Dundalk councillors adopt on street bike hire draft bye laws

Dundalk Municipal District councillors agreed to adopt the on-street bike hire draft bye laws put before them at the municipal district's June meeting, with an agreement made that the laws would be reviewed after 18 months.

The draft laws for the regulation of the operation of on-street bike hire had been made available for public inspection, but councillors were informed by Senior Executive Officer, Willie Walsh, that no submissions whatsoever had been made by any members of the public in relation to them.

Mr Walsh told the meeting that as far as he was aware there was not yet any potential operators available to operate the scheme, but that the bye-laws were part of laying the foundation for the scheme once it became operational, and that it was to ensure that Louth County Council could stop anyone from operating without a license.

He said that the laws would require an operator to have a permit for each individual bike, that it would be of a standard that Louth County Council could stand by and that it would be safe.

Cllr Maeve Yore asked if it was possible that they could include that it was illegal to cycle on footpaths using the bikes. Mr Walsh said they might be able to include provisions for operators but added that the operators wouldn't be cycling the bikes. 

The meeting was told that the bye laws were to "put control" on the operators who provide the service. Senior Engineer John O'Hagan added that they would not be able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices as it comes under the Roads Traffic Act.

Mr O'Hagan told the meeting that the scheme would not be like the Dublin Bike scheme, where the bike is collected at a designated location and returned to a designated location, but would be provided under a dockless system. 

Cllr Emma Coffey enquired if the laws covered the whole of the Dundalk Municipal District but was told that it covered the local area, i.e. from Blackrock to Ballymascanlon.

The meeting was also told in response to a question from Cllr John Reilly, that the bicycles would all be chipped so the operator would be able to locate them.

Mr O'Hagan told the meeting that the laws would ensure the operator would collect the bicycles, or to have them sitting in the middle of the footpath. He further added that it was illegal to cycle on a footpath but there was no specified fixed fine for doing so.

Following further discussion the councillors agreed to adopt the bye-laws, agreeing to review them after 18 months.