TFI Bikes is a public bike-sharing service in Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford. It offers a low-cost, sustainable way to travel around city centres using docking stations and the TFI Bikes App.
TFI Bikes is a self-service bike rental system designed for short trips around the city. Whether you’re commuting, meeting friends, or sightseeing, TFI Bikes offers a flexible and healthy way to get around. The scheme is open to everyone aged 14 and over, with bike stations located throughout each participating city.
Key Features
- Annual pass: €10 with unlimited 30-minute trips
- 3-day pass: Ideal for short visits
- App: Find stations, check availability, and manage your account
Supported by local councils and funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority, TFI Bikes is part of the Transport for Ireland network.
Further information can be found at www.bikeshare.ie.
TFI Bikes Update September 2025
Scheme Overview and Growth
The TFI Bikes scheme has operated in Cork, Limerick and Galway since 2014, with Waterford added in 2022. In 2024 more than 223,000 trips made on the bikes; a 23% increase compared to 2023. This has continued into 2025, with significant growth observed in the first half of the year, with numbers approaching, or slightly exceeding pre-COVID levels.
TFI Bikes has been operated by Telfourth Limited, trading as An Rothar Nua, on behalf of the National Transport Authority since its inception. The current contract is to run until August 2026.
The current system is primarily located in the central areas of the four cities and utilises docking stations and kiosks to control where bikes have been parked. This requires users to release a bike from a station and then return it to a similar station elsewhere in the city. This was typically how shared bike schemes were developed at the time of the introduction of TFI Bikes. But because of their size and the cost of putting these stations in place, expansion beyond the core city centre can be very challenging for schemes like this.
A tender for replacement service providers is well underway with a framework of suppliers already established and the tender for the four cities at an advanced stage.
Future Plans and Tender Process
In advance of this and in consultation with the local authorities, NTA reviewed the current system and also reviewed how this market, both nationally and internationally, had changed over the last decade. This insight has fed this into the development of the new contract.
Expansion and Electrification
Arising from this review, our objective now is to expand the system and increase the fleet size in each of the cities, so that the bikes can be used by more people in more parts of the cities.
We are particularly keen to improve coverage in those areas that are underserved due to topographical limitations, such as the north side of Cork City. For this reason electric bikes are likely to make up the larger proportion of the new fleet. This move will eliminate the challenges of hills for many cyclists but will also likely see a large increase in usage as has been experienced in other urban areas, both in Ireland and elsewhere, where electric bikes were introduced.
Thanks to the technological advancements over the last decade, kiosks are no longer needed for communication and control of the bikes, and this has opened the door to the kind of expansion that we have in mind, and to move away from the requirement for docking stations.
Any concerns around the prospect of bicycles being left around the streets causing nuisance will be addressed by the new service providers through incentivised active monitoring, linked to contract Key Performance Indicators and penalties. In addition it will be a requirement of bike users to park in designated areas only, with failure to do so resulting in penalties to the user.
Timeline
NTA intends to have a new service providers selected early next year. This will be followed by a mobilisation period with the existing TFI bikes remaining in operation until the new operator is ready to commence operations in the summer of 2026.
It is important to note that the replacement contract for TFI Bikes is separate from another project being developed by the Department of Transport and the NTA: the Mobility Hubs initiative.
In Cork the Mobility Hubs will see shared e-cars being added to the shared mobility fleet, with the bikes element of that initiative being provided as part of the TFI Bike replacement contract.
Limerick, Galway and Waterford are not currently part of the Mobility Hub trial.