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City council hopes to revive plans for bike hire scheme

By Mark Mansfield
Bikes

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A bicycle hire scheme, which hit the brakes, could soon get back on track.

Newport City council hopes to revive a city-wide bike hire scheme by March 2025 after an initial attempt failed.

Bike-hire schemes are typically contracted out to third-party companies which provide the equipment and infrastructure.

A recent report shows the council is optimistic a deal can be struck with a firm to introduce a scheme to Newport in the near future.

The initiative could also include e-bikes.

If it goes ahead, the council will need to arrange funding for the scheme, and have a system of docking stations installed throughout the city.

A first attempt to set up a scheme fell short, however, because the council was “unable to award a contract for [its] delivery”.

The council now plans to make a “revised offer to the market”, according to the report.

This would not be the first time a bike hire scheme has been introduced in Wales, however, and previous events in Cardiff represent a cautionary tale.

A similar scheme with Nextbike was scrapped in the capital and the Vale of Glamorgan in 2023 because thousands of bikes were stolen or vandalised, it was reported at the time.

That followed a temporary suspension of the scheme in 2021, again because of thefts or damage.

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3 comments

J Jones

The Cardiff bike scheme was hijacked and ultimately destroyed by the druggie criminal community that is undermining the development of the city. So those organising need to be fully aware of the threat and plan to avoid it. The Cardiff Council scheme failed despite the council leader claiming to be a 'professional in transport infrastructure', aka - volunteer organising with free bikes! Scheme was a massive own goal as the councils affection for its druggie criminal community assisted in the destruction of the free bikes.

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Vincent Van Go

Two lessons from Cardiff. The bikes had unnecessarily weak security. The locks were flimsy and there was no tracking device. Those running the system should know where their bikes are at all times. Second, the police did nothing. In other schemes across the UK there were highly publicised recoveries and arrests. In Cardiff the attitude by the Westminster run force seemed to be, this is Wales what did you expect.

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Welsh Patriot

Nobody want these type of bikes, when half of Newport is riding around on powerful and illegal e-bikes with enormous batteries.

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The Cardiff bike scheme was hijacked and ultimately destroyed by the druggie criminal community that is undermining the development of the city. So those organising need to be fully aware of the threat and plan to avoid it. The Cardiff C...

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