Plans to tackle abuse of Fort’s popular electric bike scheme
ridden more than 5,000 miles on more than 2,000 rides, which is amazing, and more than the Inverness Hi-Bikes have been ridden since January.
‘Unfortunately, Hi-Bike is being misused by a small minority, which is very disappointing to see and is spoiling it for those who are using the bikes properly. We are also worried it will only be a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt.’
She added that LEG is currently in discussion with Bewegen, the scheme operator, about introducing measures to stop the misuse that is occurring, but which unfortunately will also impact on the many responsible Hi-Bike users.
Ms Willis added: ‘If misuse of the bikes continues, account holders will be charged for any damage caused and for the recovery of abandoned bikes. Riders should be 16 or older to use the bikes and the baskets are not designed for sitting in.
‘We ask that parents do not encourage children under the age of 16 to register for Hi-Bike.’
The issue was also raised at this week’s monthly meeting of Fort William, Inverlochy and Torlundy Community Council.
Chairman Mark Linfield told members said he hoped to see the police being proactive about misuse of the Hi-Bikes.
‘But it’s not just the misuse, it’s the whole safety aspect that bothers me, because there are no instructions on any of the hubs saying they shouldn’t be riding them on the pavements and there is no recommendation they should be wearing helmets,’ he commented. ‘It just seems really oddly done, I’m sorry to say.’
Secretary Patricia Jordan’s view was that 99 per cent of the people she had seen on the bikes had not been wearing helmets.
‘That’s because it’s a chance decision to use one. You’re not going to run along to Off Beat Bikes and ask to hire a helmet,’ she said.
Councillor Linfield added: ‘It didn’t help that you could get a three-hour hire for nothing as an introductory thing to try to get people interested in using them.
‘And, of course, youngsters are wise to that and they can wrench these things out of the stands - despite it being said they couldn’t.
‘I don’t know how they are going to police it. If the police perhaps gave a stern warning to a few, word would soon get out pretty quick.’
Councillor Jordan said she had seen a lot of visitors using the bikes, with a number picking them up in Caol and taking them along the canal.
Mr Linfield said he tried one of the bikes on launch day and he found them ‘very fast’ and added: ‘You don’t have to pedal that fast to get the speed up. And it’s a good job they are so robust given the abuse they’re getting.’
To report misuse of the Hi-Bikes please call Bewegen Customer Services on 08003688093 or email info@hi-bike.co.uk
‘If misuse of the bikes continues, account holders will be charged for any damage caused...’
Discussions are under way on the best way to tackle a small minority of people abusing the popular Hi-Bike electric bike share scheme in Fort William just weeks after it was launched.
Following numerous social media reports about electric bikes from hubs including Caol and Inverlochy being inappropriately used then dumped, as well as sightings of youths riding them with others sitting in the front basket, administrators of the scheme suspended the free three-hour ride code on Saturday.
A number of the 60-strong bike fleet had been left at the Caol charging hub – one of eight opened just weeks ago by Holyrood active travel minister Patrick Harvie MSP in a blaze of publicity – while others were left scattered elsewhere.
The misuse of the bikes is disappointing given the scheme’s soaring popularity which has seen responsible use outstrip that of a similar project in Inverness.
Kate Willis from Lochaber Environmental Group (LEG) which oversees the scheme told the Lochaber Times: ‘We are delighted Hi-Bike Fort William is being so well used. Since the scheme launched on April 4, the bikes have been
Fears for the remains of a crannog loch house dating from the 1500s if dredging goes ahead as part of the proposed Coire Glas hydro scheme on Loch Lochy have sparked a call for a full archaeological survey to be carried out.
The plea for the archaeological survey came from Caol and Mallaig councillor Denis Rixson at the recent meeting of Highland Council’s south planning committee during discussion of the proposed application notice (PAN) from SSE Renewables.
The PAN comprises the deposition and landscaping of spoil from the Coire Glas scheme on land at Mucomir Farm, near Gairlochy. Part of this land has an existing consent for quarrying activities.
SSE Renewables is holding a public exhibition today (Thursday) to provide information on the proposals from 2pm to 7pm in Spean Bridge Community Centre.
Promoting the event, Andy Gregory, Coire Glas project manager, said: ‘The exhibition will present our early assessments of why Mucomir Quarry could be a suitable location for the storage of excavated material and highlight some of the issues we will address as the proposals proceed towards the likely submission of a planning application to Highland Council later in the year.’
However, Councillor Rixson told planning committee members that the proposal could involve up to 2.3 million tons of spoil being dug out for the Coire Glas project and transported to Mucomir. If thousand-ton barges were used as originally envisaged, he said, that meant 2,300 barge loads going to and fro across Loch Lochy.
Councillor Rixson continued: ‘If we divide it by three for the potential of three barges, we’re still talking about something like 760 days’ worth of operations because it’s difficult to imagine more than one barge being filled with a thousand tons, taken across the loch, emptied of a thousand tons, then coming back again in less than a day.
‘What I am saying is that when the planning application comes forward, we have the sort of level of detail which allows us to make considered judgments on that basis.
‘There are two things here – one is the time it is going to take because obviously it is going to be extremely time-consuming to take heavy barges backwards and forwards across Loch Lochy and the second thing is the noise.
‘It is difficult to imagine how we completely solve that problem because we all know noise travels across water.
‘But it will be a significant issue – anyone who has ever watched a barge being loaded or unloaded with stone will know it’s a noisy operation. You have the noise of the machine, you have rock on rock and rock on metal.
‘So, I do ask, please, when the planning application comes forward we have a sufficient level of detail to allow us to judge and, of course, there’s also the noise associated with any crushing which takes place.’
It was then that Councillor Rixson mentioned the question of archaeology. He explained: ‘Loch Lochy was raised about 11 feet when they built the Caledonian Canal, so I would ask, please, that we consider a really thorough investigation of local archaeology on that farm prior to it being covered with what could potentially be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of rock. The third thing is that the proposal also mentions the possibility of dredging. We have in Highland a great number of crannogs or loch houses or lake houses as they are sometimes called.
‘There are more than 50 Inverness-shire alone.
‘One of the latest known examples of a crannog is actually a little bit north-west of this site on the opposite shore of Loch Lochy where the Mackintosh built a crannog in about 1580 to subdue the natives.
‘My point is, if we’re going to go dredging underneath the surface of the water, could we please have a full archaeological survey beneath as well so we don’t clear away the relics of any crannogs at the same time as we are clearing the site for dredging.’ in