Bike Library

A Bike Library is a bike sharing scheme for families to promote a shift towards sustainable transport.

The Idea behind a Bike Library is to provide local communities with the opportunity to run their own bike sharing scheme focusing on their specific needs.

Think of it as a traditional book library where, instead of books, families can borrow different types of bikes, ebikes and cargo bikes for a long period of time.

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The Idea behind a Bike Library is to provide local communities with the opportunity to run their own bike sharing scheme focusing on thei...

Read more

Join the communities already benefitting from starting a Bike Library

You'll get guides and resources on how to bring this idea to life.

There is no funding available for this idea in Ireland, but these resources will still help to make your project happen!

Not in Ireland? Change your region
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It's about giving a choice to parents when they are travelling to school with their kids, a choice to use a bike rather than a car. It's all about trying to meet the climate targets for Dublin and having more sustainable options than the car.

Bike Library
Professor Francesco Pilla
Smart Cities
University College Dublin

How to start a project on ChangeX

  • 1

    Submit your application

    Click the green start button to apply. It’s quick, free and easy.

  • 2

    Complete a 30 Day Challenge

    If your application is successful, complete a few simple steps in 30 days to start your project and access funding.

  • 3

    Activate your project

    Follow the 5 Step Guide and your action plan to bring the project to life.

  • 4

    Share impact

    Share impact by posting a summary and photos and completing a survey.

Great for

  • A non-profit organisation who want to promote active travel and need support to kickstart the initiative
  • Local community organisations (e.g. libraries) who want to offer a sustainable mobility option to their local community
  • Schools who want to provide families with a sustainable alternative to cars to bring their kids to school
  • Sports clubs passionate about sustainability

Bike Library project essentials

5 Step Guide

  • Scope out your project and build your team
  • Get in touch with a local supplier to order your bikes
  • Refine your business model
  • Set up your booking system
  • Begin to share the bikes with your local community/participating group and have fun!

Time

Suggested: It takes time to manage the bikes and maintain them, so it is important to have a plan from the very beginning. This will allow you to minimise the time commitment for whoever is running the initiative. If well organised, your Bike Library should take 3-4 hours per week to run it.

Resources

More information on how to get started and any resources shared by the Bike Library

2 Bike Library projects have already been started

See where

Meet the Social Innovator

Cycling instead of driving helps to reduce traffic emissions and creates healthier and more liveable local communities.

Francesco Pilla

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why a 30 day challenge?

    The 30 Day Challenge was developed by our Team based on our experience working with communities. We’ve learned that the first weeks are critical to build momentum and get off to a good start with any community project. Teams who complete these steps within the first month are much more likely to successfully complete their project!

    The Challenge is a series of simple steps that each applicant has to complete to get their project off the ground and unlock funding, if there is funding currently available for that idea in your region. Steps include watching a video and/or reading content, having a call with a ChangeX team member, forming a team so that you have support, having your first team meeting, sharing a team photo, and sharing a project action plan.

  • What can funding be used for?

    Once funding is received it can be used to cover direct set-up costs of the new community project. For example space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need for a project that benefits your community.

    Funds cannot be used for the costs of work that has already been carried out, costs unrelated to the setup and maintenance of the new project, payments to group members for their work on the project. Funds can’t be used for the promotion of religious causes, non-charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Please read the terms and conditions for further details.

  • How do I know if there is funding available?

    On idea pages, if there is funding available for the idea in your region you will see “Funding available” and the region listed in the turquoise box. When you first login you will also see a green banner at the top of the screen saying “live funds near you” if there is funding available in your region. The ChangeX homepage will feature those live funds near you.

    A note on the waitlist: when all the funding has been allocated to applicants, new applicants will go on a waitlist. If some applicants that are in the fund don’t successfully complete the 30 Day Challenge their funding will be released and can be then allocated to those on the waitlist. To see if you are going on a waitlist check the main fund page, ideas fully allocated will have the note “Join the waitlist” instead of “Apply to start”.

  • What is ChangeX?

    ChangeX is a platform that connects communities to proven ideas and funding.

    By empowering local changemakers with proven ideas from social innovators and accessible funding from our partners, we aim to build healthier, more inclusive and sustainable communities. Our work is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and together with our partners, we aim to impact 1 billion people globally by 2030.

    • Communities: Get the funding, resources and support you need to start impactful projects in your community.
    • Social innovators: Connect with local changemakers, access funding to scale your idea, and impact more communities globally.
    • Funders: Fund the themes and regions they care most about, with measurable impact, and at global scale.

    We believe that by bringing the best social innovations and the world’s changemakers together in a shared community, we can accelerate the spread of innovations across the world and have a bigger impact. Together we aim to unleash the potential of changemakers by enabling collaboration, by sharing knowledge and resources, by connecting changemakers across different disciplines and innovations and by opening up access to the world’s best proven social innovations to everyone.

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