THE National Transport Authority is being sued in a bitter row over a public bike sharing scheme.

Tracetel, a French company which designs and manufactures similar schemes all over Europe, has issued a High Court summons against the NTA and Telfourth Limited, which is the company that was set up to run the bike hire programmes around Ireland.

2 One of the many bike hire stations across the country which the State has cost more a €4million combined

The State has already splashed out over €4million on approximately 74 stations in Cork, Limerick and Galway and the programme was due to be rolled out across the country, but relations broke down between Tracatel and the Telfourth Limited – of which Tracetel was a major shareholder.

Tracetel insists that it owns the technology being used to run the scheme but discovered in March of this year that nine new bike stations were being installed in Galway without their consent or knowledge .

The French company issued an injunction on April 13th seeking an Order from the High Court restraining the NTA and Telfourth Limited from using products that infringe its registered designs and technology.

They are seeking damages for the use of their designs and technology or for profits earned by their use, for infringement of copyright, and an order preventing the use of their designs and technology in the future.

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The regional city schemes, which were all fully launched by March 2015, saw almost 350,000 journeys made throughout the year in Cork, Galway and Limerick, while more than 11,000 people subscribed to the three regional city schemes in its first year.

The Dublin scheme, which does not involve Telfourth or Tracetel and is one of the most successful in the world since its 2009 launch, had 58,000 subscribers and 4.1m journeys taken in 2015.

Telfourth Limited is comprised of three companies of which Tracetel is one.

Sources from the NTA insist they are being dragged into a row not of their making, with one source saying: “Different parts of a consortium are at odds with each other and unable to sort out their differences. We’ve been tagged in.

“The NTA was caught in the crossfire by this, they were unaware of the situation until named in the document.”

A spokesman for the NTA told the Irish Sun: “The NTA is aware that we have been named in a court case that is before the courts in the coming weeks.

"We will deal with this situation when it is before the courts and are not in a position to comment further.”

2 Cyclists crossing the river Liffey in Dublin during the launch of the Dublin bikes rental scheme

It is understood the consortium is receiving €85,000 per month from the NTA, which is in charge of running public transport across Ireland including Bus Eireann, Ianrod Eireann, the Luas and Dublin Bus.

It is also responsible for the licensing and regulation of taxis and has responsibility for regulating fares charged by public transport and taxi operators.

The Public Bikes ‘Coke Zero Bikes’ format was rolled out to Galway, Cork and Limerick cities in late 2014, operating along the lines of the successful Dublin Bikes scheme which allows potential cyclists to use bikes for either free or at a low cost.

The NTA funded an expansion of the Dublin scheme in 2013 and 2014, but was keen to expand across regional cities.

Galway was next, followed by Limerick and Cork before the dispute arose in Galway.

A spokesman for Tracetel told the Irish Sun: “Tracetel remains committed to the successful implementation of the bike share scheme in the regional cities and it looks forward to resolving the issues in dispute; however, given that the matter is before the Court, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

The motion is due to be heard next month.