Cycling is one of the most sustainable modes of transport, helping to reduce car usage and traffic congestion. It offers a low cost, healthy and convenient way to travel on quick trips around the city.

Since launching in April 2015, over 778,000 journeys have taken place using Belfast’s public bike hire scheme, Just Eat Belfast Bikes, travelling over 1,244,800km.

The scheme is part of Belfast City Council’s physical investment programme which aims to make Belfast a better place to live, work, visit and invest.

With 46 bike docking stations in the city centre, residents, tourists, students and commuters can register as an annual or casual user and rent one of 400 bikes in the city.

The bikes and docking stations use a range of technology including NFC, GPS, RFID, solar energy and mobile payment solutions.

Belfast Bikes in numbers (April 2019)

  • 778,000+ journeys
  • 5,500+ active annual members
  • 3,800+ casual three-day subscriptions
  • 48,200 registrations since start of scheme
  • 18 minutes – average journey time
  • 46 docking stations
  • Most popular station is Ormeau Park
  • 233,400 approximate number of hours cycled since launch
  • 953 – most single trips in a day (9 August 2018)
  • 400 bikes
  • 1,244,800km total distance cycled since launch
  • 105,030,000 calories burned (average for cycling is 450 calories per hour)

More information

The Department for Regional Development provided initial capital funding for the scheme as part of their Active Travel Demonstration Projects budget.

The scheme is operated by NSL, while Nextbike, which operates in 26 countries worldwide in over 200 cities, looks after the bikes.

Find out more at www.belfastbikes.co.uk.