Barnet chooses Urbo

BIKE HIRE

The London Borough of Barnet has selected Irish firm Urbo to provide a dockless bike hire scheme in the borough. 

The two-year pilot scheme is due to commence this month with 100 bikes. Barnet says provision could rise to 300 if justified by demand. 

The council reviewed six potential bike hire operators: App Bikes, Smoove, Brompton, Nextbike, Ofo and Urbo.

It says Urbo has user-friendly bikes; a “good track record with other London boroughs”; an app that is quick to download; and  bikes that use low-cost lock technology that can be secured to standard bike stands. 

Barnet believes the bikes could be popular with its own staff for accessing the council’s  new headquarters in Colindale. 

Urbo already operates in the London boroughs of Enfield, Waltham Forest and Redbridge –  the addition of Barnet now means it will operate across four adjoining boroughs in north London.  

The owners of Bikeshare.ie recently took a majority shareholding in Urbo and will use the Urbo branding for all new schemes (LTT 11 May).