More than 15 million trips made on DublinBikes since 2009

Almost 15.5 million trips have been made on DublinBikes since the rental scheme began operating in 2009, according to figures up to the end of June.

The public bicycle rental scheme, which now also operates in Belfast, Cork, Galway and Limerick, has been used more than 2.3 million times across the country in the first six months of the year, with nearly 13,000 journeys made each day.

The vast majority of trips taken on the bikes this year were in Dublin city, where the bikes were used more than two million times.

Cork has the next most popular scheme with 140,660 trips made up to June this year. In Belfast 96,358 trips were made, while the bikes were hired 16,478 times in Limerick and 6,876 times in Galway.

Brendan Kenny, assistant chief executive with Dublin City Council, said the scheme had been a huge success in the city.

"Working with the National Transport Authority, we will keep cycling a priority, with the objective of making Dublin an international exemplar in terms of mode share and cycle safety."

However, it recently emerged that the planned expansion of the scheme has been put on hold because of a lack of funds.

The scheme in the city currently costs €1.9 million a year to run, with subscriptions and usage charges coming to €1.2 million. Coca Cola pays €312,000 for its Coca-Cola Zero advertising on the bikes and bike stations, with the council covering the shortfall.

The council said it cannot afford to keep funding this deficit and has proposed increasing annual subscriptions by 50 per cent to €30 so that scheme no longer runs at a loss to the council. However, it said the increase in the annual charge would not be sufficient to fund any expansion of the scheme.

A new funding mechanism would be required the council said and it has proposed funding expansion through the installation of advertising screens on publicly owned lands.