Bike-hire scheme hailed as it takes city by storm

WITH the sun shining, temperatures rising and the capital glimmering in the heat, it seems bike-hire has taken Cardiff by storm.

Since nextbikes were introduced in the city earlier this year, citizens and tourists alike have taken advantage of the cheap way to explore Cardiff in their droves.

Already, 15,443 rentals have been clocked up since late March, with 7,793 people now registered on the scheme in Cardiff.

Cardiff council said in the month of May alone, the bikes were rented out 6,878 times – despite there only being 25 bikes in the city until May 25.

The Cardiff scheme was nextbike’s best-performing in the UK over the May Bank Holiday.

The first week of June also saw 4,556 journeys taking place.

It means that, so far, people in Cardiff have cycled a total of 28,700km on the new bikes since they were introduced – the equivalent of almost three quarters of the way around the globe.

At the moment, there are 250 bikes available from 25 across the city.

But that number is set to double to 500 bikes from 50 stations by the end of August.

The council added that no bikes have been “lost” thanks to GPS tracking devices.

Councillor Caro Wild, cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, said: “We are delighted with how the nextbike scheme is going and the figures on the number of people that have downloaded the app and used the bikes is very encouraging.”

UK nextbike managing director Julian Scriven said he was thrilled to see such vast numbers of people utilising the bike share scheme in the city.

“We have seen incredible figures across all of our schemes in the UK but Cardiff is beyond impressive given it was only launched three months ago,” he said.

“It’s our second-most successful UK launch to date.

“Across the early May Bank Holiday, Cardiff was the most successful scheme in the UK in terms of rentals, with an average of four bike rides per bike in the scheme, which is just incredible for such a new project. stations

“The people of the city have really taken the bikes to their hearts, which is fantastic.”

Anyone can register to use the bikes by downloading the app, calling the hotline number or visiting their website.

They will be asked to enter bank card details to pay the rental fee.

Using the app, riders scan the QR code on any bike at a docking station and are sent a four-digit lock code.

The bike is unlocked by entering the code into the panel above the wheel.

The bike can then be ridden for as long as the rider wishes before returning it to any docking station in the city.

If a docking station is full, the bikes can be chained together before being redistributed by the maintenance team if too many pile up at any given station.

The regular price starts at £1 for 30 minutes and another £1 for every additional 30 minutes.

Users can also buy an annual subscription for £60. For subscribers, the first 30 minutes is free.