A GROUP of university students are calling for a publicly-owned bike hire scheme to be created in Edinburgh.
The five students (pictured below), who all study civil engineering at Heriot-Watt University, are developing a computer simulation to help design the scheme.
They believe the scheme would be a huge success if Edinburgh followed in the footsteps of various other cities that have one – including Glasgow, London, Brighton, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Paris.
They then plan to present the details to City of Edinburgh Council, who are currently planning to launch a two-year pilot through a private company.
Dominic Gurney, 22, one of the five students, said: “I'm from Barcelona and the bike hire scheme there is very successful and works perfectly. Lots of my friends use it.
“A lot of people use it to get to work. I use it myself practically every day and it covers almost all of Barcelona, so you can get from one point of the city to another across a wide radius.”
The system that is being developed will simulate real world bike traffic in Edinburgh to model how individual agents – people or things – interact with each other.
The system uses a traffic simulation application to analyse data from stationary counter sensors around the city to measure traffic volumes, locations and speeds.
Another student involved, 23-year-old Jay Berry, explained: “Agent-based modelling is a relatively new technology and we believe that it’s going to really help increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of these bike hire schemes.
“For example, the location of bike docking stations is pretty important and we think agent-based models will help inform where these should be based to benefit the most people.”
Real time data from bikes fitted with GPS devices will be able to feed into the simulation the students create of the scheme in operation.
It will help designers of the bike hire scheme understand the impact of changes they make, such as moving the location of a docking station.
Cyclists in Edinburgh can already hire bikes through a number of independent companies but this proposal would see a city-wide network to collect and drop off bikes.
The students say their proposed bike hire scheme aims to be more affordable and accessible for cyclists than networks run by private operators.
Berry added: “Privately-owned bike hire schemes tend to be driven by the bottom line, with price per minute charges that can cost you more than the bus for a five-minute journey.
“This doesn’t seem very inclusive to us. So one of our key requirements is that the bike hire scheme is publicly-owned. This means it would be available to everybody in the city, and would be funded partly by the local authority, partly by sponsorships and partly revenues from cyclists hiring the bikes.”
Gurney added: “Push bikes and other active travel choices are healthier. We also think our scheme could boost Edinburgh’s offer to tourists and help Edinburgh City Council achieve its goal of reducing car kilometres by 30% by 2030, as a part of the Edinburgh City Mobility Plan.”
Robert Armstrong, deputy senior responsible officer at City of Edinburgh Council’s Transport and Environment Committee, explained: “This pilot will help inform the Council on how to effectively expand the cycle hire scheme in the future. We are exploring various options to support and encourage use throughout the city once the pilot phase is complete.
“Encouraging sustainable transport options like bike hire aligns well with our current efforts in Edinburgh to enhance urban mobility and reduce environmental impact. I am excited to see how this project develops.”
The other students involved in the project are Oli Munn, 24, Kah Rick Fong, 23, and King Jun Siew, 23.
Sustrans, a UK charity that promotes walking, cycling, and wheeling, is helping the students raise awareness of their public petition.
Click HERE to add your name in support of the Cycling for Edinburgh petition.
