Liverpool's City Bike rental scheme is to be scrapped and replaced by a new initiative run by Swedish firm Voi, which currently operates e-scooters in the city.
A report to the council's cabinet next week will seek permission to close the current City Bike scheme that launched in the city in 2014. The scheme allows people to rent bikes from specific locations around the city using an app.
It is set to be approved by a new bike rental project from Voi, which has been running a successful e-scooter project in Liverpool in recent years. The same cabinet report, if approved, will extend the current e-scooter trial in Liverpool until May 31 2024 after the government allowed further trials.
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On the bike schemes, the report states: "The size of the current City Bike scheme has been reducing year on year, due to theft and vandalism, coupled with a lack of available funding to invest in new bikes. The scheme was planned to break even but this has not been the case and ongoing annual running costs have resulted in an increasing contribution by the council, means the scheme in its current form has become unsustainable due to the annual losses of around £300k each year. It is estimated that the city council unbudgeted subsidy needed to sustain this scheme between 2017 and now has been around £1.3m."
City Bike began in 2014 with £2m from the Sustainable Transport Fund. There were 1,000 bikes and 150 docking stations installed around the city. It was initially outsourced to a private operator before being taken in-house by the council due to funding concerns. To cut costs, it was reduced in size from 150 docking stations to 100. Vandalism and theft saw the number of bikes fall to 500.
But costs have continued to rise, due in part to ageing bikes needing maintenance and new parts. Remarkably, the number of pedal bikes has reduced from the initial 1,000 to 40 due to vandalism and theft. A review of the scheme in 2020 saw 100 electric bikes purchased but despite this, the council says the scheme is no longer fit for purpose.
With no provision in the current council budget to subsidise the scheme, officers have tried and failed to get sponsorship for the bikes. If the report is approved, all contracts associated with the City Bike scheme will be ended and the pedal bikes will be disposed of for recycling or given to a community project. The electric bikes will be sold for waste or recycling. Existing customers on contracts will be provided with refunds on a pro-rata basis.
The council says various options were investigated and it is now recommended the City Bike scheme is closed down and replaced by an e-bike scheme through Voi. The Swedish company is well known around Liverpool for its popular e-scooter trial, which has now been extended to May 31 2024. The existing council contract with Voi contains the option to extend it to include e-bikes as well.
Voi has made an offer to provide up to 500 e-bikes for Liverpool, although this will start with an initial 150 over the first few weeks. Voi’s ebikes are dockless, similar to the e-scooters, so do not require docking stations. Like the e-scooters, they will be required to be parked in specific areas around the city.
The report is expected to be approved when the council's cabinet meets next Friday.
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