Bike hire scheme to ride into city by the autumn

CARDIFF’S new bike hire scheme could be up and running by this autumn.

The council has appointed Nextbike as the operator for the scheme. It plans to introduce 500 bikes stationed at 50 locations across the city.

Riders will either be able to pay as they go, or a £60 annual cost. Members would then get the first 30 minutes of each ride free.

Nextbike operates schemes all across the world. In the UK, Glasgow and Milton Keynes are two of its biggest schemes. The size of the operation depends on the city. In Berlin it has 5,000 bikes but its smallest scheme is for RBS in Edinburgh where there are 10 bikes for hire.

The company is in the final stages of securing a sponsor for the Cardiff scheme.

Managing director Julian Scriven said he hoped a sponsor would be secured by the end of June, with a hopeful opening roll-out by the autumn.

Cardiff previously had a bike hire scheme, but in 2011 the council stopped its financial backing.

Operators OYBike ended the scheme after failing to secure a corporate sponsor.

Its scheme had 10 pick-up/drop-off points.

This scheme is different according to Mr Scriven – not least as riders have more places including suburbs and the city centre – to pick the bikes up.

He added: “It is a docked system but it’s a low energy structure.

“It won’t have the big docks that you see in London, all the technology is held in the bikes.

“People can rent them using an app, or by the computer on the back or by calling customer services.”

He said the latest scheme is different to Cardiff’s previous operation.

He added: “The big different between this and the previous scheme in Cardiff is critical mass. If you don’t have enough bikes at the right locations people will use it for a bit of fun but don’t really think of it as a sustainable means of transport.

“The other scheme was smaller and almost pilot – that didn’t have enough critical mass.”

The list of locations is still being worked out, but it does include suburbs. He said that the reduced amount of infrastructure on the streets means that if a location is not working, the equipment can be moved easily.”