Liverpool's new rental bike scheme will launch soon - with a series of discounts to support users across the city.
Last month, Liverpool Council confirmed it was scrapping the existing CityBike rental scheme in the city to replace it with a new initiative run by Swedish firm Voi, which currently operates e-scooters in the city. The new operation will save the council around £300,000 per year and provide an annual income of around £10,000.
In his report to members, Cllr Dan Barrington, cabinet member for Climate Change and Environment, said a series of discounts have been negotiated to support users across Liverpool. Those on job seekers allowance, income support and universal credit can access the bikes with a 50% discount.
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NHS staff and emergency service workers will also receive a 50% discount. Students will be able to use the new bikes at 20% lower than the standard rate. Cllr Barrington said he felt it was “vital” that city had a bike hire scheme available.
A cabinet report last month said the size of the current CityBike 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 resulted in an increasing contribution by the council.
As a result, the scheme became what the local authority described as “unsustainable” due to the annual losses of around £300k each year. The CityBike scheme began in 2014 with £2M of funding from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF).
There were 1,000 bicycles and 150 docking stations installed as part of the city wide scheme. The project was initially outsourced to a private operator, but was taken in-house in 2017 due to council concerns about the level of costs needed to run the scheme and on the premise that the scheme would be cost neutral to the council.
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.
Last month’s cabinet report said that while any sale of existing bikes and docking stations through recycling or otherwise could generate a small capital receipt, “due to the condition of the majority of existing bikes and the technology they use to be operational, they have been determined as not fit for purpose to be given to the public for personal use.”
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