Cycling commuters left angry as e-bike scheme suspended over winter

Dundee commuters are to miss out as the city’s e-bike scheme goes into hibernation. Members of Dundee Cycling Forum have attacked the decision to “freeze” the e-bikes for hire scheme from November 21.

The group has campaigned hard to ensure key cycle routes remain open throughout the winter for commuters.

Spanish company Ride-on operates the bikes with sponsorship from financial services company Embark, which maintains a strong presence in the city.

Dundee City Council also supports the project.

E-bike bosses now say they require the downtime this winter to “prepare for an amazing springtime.”

In a message to customers, the company said: “In order to be ready, we will be taking advantage of the cold weather, when fewer journeys are made, to have a winter shutdown and ramp up for spring.

“Our service will be frozen until the springtime.”

Sara Ylipoti is chief operations officer at Ride-on.

She said the company will use the winter months to analyse planning sites for new station locations.

She said the company could not give an exact date for the e-bike “relaunch.”

She added: “There are various factors which can affect the relaunch. These include the planning permissions for new sites.

“We will reopen in the springtime and once we have certainty on the exact date we will communicate it with our users.”

The freeze means customer’s pre-paid plans and virtual wallets will also remain on hold until the system reopens.

Almost 25,000 people in Dundee have used one of the electric bikes.

In 2021, bosses promised to double the number of city e-bikes and charging racks to hook up more communities.

The most popular route links Broughty Ferry to the

V&A design museum on the waterfront.

Members of the company spoke about their success in 2021 in encouraging more people to use the bikes for their daily commute.

Those customers will now have to find an alternative form of transport for the winter months.

Dundee Cycling Forum members have previously campaigned for winter gritting on popular cycling routes.

A spokesperson for the group posted on social media: “Active travel should not be shutting down. They say it is 360day subscription.”

SPOKE IN THE WORKS: Commuting cyclists say the scheme, operated by Spanish firm Ride-on with sponsorship from Embark, was promised to be a year-round service.