Region saddling up for country’s biggest cycle-hire scheme

Greater Manchester is saddling up for what could be the country’s biggest cycle-hire scheme.

The bikes would help people get the most from the thousands of miles of interlinked cycling and walking lanes planned under Olympian Chris Boardman’s Bee Network project.

To date, 24 routes in the 10-year masterplan for joined-up journeys have been confirmed and a new tranche is due to be announced later this week.

City cycling guru Boardman wants the £1.5bn network, originally dubbed Beelines, to create an environment in which walking and cycling are attractive alternatives to using the car.

He was tasked by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to develop the scheme in order to ease congestion and tackle poor air quality, as well as boost people’s health and fitness levels.

And he told transport chiefs that the proposal for the region-wide bike hire scheme – possibly the biggest in the country, will go before local leaders next week.

Addressing a meeting of the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) Committee, he said “We have now spent six months speaking to cycle hire providers across the world, just gathering information, learning what we need to do, as this is a fast-developing area.

“I’ve personally examined schemes in places across the UK and across Europe.”

A cycle-hire scheme, similar to the ‘Boris Bikes’ in London, has already been trialled in Manchester, but with unhappy results.

Bike-sharing firm Mobike withdrew its fleet of around 2,000 cycles in September last year after pleas to cut vandalism and theft fell on deaf ears, landing Manchester with the unwanted distinction of being the first city to lose the service.

But Mr Boardman said valuable lessons had been learned from the episode.

He said: “We have very much considered the problems that we experienced with Mobike.

“It seems rather political, but it’s absolutely true that learning was invaluable, we didn’t know what we didn’t know, and we wouldn’t have had it if that trial had not happened.

“We have identified solutions that will work in Greater Manchester.

“Anti-social behaviour is not unique to Greater Manchester and practical solutions are working well elsewhere, and we know what can work here.”

Mr Boardman told the committee that the procurement process was ‘in train and being developed so we can move quickly’.

And he said work to ensure people would be able to seamlessly move from other modes of public transport and onto the bikes was also progressing well.

“In the meantime we have already started talks with all of the train stations and TfGM around tram stops, to make sure we can site these where people live, where they work, where they want to go, to make sure they can have joined up journeys,” he said.

“It’s going to take some time, but when we are finished it’s likely to be one of – if not the biggest scheme in the UK.”

The former gold medallist also hinted that the cycling revolution may not be driven by pedal-power alone.

He said: “Electric bikes are a serious consideration. It’s not what people need, but it’s what they want, and that’s more important.

“Electric bikes will almost certainly have to be part of the mix – it extends range slightly as well and makes people happier about going from one or two kilometres to three, four or five kilometres, and that’s fascinating.

“We are on the case and I’m very confident and stake my reputation on that it will produce something that will work in Greater Manchester.

“And I would not have been able to do it if we had not had the Mobike experience, because I personally would not have spotted the problem.”

The next meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is on Friday 29 March.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter