Irish micromobility firm Zipp Mobility has welcomed the approval of the Road Traffic and Roads Bill by the government in Ireland on Tuesday.
The bill, which is set to go in front of the legislature before Christmas, includes the creation of a new class of powered personal transporters (PPTs), which includes e-scooters.
This will allow for e-scooters to be legalised on public roads in Ireland, with trials at the Dublin City University currently ongoing.
Founded in 2019, Zipp operates shared fleets in the UK and Poland, with plans to launch in Irish cities including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford once the bill passes.
The operator partnered with sustainability-focused research body UCD Energy Institute earlier this month and is headquartered at NovaUCD, the hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin.
Zipp is one of a handful of local firms such as Bleeper and Zeus hoping to rollout services in Ireland, with international providers including TIER, Dott, Voi, Bird, Bolt and Superpedestrian also interested.
Charlie Gleeson, CEO and Founder of Zipp Mobility, spoke to Zag Daily following the approval of the Road Traffic and Roads and described the decision as a “special moment”.
“We started Zipp over two years ago with the intention of bringing shared e-scooters to cities across Ireland,” he said.
“The lack of legislation in this area made it impossible at the time so we have had to go to other countries like the UK and Poland and soon Spain and Portugal to launch our service. But very soon we should be able to deploy scooters in our own backyard in cities like Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and also in many of Ireland’s larger towns.
“This is a special moment for Zipp and our team. There is a lot of best practices we have learned through our experience in other countries that we want to bring back to Ireland to ensure our home country gets the highest quality service imaginable. ‘Mobility done right’ is our mission and we are so excited to soon bring that to Irish cities and towns.”
Gleeson added that Zipp has a “thorough understanding” of transport systems across the entirety of Ireland.
“I have grown up in Dublin and have long thought about how Zipp could best provide world-leading micromobility services in our wonderful city and I really think Zipp are in a great position to do that now,” he said.
“We have an operating model that has received glowing praise in the UK and been described by one local authority partner as a resounding success, we are making investments in scooter safety R&D with the UCD Energy Institute and we have been talking to the relevant Irish stakeholder groups to plan what an e-scooter service would look like here for over two years. I think these factors combined with the experience of our world-class team and our thorough understanding of the transport dynamics of major Irish cities and towns gives us a really strong chance of being selected to roll out our service across many Irish cities and develop lasting relationships with them in the process.
“The Irish government has shown their intent to drastically reduce emissions with the signing of the landmark Climate Act in July. And this makes the introduction of e-scooters to Ireland even more timely. We hope to see Irish cities and towns across the country utilising shared e-scooters as just one extra tool to help them decarbonise their transport systems. We also hope they choose to partner with Zipp to help them achieve these goals.”
