Public bike schemes for the cities of Cork, Limerick and Galway will be launched this autumn by the National Transport Authority, it was announced today.

The project will involve a total of 740 bikes. Cork will receive 320 bikes, 31 station and 635 stands; Limerick will receive 215 bikes, 23 stations and 445 stands while Galway will get 205 bikes, 19 stations and 395 stands.

If the schemes are successful in these cities, similar ones could be rolled out to Waterford and other locations around Ireland.

The contract cost of supply and installation in the three cities is approximately €4.5 million in total, and the annual operational cost will be about €1.25 million. Coca-Cola will act as sponsor and provide €3 million over the course of five years.

Customers should be able to cycle the bikes in about five months’ time. “Now that the contract is in place the bikes, stands and other infrastructure will follow quickly,” Minister of State for Public Transport Alan Kelly said. The scheme “will do more to promote a culture of cycling in these cities than any other project,” he added.

The extension of a public bike scheme to Cork, Limerick and Galway follows the success of a similar project, founded in 2009, in Dublin City. Other schemes operate throughout Europe where customers have various subscription options to rent bikes which can then be used for short-distance urban journeys.

A consortium called An Rothar Nua (comprising of Tracetel SA, based in France; West Ireland Cycling Limited, based in Galway; Centre d’Initiative et Gestion Locale, based in Luxembourg and Mobile Research Solutions Limited, based in Dublin) was awarded the contract to provide the bikes.