikes ; 23 bike stations.
  

Contract details

The An Rothar Nua Consortium awarded the contract is made up of four different companies, two based in Ireland and two in Europe.

France based Tracetel SA operate bike schemes in a number of different French cities. West Ireland Cycling are a bike rental company based in Galway. Centre d’Initiative et Gestion Locale are a Luxembourgish public bike company and ParkByText are an Irish mobile parking payment platform.

The NTA says that the terms of the contract with the consortium are structured to allow for the introduction of additional cities such as Waterford.

Minister for Public and Commuter Transport Alan Kelly said that the Coke Zero Bikes scheme was one of his main priorities

“Now that the contract is in place the bikes, stands and other infrastructure will follow quickly, ” said. ”The Coke Zero Bikes schemes will do more to promote a culture of cycling in these cities than any other project”.

Read: Coke Zero to sponsor Cork, Limerick and Galway bike schemes >

Read: These maps show the planned 2,840km of cycle routes for the greater Dublin area >