Voi partners with leading Irish transport provider, Dublin Bus

This is our first venture into Ireland, and an exciting one it is too as, from today, we are providing e-bikes for and working in partnership with the state-owned company, Dublin Bus. The leading transport provider in Ireland’s capital city, Dublin Bus is part of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) Group, the largest public transport company in the country.

Dublin already has walking and cycling built into its culture, but as they won’t be legalising e-scooters until 2023, we are delighted that, for now, our e-bikes have headed across the Irish Sea to Dublin, to be enjoyed by employees of Dublin Bus.

What does the partnership entail?

Through this partnership, a 12 month pilot, we are providing 20 of our e-bikes for Dublin Bus employees to use, free of charge, through the exclusive Voi-4-Dublin Bus Pass, created specifically for this collaboration. They can use the e-bikes to travel between depots or to the Dublin Bus head office on the city’s iconic O’Connell Street, where our electric bikes will also take pride of place in their on-street window.

Dublin Bus employees will, of course, be encouraged to wear a helmet when riding one of our e-bikes, and we are providing a number of our cool, branded helmets for everyone’s use.

Ray Coyne, Chief Executive of Dublin Bus said: “New technology is changing the way everything is done and transport services are no different. We’ve always prided ourselves on how we help Dublin thrive and this new technology is part of that and is also enabling new ways of doing things in Dublin Bus.

We’ve been examining the area of mobility within the transport sector over the last 18 months and exploring markets in the UK and major European cities. During this process we have spoken to many local authorities, local operators, and IT suppliers to gain insight into emerging trends and gain an insight into operational lessons learned as various services are launched in various locations. This has resulted in the company being presented with a number of opportunities in different areas of mobility and we’re delighted today to launch this pilot project.”

Matthew Pencharz, Head of Public Policy at Voi UK and Ireland, and Robert Lynn, Engineering Manager at Dublin Bus

Dublin Bus and Voi creating better cities for living

Voi and Dublin Bus share a similar vision when it comes to creating better cities to live in. We both strive towards reducing congestion and pollution, with Dublin Bus aiming to become a zero-emissions operator by 2050, have its first fully electric route by 2024, and cut its carbon emissions in half by 2030 as laid out in its environmental report, Driving Change: Our Journey to Zero.

This initiative is part of a wider range of projects that Dublin Bus is pioneering to support sustainable transport, and the e-bike usage data will provide invaluable insights to help Dublin Bus support customers in choosing how to journey on their first or last mile. By supporting Dublin Bus employees to adopt this free, active and sustainable transport mode, Dublin Bus is demonstrating its wider commitment to the shift towards sustainable, multimodal transportation in Dublin, strengthening its position as a leader in the sector and inspiring Dubliners to follow their example and embrace multimodal transport.

At the launch in Dublin, Robert Lynn, Engineering Manager at Dublin Bus said: “This partnership is going to work very well. We can learn a lot from each other and we already have. The industry is facing lots of challenges and changes in the future and we need to be drivers and leaders. And today, launching this scheme, demonstrates our capability to do that.”