DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has signed a contract for a company to provide around 300 bike bunkers across the city for people to store their bikes, ten years after a pilot scheme for the programme was first trialled.

Bike bunkers are locked bike shelters for city residents to communally store their bikes at the cost of €100 per year per bike - twice the cost of a residential parking permit.

The Council first piloted a bike bunker in Dublin in 2015, and added twelve more in residential areas in 2019.

Bleeper Bikes, a dockless bike-sharing company which has been active in Dublin since 2017, will provide and maintain the new bike bunkers.

The tender, which was issued in July 2024, estimated the maximum cost for the commission, delivery, installation and service of the secure hangars excluding VAT to come to €10m.

‘Very long time’

Michael Pidgeon, Green party councillor for Dublin’s South West Inner City, told The Journal that although the bunkers are a welcome addition for cyclists, their provision has taken a “very, very long time”.

“It’s a real shame it’s taken this long and the solution we’ve ended up with is almost completely outsourced. It undermines your faith in local government,” he added.

He said demand for the bunkers is “through the roof”, particularly for people with no access to secure bike parking facilities.

He believes the bunkers will be offer a helpful alternative for people who store their bikes inside the house to prevent them from being robbed.

“It’s putting off people from getting a bike as they don’t want it nicked,” he said.

Despite the length of time it’s taken to get to this point, the bike bunkers are on target. A recent report commissioned by the council recommended that the shelters be in place by 2026, if this rollout goes smoothly the target will likely be met.

Residential areas

Pidgeon envisions most of the bunkers will be in residential areas with terraced housing, however, he said the exact locations will be dependent on demand.

He said terraced housing makes up around 40% of housing in Dublin city.

“They’re aimed at people mainly in terraced housing who don’t have side access, don’t have front gardens and basically don’t have somewhere easy to store a bike,” he added.

Each shelter holds four to six bikes, and each bicycle space inside is numbered.

Residents can subscribe to the bike bunker service and will then be allocated a designated space and a key for the bunker.

It’s understood that existing users of the trial bunkers can continue with their bunker use under Bleeper Bike management, while people interested in joining the scheme can register online.

Dublin City Council has been contacted for comment.