Warning over new capital cycle hire plan
A new cycle hire scheme for Edinburgh will have to be subsidised, council officials have warned.
The last scheme, which providedalmosthalfamilliontrips in its three-year term, ended in Septemberwhenoperatorsserco said they would not agree to anextensionoftheoriginalcontract.
It had been designed to be self-financing, with sponsorship from Just Eat and the hire charges intended to cover the costs,butmajorproblemswith theft and vandalism meant extra expense.
A report to next week’s transport committee says: "The main lesson learned from the three years of operation is that a scheme cannot operate with financialsustainabilitywithout some form of subsidy.
"Bywayofcomparison,tocontinue with the former scheme would have required a subsidy of approximately £500,000 per annum and this assumes over £1m of income per annum, through ridership fees and sponsorship, would be generated.
"Further, one-off investment of £1.172m was required to upgrade security for the fleet.”
The cycle hire scheme, launched in 2018 and operated bysercofortransportforedinburgh, attracted over 70,000 users. In 2020, during Covid, it wasthefastestgrowingscheme in Britain and a total of 234,500 trips were made.
Butattheendofthethree-year contract,whenthepotentialfor a four-year extension came up, Serco said it could not continue under the existing arrangements and talks with the council failed to produce any agreement.
The scheme subsequently closed on September 17 and the fleet of 600 bikes and 150 ebikes were taken off the Capital’s streets.
The report says: “The main
advantageoftheformerscheme was that it helped ‘normalise’ theuseofbicyclesasaneffective mode of travel and provided an opportunity for returning and new users.”
The report proposes establishingaprojectteamtoexplore
options for introducing a new schemeandhighlightstheneed to minimise opportunities for vandalism of bikes and infrastructure.
The report says any new
schemeshouldbeadaptiveand accessible, involve communities in the proposals and seek to increase use by low-participation groups.