Cycling bonus

Stirling’s cycle-share scheme, Nextbike, is planning to give away cash this Christmas to a local charity – and wants the public’s help to decide where it should go.

Nextbike is offering a halfprice annual subscription to anyone who signs up to the scheme in December meaning a year’s cycling will cost just £30 instead of the usual £60, and £15 is being donated to charity from every subscription.

It now wants members of the Stirling public to nominate their favourite local charity by November 20, so it can be in with a chance of receiving the cash gift.

The charity with the most nominations will be announced on November 21 and receive the donation in the New Year.

Stirling’s Nextbike scheme celebrated its third birthday in October. Since it was introduced by Forth Environment Link three years ago, the number of journeys made by rental bike in Stirling has tripled. Users of the city’s bike share scheme have clocked up nearly 24,000 journeys in the past year – compared to around 7,000 in the first year. Nextbikes are available 24 hours a day and users can register and hire bikes within minutes.