Dublin City Council partners with Humans of Dublin to celebrate everyday cyclists during Bike Week 2026

Dublin City Council, in collaboration with Humans of Dublin, is delighted to announce a new nine‑part social media storytelling series to mark Bike Week 2026. The series celebrates the people who cycle across the capital every day and highlights the role cycling plays in their daily lives.

The Humans of Dublin × Dublin City Council Bike Week Series 2026 features nine Dubliners from a range of backgrounds, each sharing their personal story, experiences and relationship with cycling in the city. Told through Humans of Dublin’s distinctive portrait‑and‑narrative format, the series places lived experience at the centre of Bike Week and presents cycling as a practical, positive and human part of everyday life in Dublin.

The stories will be published daily over the nine consecutive days, building momentum throughout Bike Week and culminating on its closing day. Through personal, first‑hand accounts, the campaign puts a human face on everyday cycling in Dublin and aims to normalise cycling and cyclists contributing to safer roads for all users. 

Welcoming the collaboration, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Ray McAdam, said, “Bike Week is a celebration of the everyday people who keep Dublin moving by bike, whether travelling to work, school or around their neighbourhoods. Through our partnership with Humans of Dublin, we are giving faces and voices to these daily journeys, moving beyond infrastructure and statistics to the real lived experiences of Dubliners. By sharing these personal stories, the series highlights cycling as a normal, human part of city life and its role in creating a more connected, accessible and people‑centred Dublin.”

The collaboration builds on the long‑standing relationship between Dublin City Council and Humans of Dublin and forms part of a broader vision to create a lasting collection of cycling stories. The partners are also exploring opportunities for the series to be transformed into a physical exhibition, bringing these stories from digital platforms into public spaces and extending the legacy of Bike Week beyond the campaign window.

All participants will be interviewed and photographed by Humans of Dublin at locations of their choosing within the city. The completed stories and portraits will be shared across Humans of Dublin’s social channels, as well as Dublin City Council’s platforms.

Peter Varga, Humans of Dublin, said, “My focus has always been on the people and their experiences. This project is about 'slowing down' long enough to truly see the person on the bike. Every person I photographed is someone’s parent, child, partner, friend or neighbour, simply trying to get from one place to another. I believe empathy plays a huge role in how we share our roads and our city. The more we recognise each other’s humanity, the safer and kinder Dublin becomes for everyone.”

Aillish Lally, Cycling and Walking Officer, Dublin City Council, added, “We wanted to work with Humans of Dublin to share cyclists’ lives and stories to literally humanise cyclists in the city as a response to negative commentary and coverage of cyclists in recent months. We hope that these stories help to make cycling more relatable and to change common discourse and media commentary about cyclists, and, ultimately, to make our roads safer for all users.”  

Bike Week 2026 is a national celebration of cycling that promotes the benefits of cycling for individuals, communities and the city as a whole. This storytelling series places Dubliners at the heart of that celebration, reflecting the everyday reality behind cycling policy, infrastructure and programmes.

ENDS

About Humans of Dublin
Humans of Dublin is a digital storytelling platform documenting the lives, voices and experiences of people across Dublin through photography and first‑person narrative.

Peter Varga was born in Budapest and moved to Dublin at the age of 19. He is an author, photographer and creator of the social media phenomenon Humans of Dublin. Over the past nine years, he has approached thousands of people on the streets of Dublin and beyond, posting more than 2,000 stories to the platform. In 2016, he published a bestselling book of the same name and has created multiple exhibitions.