The new initiative to replace Liverpool’s city bike scheme is being rolled out across the city today.
Voi, which provides the e-scooter service throughout Liverpool, is introducing a fleet of 50 e-bikes on to the streets. This number could rise to as many as 150 depending on popularity of the scheme.
The Swedish firm has stepped in to provide the service following the scrapping of the Liverpool City Bike scheme that launched in 2014. Plans for the new rental project were confirmed by the local authority cabinet this summer.
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A Liverpool Council cabinet report said the size of the scheme had been reducing annually due to theft and vandalism, “coupled with a lack of available funding to invest in new bikes.” The City Bike project had become unsustainable due to annual losses of around £300k each year.
There had been 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. Branded the Explorer 2, Liverpool is the first city to receive Voi’s new model of bike. It is expected up to 500 bikes could be made available by Voi to the city over the lifetime of the project.
The bikes can be accessed by anyone over the age of 16 with no need for a driving licence. They can be activated through the same Voi app as its e-scooters which are under contract with Liverpool Council until May 2024.
Matthew Pencharz, Voi's head of policy for UK and Ireland, said: “Helping people change their everyday travel habits must be the top priority of every UK town and city to reduce unnecessary pollution and congestion, especially as more than half of journeys above a mile are unbelievably done by car. We are determined to help more people in Liverpool leave their cars at home by introducing our new multi-modal service today.
"Liverpool has shown its ambition in becoming a leading UK city for e-scooters, now e-bikes are set to become an important part of the transport mix in transforming green travel in the city.” Cllr Dan Barrington, Liverpool Council cabinet member for climate change and environment, added: “I’m delighted we’ve partnered with Voi to deliver a new e-bike scheme for Liverpool and it’s great to see that they’ve chosen our city to launch the next generation of rental e-bikes.
"I also welcome Voi’s discount measures too as we need to offset any financial barrier to those who will benefit most from this scheme. We’re working very hard with them and other partners to deliver and promote as many active travel options and alternatives for our residents and visitors to enjoy.
"By doing so we can make big strides in improving people’s physical and mental health as well as our air quality and in delivering our commitment to being a carbon-free city by 2030.”
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