THE DUBLIN BIKES scheme is to get a €2.6 million expansion, the Public Transport Minister Alan Kelly has announced.

The scheme will be expanded eastwards and westwards, from Heuston Station to Docklands, with a grant of €2.6 million from the National Transport Authority, Kelly said.

The scheme is part of a €43 million investment package in sustainable transport measures for the Greater Dublin Area in 2013.

“Dublin Bikes is one of the most successful cycling initiatives ever tried in this country and is one of the most successful schemes in the world. This success needs to be built on,” Kelly said. “We have had over five million journeys so far and many thousands of journeys are taken each day with over 90,000 subscribers. Expanding this makes sense and will hopefully enhance the scheme significantly with fifty-nine additional stations and will be completed by 2014.”

It is hoped that similar bike schemes will be introduced in other cities, as well as areas like Tallaght and Dun Laoghaire.

The expansion is to be funded from the sustainable measures programme for the Greater Dublin Area administered by the National Transport Authority.

“The level of funding shows our commitment to the sustainable transport agenda in Ireland. Dublin Bikes is just one part of our sustainable investment policy for transport. We have to improve the public transport cycling and walking infrastructure for the Greater Dublin Area,” Kelly said.