Edinburgh could see a shared bike hire scheme reinstated across the city after the popular Just Eat bikes was disbanded in September 2021.
The council is now in talks with several hire companies but the frontrunners are understood to be Lime, the world’s largest micromobility company and fellow leading bike hire firm, Dott.
Lime will meet with the council this week to discuss the potential roll out of e-bikes, unveiling plans on what the scheme could look like and a demonstration of their bikes. Dott were in talks with the council earlier this week.
The council is now in talks with several hire companies but the frontrunners are understood to be Lime, the world’s largest micromobility company and fellow leading bike hire firm, Dott.
Lime will meet with the council this week to discuss the potential roll out of e-bikes, unveiling plans on what the scheme could look like and a demonstration of their bikes. Dott were in talks with the council earlier this week.
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00:00 2018 saw the launch of Edinburgh's Just Eat Bike Hire scheme, an initiative that encouraged
00:06 people to replace car journeys with a healthier, more sustainable form of transport.
00:11 Operated by Serco, the popular scheme made bikes more accessible to many, charging around
00:17 £1.50 an hour, where people could locate a bike using an app and then return the vehicle
00:22 to a docking station.
00:24 Attracting over 70,000 users, the project appeared to be a big success.
00:29 But following increasing incidents of theft and vandalism to both bikes and docking stations,
00:36 the scheme came to a halt in September 2021, when Serco said it would be financially unviable
00:43 to extend the contract.
00:46 But now, talks to reintroduce a bike hire scheme in Edinburgh are underway, with the
00:51 council's transport convener saying that he hopes to bring a full report to council next
00:55 year with the aim to roll out a new scheme in 2025.
01:01 Following talks with e-bike hire company DOT, this week, rival firm Lime are demonstrating
01:07 their bikes to councillors and council officials, as well as discussing what a new scheme could
01:12 look like.
01:13 So, Edinburgh is obviously a fantastic historical capital city, and we would love to bring our
01:18 e-bikes to our shared e-bike scheme.
01:20 It has ambitious active travel plans that we believe we can support and create a good
01:25 partnership around.
01:27 In terms of Lime, Lime is the world's largest and most experienced microbility company,
01:32 working over 280 different cities worldwide.
01:36 Plans to implement a new bike hire scheme looked uncertain last year, where finding
01:40 an estimated £20 million for a new scheme seemed unlikely following significant budget
01:45 cuts.
01:46 But unlike Just Eat Cycles, both proposals from leading bike firms Lime and DOT will
01:52 be self-financed, meaning no council subsidy or cost to the taxpayer.
01:58 And Lime say that by using a model that incorporates virtual docking stations, parking stations
02:04 can be created and removed electronically, with locations being agreed and designated
02:09 by the council.
02:11 You collect and pick up a bike and then drop off a bike in a bay that's used geofencing
02:16 technology with minimal infrastructure.
02:18 We have an application that you'll be able to sign in and then scan the vehicle and use
02:22 it from there.
02:23 And then you'd end your ride, take a photo of how you've left the bike in a bay that
02:26 we've designated, and that's how you'd be able to ride the bike.
02:30 The bikes themselves are pedal assisted and they go up to 15 miles per hour.
02:35 Transport and Environment Convener Scott Arthur said a new bike scheme will prioritise pedestrians,
02:41 with plans to keep cycle parking bays away from footpaths.
02:44 With the possibility of using land owned by council partners for docking stations, and
02:49 additional locations added to existing car parking bays.
02:55 Currently we're just in discussions with the council looking at demonstrating our vehicles
02:59 to them and showing what an e-bike scheme that Lime could run could look like in Edinburgh.
03:05 There's obviously no set plans yet and it's just a discussion about what potentially it
03:09 could look like.
03:10 However, we're really positive about this and hope we'll see it in the near future.
03:14 And with regards to theft and vandalism, issues that plagued the previous scheme, Lime say
03:20 they have technology in place to mitigate the risk and are well versed in operating
03:25 bike hire schemes all over the world.
03:28 All bike schemes do face the threat of theft and vandalism, but Lime as I said is one of
03:34 the most experienced.
03:36 We operate in capital cities across the world, Melbourne, New York, Rome, London, so we're
03:41 very well experienced in this kind of theft and vandalism.
03:44 The bikes are designed with anti-theft technology, anti-tamper alarms, and an enhanced locking
03:49 system and we're very, very aware that this is something that we're confident we can tackle.
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