Bike rental scheme may ride into town
THE bike rental scheme Mobike could be on the move - to Rochdale.
Council bosses in Rochdale have invited Mobike officials to visit and demonstrate how the bikes work with a view to introducing them in the town.
The orange, silver and black coloured bikes were introduced in Manchester and Salford last month - the first area outside Asia to adopt the service, albeit on a sixmonth trial period.
More than a thousand are now available to hire.
Rochdale councillor Phil Burke revealed Mobike UK general manager Steve Pyer addressed a recent Transport for Greater Manchester meeting and he quizzed him later about bringing Mobikes to Rochdale.
The Labour councillor for Middleton West - the council’s spokesman for transport - said they would be an ‘excellent addition’ to Rochdale and link the train station with the town centre and the bus and Metrolink exchange.
He said: “When Mr Pyer took questions I asked him if Mobikes would be interested in coming to Rochdale and having a conversation with us about introducing the scheme here.
“He said he was more than happy to work with other local authorities and was always looking to expand.
“We welcome the idea to have a conversation to bring the scheme to Rochdale.”
The ‘Boris Bike’-style scheme is hailed as the world’s first smart, dockfree bikeshare platform and is aimed at helping people make short trips across cities. The bikes have non-puncture airless tyres, a GPS tracker, built-in locks and a cashless smartphone app.
To use the service, people must download the Mobike app to a smart phone and register. Users pay an initial refundable deposit when they join and usage is charged at 50p per 30 minutes.
Built-in GPS shows the user where their nearest free bike is. They get 15 minutes to get to the bike, where they can unlock it by scanning its code. All users then leave the bikes at any authorised bike parking areas near to their destination and close the lock on the bike.
Each bike is connected to the Mobike network via GPS-embeded smart lock - forming one of the largest networks of its kind in the world.
The Mobike scheme in Manchester and Salford has been warmly received despite a few teething problems, including people attempting to break or steal the city’s fleet of new bikes.
Coun Burke said: “I think it would work well in Rochdale and be a really good scheme. I would invite Mobikes to come to Rochdale and address the full council with a view to accepting the scheme. It would be a fantastic opportunity and it would not cost the council anything. We have left the conversation open and hopefully they will come back to us.”