Cyclists are this morning criticising Edinburgh council chiefs who have severely cut back a proposed bike hire scheme along the lines of those already running in Paris and Barcelona and about to run in London in July.
Edinburgh is the only UK city to have signed up to the Charter of Brussels, a commitment to cycling which would see bikes account for 15 per cent of all journeys in Edinburgh by 2020. The bike hire scheme was a major element in the plan to reduce car dependency.
However, according to the Scotsman this morning, council sources are insisting that the scheme is not yet a "dead duck", adding that discussions are under way with potential advertisers who could help fund the project.
Chris Hill, who runs the City Cycling Edinburgh blog, said the council was failing in its obligations following its "headline-grabbing" signature of the European charter. He said: "Certainly the council is lukewarm about the whole idea of a bike share scheme. Other schemes have been funded by advertising, but they have not got the sorts of money they had in London or Paris.
"The reality in Paris is that lots more people are cycling, so it has been a good thing. The council needs to spend a lot more on cycling, but this is symptomatic of how seriously they are taking their responsibility."
It now seems that a city-wide scheme has been dropped in favour of a smaller alternative, with a just a few bikes at one or two locations.
Tory councillor Iain Whyte, who first proposed the scheme after seeing one in operation on a trip to Lyon, said: "This sounds very disappointing when other cities in Europe have managed to do it at little or no cost by using advertising revenues.
"I would still hope there's an opportunity to have a much bigger scheme in the future, with bikes at all of the tram stops."
Chuck Berry?
It's a label. To the average person in the street, if it looks like a bike and is electric, it's an e-bike. If it looks like a scooter and is...
I suspect you are right. But no harm in hoping.
Apologies for the oversight there, it's been corrected. Obviously it should have said 97ft🤦♂️
The more this Nash gezzer opens his mouth the worse he comes across. The mans passion for green issues clouds his judgement on common decency!
Simon Nash needs to just stick to making the produts and seriously step back from social media and all the marketing. He's an absolute liability to...
Even I would say 'report horse ramming to the police ' because just ignoring that report is viewed as less acceptable than if it was a cyclist -...
I wasn't a bike geek or "serious" rider then (not now...) - my ride was a non-suspended 26" wheel "mountain bike" with V-brakes and piano key...
And, bonus, you can get rid of feed zones - just make them carry all their supplies in the basket.
I tried to make a thread announcing a league code for Velogames, but it seems to have been banished to the aether. The code is 620099424