A new bike hire scheme will be launched in the next few weeks in Manchester city centre.
Manchester Bike Hire, with Manchester City Council, showcased new eCargo bikes on Monday, which will available for businesses and the public across the region at the start of next month.
A total of 26 eCargo bikes and six eCargo trailers are being made available across the city for those looking for an alternative to vans and cars to transport good across the city.
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The scheme was made possible after Manchester City Council successfully bid for a £173,000 grant from the Energy Savings Trust, supported by the Department for Transport.
The different types of bikes, which are powered with an electric motor, can carry hundreds of kilograms of cargo and are viewed as an cheaper, greener, and more flexible alternative to using vans and cars to transport good across the city-region.
And while bike hire schemes have had problems with anti-social behaviour and vandalism in previous years, no similar issues are envisaged for this new scheme according to the company behind it, Manchester Bike Hire.
Chinese firm Mobike pulled out of the city in 2018, citing unsustainable levels of theft and vandalism, which included bikes being stolen or even hurled into the city's rivers and canals.
"We don't envisage any similar problems with this scheme," Chris Leakey, managing director of Manchester Bike Hire, told the Manchester Evening News.
"There's many criteria to meet before hiring one of our bikes and at the end of the day it's a different type of user than the Mobikes.
"These eCargo bikes have to be booked online before coming into the store where different criteria are met, including a level three bike ability to ensure road safety, giving your name, address, and what the bike is being used for before hiring, and a guarantee that it is being kept in a safe place.
"So we don't envisage any problems that previous hire schemes may have had."
For public use the bikes start at £12 per day for up to 14 days of usage.
Businesses will be able to loan the bikes for longer periods of time allowing them to find out if they would work for their business model.
Chris added: "We're trying to help businesses reduce their reliance on cars or vans to transport goods, offering them a genuine alternative and genuine transport solution.
"Those who have used them so far have found them a cheaper, and more flexible alternative, which is our aim.
"We've launched bike hire schemes before, including cargo bikes to hire, which have been successful so with the support of the council and partners hopefully people will see this as a genuine alternative for them."
Chorlton Bike Deliveries launched at the start of the pandemic and have been using eCargo bikes to transport food and goods for businesses and other groups, including food banks.
"We started by thinking how we could help local traders and groups with deliveries when they were struggling at the start of the pandemic," Glynis Francis, a director at Chorlton Bike Deliveries, told the M.E.N.
"We've been supporting food banks by taking excess food from supermarkets to the food banks as an easy, efficient, and environmentally friendly way of transporting goods.
"It's taken off so much in Chorlton that it's become our new jobs.
"A large part of what we do is to make what we do visible so that traders and others know there is an environmentally friendly alternative to transporting goods.
"We speak to so many traders in Chorlton who think it's a great idea but still use their van naturally. All it takes is seeing it in practice and taking that first step of doing it to see how great an alternative it is.
"Proactive campaigns like this help more people see it so more people can make that change.
"It's just as easy, if not much more flexible and cheaper, than using a van."
Tracey Rawlins, Manchester City Council's member for environment, added that there are many benefits to businesses and the public to this scheme.
She also highlighted it as part of the council’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2038, combining with other schemes such as the Clean Air Zone.
"It's a massively important opportunity to use an alternative to a car or van for transporting.
"There's so many benefits to this, it's cheaper, good for the environment, and has the obvious health benefits too.
"This and other projects such as the Clean Air Zone shows that we are continuing to invest in and looking to improve our environment. We really hope that people see it as a genuine alternative with more and more people using it over time.
She added: "Schemes like this can and will make a real difference in showing ordinary Mancunians that alternatives work and that collectively we can all make a difference.”
The bikes can be collected at a central depot in Chapel Street, close to the city centre, though plans are being explored on how best to roll out the service to communities and local hubs.
Coun Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, added: “In Manchester we really want to show that there are alternatives to using cars and other polluting means of transport. We know that a complete societal shift is required in terms of how we view transport, and as a Council we want to play our part in bringing about that change.
“By demonstrating that affordable and effective alternatives are available to the public we are breaking down barriers that may otherwise prevent someone making a positive change.”
For more information from Manchester Bike Hire on the scheme, visit here.
