E-bike charging stations get nod
Riders of electric bicycles should be able to recharge their machines at one of several stations to be installed across Nelson city and Tasman district in time for summer.
Tasman district councillors on Thursday authorised staff to work with company Big Street Bikers to create a network of e-bike locking and charging stations. Called Bikedocks, the stations enable riders to secure their bikes without carrying a lock and to recharge their bike batteries.
Stations are due to be installed at Richmond, Motueka and Mapua this year, with the rollout extending to Tapawera and Takaka in 2020-21. They will be free to users for the first two hours.
The three initial installations have been timed to coincide with the planned establishment of three stations in the Nelson City Council area – near the i-SITE in the CBD, near the library at Tahunanui, and outside the Greenmeadows centre at Stoke.
Tasman council activity planning manager Dwayne Fletcher apologised to councillors for ‘‘how left-field this is’’.
‘‘We haven’t previously talked to you about it,’’ Fletcher said.
TDC staff had been having fairly low-level discussions about the stations, but now Nelson City Council had made the decision to have some installed, he said. ‘‘We thought it would have the best impact if we could roll out at least some of them in our two districts.’’
A staff report on the initiative says the stations align well with several council strategies and plans. Approval was recommended to encourage the use of e-bikes on Tasman’s Great Taste Trail, and as a means of commuting.
Under the recommended configuration, the stations will have locking posts and charging for 10 e-bikes.
In addition to recharging e-bikes, the stations can be used for other battery-powered personal mobility devices, such as electric scooters.
TDC will have a five-year contract with Big Street Bikers, ‘‘with no expectation of continuing’’.
Big Street Bikers will largely meet the cost of the stations and their operation from advertising revenue generated by an attached electronic media screen.
TDC will need to fund about $5000 to install each station and contribute approximately $4000 per unit per year to operating costs. An NZ Transport Agency subsidy is available, ‘‘roughly halving these costs’’, the report says. ‘‘The total net costs to the council over five years is estimated at $12,250 per Bikedock.’’
While supportive of the stations, councillors Dean McNamara and Paul Sangster were concerned about the cost to ratepayers.
McNamara said it was a commercial enterprise. ‘‘Why is our role not to facilitate working with supermarkets, tourist operators – whoever else in the district that may have a benefit in having these people park at their site – rather than the ratepayer forking out the money?’’
Sangster asked why people who sold e-bikes did not cover the cost of the stations.
‘‘All free to the user and . . . I pay road tax and fuel tax and all the things to drive my car, and I really can’t use this service, and I would say a large majority of our district won’t be able to use this service,’’ said Sangster, who lives in Golden Bay.
‘‘We just easily pick up the tab. There’s so much we could do in other areas of our roading with [$12,250].’’
In response to questions from councillors, Fletcher said the exact sites for the stations would be determined in conjunction with the ward councillors for each location and interested community groups.
Staff could approach companies or contractors that might want to be associated with the stations, via the installation of photovoltaic cells to help recharge the bikes, for instance. ‘‘We will do that,’’ Fletcher said.