Second time lucky - will Edinburgh’s new bike hire scheme work?

Concerns over plans to limit the new scheme to city centre

Former transport convener Lesley Maciness on one of the previous Just Eat sponsored bikes

London’s had them since the Boris years; Manchester has them too, as well as Glasgow and Stirling; even Fort William and Inverness have some. From Santander Cycles to Lime Bikes to Beryl Bikes, bicycle hire schemes are a staple of modern city living. So why doesn’t Edinburgh have them?

Well, we did, of course, but that ended on a sour note. While the “Just Eat Bikes” scheme was supposed to be self-financing, it ended up costing the Council £1.8 million. Despite this, operators Serco still pulled out over their losses in 2021, and council leaders accused the company of “walking away” from their commitments.

For their part, Serco said that there were simply no possible avenues to continue the scheme in the face of unexpected costs, largely due to vandalism and theft of the bikes and docking stations.

Transport and Environment Convenor Stephen Jenkinson appeared to acknowledge the last scheme’s controversy in a press briefing this week, saying that the committee has been “waiting for a little bit of time to allow the dust to settle… while we’re looking at what a cycle hire scheme in the future might look like.” This month, the TEC will discuss proposals for a new bike hire scheme in Edinburgh, which could be up and running by next summer.

Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson

Gateway to cycling

Considering the previous scheme clocked 75,000 different users and 420,000 journeys over three years; surely there are plenty of folks who’d be delighted to see a bicycle scheme back in the capital. The plans have been welcomed by active travel groups in the city; “I think it’s a great idea, I think it’s something which is missing,... particularly as a tourist city… it’s good for tourists and it’s good for residents,” said Kim Harding, founder of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling.