Western Daily Press (Saturday)
E-bike hire scheme halted by vandalism
THE Big Issue’s “electric bikes for hire” trial scheme in Bristol has been halted after vandals destroyed 200 out of 400 bikes.
The project saw people able to rent electric bicycles on the street in Bristol.
But it has been put on hold because of “extensive and relentless levels of vandalism”, its organisers have announced.
Big Issue eBikes, administrators of the scheme, revealed they have had “more e-bikes destroyed in Bristol in one week than in all our facilities combined anywhere else in the world”.
The Big Issue Bikes scheme saw a collection of 400 e-bikes on the streets of Bristol, with people able to hire, unlock and ride them using an app on their phones.
But within six months, those 400 bikes have been reduced to only 200 useable bikes in service because of vandalism.
A spokesperson said: “Having begun with a fleet of over 400, we currently have around 200 e-bikes on the street and approximately 10 per cent of these are damaged every day.”
This means the equivalent of the entire collection of bikes gets destroyed in Bristol every two weeks.
The sheer scale of the damage has completely stunned the organisers.
A spokesperson for the scheme, which was set up by the Big Issue as a not-for-profit partnership with Norwegian micro-mobility experts ShareBike, said they had “not taken the decision lightly”, but could simply not continue with the levels of damage and theft.
In a statement, Big Issue eBikes said: “It is with sincere regret that we are announcing a pause to our current open, public-rental e-bike service in Bristol, from the coming weekend,
August 20-21. Since we launched in the city six months ago, we have experienced extensive and relentless levels of vandalism to our e-bikes.
“We have taken many measures to try to overcome this issue, including making changes to the design of the e-bikes and trying to work with the local authorities, the police and our subscriber community. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the vandalism has not reduced.
“We have more e-bikes destroyed in Bristol in one week than in all our facilities combined anywhere else in the world.
“It is disappointing that the actions of a minority of people means we are left with no choice but to pause the current scheme. This is not a decision we have made lightly.”
Bristol was set up by the scheme’s organisers as the first place in Britain to host such a scheme in February this year.
Since then, more than 7,000 people have registered to use Big Issue e-bikes.
But within weeks of the launch, the organisers restricted the area people could ride the bikes, taking large parts of south Bristol off the map on the app.
The organisers hope that the closure of the scheme is a “temporary decision”.
The spokesperson added: “Bristol was chosen as the first city in the UK to offer the service because of its green credentials and aspirations.
“In the short-term, we are planning to provide an alternative service, offering businesses and individuals longterm rental of our electric bikes.”