Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2025
285. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Transport when he will publish the 'National Policy Statement on Shared Mobility and the related Development of Hubs'; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34429/25]
View answerI am delighted to advise the Deputy that I published a new 'National Policy Statement on Shared Mobility and the Provision of Hubs' on 19 June. The Statement fulfils commitments in the National Sustainable Mobility Policy (SMP) and annual Climate Action Plans to support the expansion of shared mobility options, with a particular focus on the development of shared mobility hubs.
Shared mobility hubs offer people a wide range of choice in how they make their journeys, by providing a range of transport modes, such as bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-cargo bikes and electric vehicles, on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis
The new 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.
To this end, the National Transport Authority - with the support of the Department of Transport - is also developing a Mobility Hubs pilot project under the Climate Action Fund. This project will test how a dense network of hubs might be designed and operated on a long-term basis to ensure 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, I took the opportunity to announce the five candidate locations for this pilot on 19 June also. These are Carlow town, Cork city, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and Sligo town.
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 (i.e. schemes that will replace the existing Transport for Ireland (TfI) public bikes schemes).
The new Statement, the ambitious pilot and the impending expansion of shared mobility schemes in the regional cities are all key steps in the 2025 Programme for Government commitment to invest in a range of transport options for enhancing connectivity and, more specifically, the pledge to establish mobility hubs in each local authority area in the country.
