Bike-share scheme to be rolled out in Swansea
FIFTY bikes will be available for hire by students, residents and tourists when a shared bike scheme goes live in Swansea in July.
The bicycles will be kept at hubs at Swansea University’s Singleton and Fabian Way campuses, Fabian Way park-and-ride, and outside the Civic Centre and National Waterfront Museum.
A sixth hub with a further 10 bikes will be installed in Mumbles shortly afterwards and there are hopes the scheme can be extended across the city.
Swansea University is the driving force behind the Santander-sponsored bike-share scheme after winning a competition, which initially involved 22 other universities.
The entries were whittled down to a shortlist of five, with Swansea and Brunel universities scooping £100,000 of equipment after raising the most money via crowdfunding campaigns.
The Swansea scheme will be up and running on July 5.
Andrew Rhodes, the university’s registrar and chief operating officer, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the support we have had from individuals, the community, businesses and councils for this groundbreaking scheme.
“Since our success in the competition, we have been working hard with our partners to deliver the scheme to provide bike stations and cycles. As the scheme is rolled out, we will also be considering ways that the scheme could possibly be expanded with support from the community.”
The Welsh Government, Swansea Council and Mumbles Community Council have backed the scheme.
Swansea’s cabinet member for housing, energy and building services, Councillor Andrea Lewis, said: “This scheme fits perfectly with the council’s longer-term aims of developing new modes of transport that have an environmental benefit and help to reduce congestion.”
The Continental-style bikes are being provided by a company called Nextbike, whose managing director Julian Scriven praised the efforts of all involved in Swansea.
“It was great to see how the university and local community really got behind the campaign and we hope they will continue to show their support once the scheme is up and running,” he said.
The bikes will be serviced regularly and distributed among the hubs equally when not in use.
Nextbike offers different tariff and membership options. Its “casual” tariff is £1 for 30 minutes and a maximum of £10 per day. Monthly and annual membership – £5 and £60 respectively – brings the price down to zero for the first 30 minutes and 50p for an additional 30 minutes, and a £5-per-day maximum. But Nextbike’s website said fares might vary in different cities.
You can unlock the bikes at the hubs electronically using an app or customer card, among others, but cash will not be an option.