Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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129. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the options being considered to incentivise increased uptake of shared mobility services by commuters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51821/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Increasing commuter uptake of shared mobility services is a key objective of this Government. As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government commits to investing in a range of transport options for enhancing connectivity across the country, including the establishment of mobility hubs in each local authority area.

Two key initiatives are currently underway to incentivise the uptake of shared mobility services, bolstered by a new National Policy Statement on Shared Mobility and the Provision of Hubs, which was published in June this year. One is the expansion of the Transport for Ireland (TfI) Bikes scheme and the second is the development of a new Mobility Hubs Pilot Programme.

Building on the success of the TfI Bikes schemes in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, the National Transport Authority (NTA) are currently undertaking a re-tendering process for these schemes with the intention of expanding them – in terms of the geographical area to be covered in each city and the variety of modes available - thus supporting greater capacity for commuter uptake. Through the operating model deployed, such schemes incentivise commuter uptake by delivering services to users that are easy to access and cost efficient. For example, the increased provision of e-bikes in the existing schemes has resulted in a significant uptake by users – evidenced by a 51% increase in trips over the first five months of 2025 when compared to the same period in 2024, with particularly strong growth in Cork, which saw 100 e-bikes added to the fleet in early 2025. A further 400 e-bikes will be rolled out across the other regional cities over the coming months.

My Department is also working with the NTA to progress a Mobility Hubs Pilot Programme. The aim of this new Programme is to identify the optimum conditions for user uptake, by delivering and testing a dense network of mobility hubs in a number of locations across the country. On 19 June this year, I announced the candidate locations for this programme, namely Cork City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and the towns of Carlow, Dundalk and Sligo. It is intended that these new hub networks will be rolled out from mid-2026, subject to final approval of a business case for the Programme and securing support from the Climate Action Fund.

These initiatives will contribute to the commitment in the new Policy Statement to “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”. The Statement commits to exploring a variety of approaches in this context with a view to identifying the most effective means of incentivising the uptake of shared mobility services over the long term. As indicated in the Statement itself, the forthcoming National Sustainable Mobility Policy Action Plan will step out the actions necessary for progressing this and other shared mobility policy goals over the next five years.