Free bike hire in Scottish cities

The public bike share schemes in Edinburgh and Glasgow are being temporarily made available free of charge with funding from the Scottish Government. The initiative coincides with the relaxation of lockdown restrictions in Scotland. The Government is keen to ease pressure on public transport capacity that is limited because of social distancing. The bikes will be free to hire for the first 30-minutes of every journey for eight weeks in Glasgow (60 minutes to subscribers) and two weeks in Edinburgh. The usual per minute charge for the Edinburgh scheme is 10p. The Glasgow’s scheme is operated by Nextbike and features 800 bikes. Edinburgh scheme is operated by Serco and features 500 bikes. Shared mobility charity CoMoUK has helped deliver the initiative.