Minister O’Brien launches National Policy and new Pilot Project for Shared Transport Mobility Hubs

Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien today published a new National Policy Statement on Shared Mobility and the Provision of Hubs, along with a report on the public consultation process that informed its development.

The Statement outlines a path for the expansion of shared mobility hubs and services in Ireland. Shared mobility hubs offer people the opportunity to hire a range of transport modes - bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-cargo bikes and electric vehicles - on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis. They also offer people a wide range of choice in how they make journeys, and support the Programme for Government promise to invest in a range of transport options to enhance connectivity across the country.

The new Policy Statement aims to bring greater coherence to the development of shared mobility services and hubs, ensuring that these can be rolled out across the country in a consistent, safe and measured way. It outlines how shared mobility can benefit local businesses, complement measures to improve our urban realm, and reinforce efforts to reduce congestion and improve air quality in our towns and cities.

Accessibility and the concerns of the disabled community - from the perspective of design, and alignment with an inclusive urban realm - will be a first principle in the delivery and operation of the hubs. Local authorities will be required to adhere to Universal Design principles in all respects.

Alongside the Policy Statement, the NTA, supported by the department, is developing a Mobility Hubs pilot project under the Climate Action Fund. This will test how a dense network of hubs might be designed and operated on a long-term basis and under the best conditions for sustainable travel.

As part of the pilot, around 300 hubs will be provided across five urban locations. While the business case for the project is still in development, Minister O’Brien today announced the five candidate locations for this project as part of a stakeholder event to inform the development of the pilot.

The hub networks envisaged in these locations will have a similar look, feel and operating model to the shared micromobility schemes that will be in place later this year in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. These will replace the existing Transport for Ireland (TfI) public bikes schemes.

The National Policy Statement on Shared Mobility and the Provision of Hubs is available at the following link: Policy Statement on Shared Mobility.

Public Consultation and Stakeholder Engagement

To inform the development of the Policy Statement, the department held two workshops on shared mobility at its National Sustainable Mobility Forum in April 2023 and published an Issues Paper entitled ‘Shared Mobility Hubs: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities’ to inform a consultation process with the public in March 2024. Further targeted consultation was carried out with key stakeholder groups from July to September 2024 and a close-out stakeholder engagement event was held in the Department of Transport in October 2024.

This feedback is detailed in a consultation report, which is also being published today. The report is also available at the following link: Policy Statement on Shared Mobility.

Policy Statement

The Statement identifies 12 core Policy Goals that the government will pursue to enable the development of a shared mobility ecosystem – from establishing promotional initiatives and a brand identity for mobility hubs, to developing a data strategy, integrating shared mobility into metropolitan and town plans, and testing ways to incentivise the provision of shared mobility services.

The 12 Goals are:

1. Integrate planning for mobility hubs into Metropolitan Area Transport Strategies and other relevant Plans
2. Implement promotional campaign(s) to support the uptake of shared mobility modes.
3. Develop brand identity for publicly built and procured shared mobility hubs
4. Prepare guidance for local authorities on the development of inclusive shared mobility hubs in line with universal design principles
5. Develop a data strategy for the usage and sharing of data with national and local authorities by all shared mobility providers operating in Ireland
6. Work with shared mobility providers to promote safe usage of shared micromobility modes
7. Explore ways to support relevant small businesses and employment opportunities through the development of shared mobility hubs
8. Explore options for supporting the use of shared mobility hubs, with a particular focus on disadvantaged groups and micro-enterprises
9. Expand the provision of shared micromobility through shared mobility hubs in the Five Cities
10. Develop and test measures to support the uptake of shared mobility modes in different urban settings and examine how the State can effectively support the sustainable development of shared mobility services
11. Support research that tests the effectiveness and impact of shared mobility on a number of public policy areas including emissions reduction
12. Build on learnings from the NTA shared mobility hub pilot and other current shared mobility schemes, develop a detailed Shared Mobility Policy.

These Policy Goals will be stepped out into more defined actions with measurable outputs in the next Sustainable Mobility Policy Action Plan, which is under development in 2025 and will take effect from 2026 to 2030.

Mobility Hubs Pilot Project

The Mobility Hubs pilot project, which is being led by the National Transport Authority (NTA), seeks to test the network effect of mobility hubs across five diverse urban settlement areas (e.g. a major urban area, a large urban area and three regional towns) and the impact of hub density on user uptake. Each urban settlement will identify an operating zone for the hubs. The pilot will involve the creation of approximately 300 branded hubs of varying sizes across these areas to complement, and integrate with, existing and planned public transport services.

A project team within the NTA, supported by consultants, has undertaken a multi-criteria analysis to help inform the selection of the areas for the pilot. The project sought to identify several areas for the piloting of hub networks across different settlement pattern types:

• Greater Dublin Area: To test mobility in a densely populated area, one with good access to public transport
• Large Urban Area: To test mobility hubs in an area with some experience of shared mobility, for example, TfI bikes
• Regional Town/Urban Area: To test mobility hubs in an area with more limited public transport and less experience of shared mobility i.e. towns over 20k were analysed

One aspect of the analysis was to score the areas against a number of indicators in order to gauge suitability for mobility hubs, based on international experience. The thematic areas for these were:

• Demand - underlying potential demand for mobility hub services
• Social - providing additional transport options for areas with higher levels of deprivation
• Environment - identifying the potential to reduce carbon emissions

The Climate Action Fund (CAF) has been identified as an appropriate funding source for the pilot. A Detailed Business Case is currently being prepared and will incorporate the costs/benefits for developing hub networks in five candidate locations: Cork City, Dun-Laoghaire-Rathdown, Carlow Town, Dundalk and Sligo Town. An Advisory Group has also been established to ensure a diverse range of policy and operational perspectives are considered as the business case progresses. Subject to the approval of the DBC, it is anticipated that the tendering process will commence for the project later this year.

TFI Public Bike Schemes – Planned Approach

The TfI Shared Bike scheme operates in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford through a concessionary contract, currently held by An Rothar Nua, which will expire later this year. Although operated by An Rothar Nua, the bikes and related infrastructure (docking stations, etc.) are provided by the NTA and relevant local authorities.

The NTA have initiated a tender process for publicly procured, but privately owned and operated shared micromobility services to replace the existing TfI schemes in the four cities when the current contract expires. It is intended that separate contracts will be put in place for the different cities, which will allow for a variety of shared mobility providers to operate in these markets.