Cardiff plans to relaunch public bike hire

The City of Cardiff Council is preparing to procure a public bicycle hire scheme, five years after the previous one ended suddenly.

The council pledged this month to “deliver an externally funded on-street cycle hire scheme for the city”. It began to put out feelers in December 2014, publishing a Prior Information Notice that envisaged circa 20 docking hubs and circa 250 bikes in the initial phase, increasing to 350 to 500 bikes later. A scheme was supposed to be operating by this month.

OYBike established Cardiff’s first local authority bicycle hire scheme in 2009, with 70 bikes at hubs in the city centre and Cardiff Bay, but withdrew in 2011 after being unable to find a corporate sponsor to cover operating costs.

A council spokesman said this week: “The aspiration of the new scheme intends to be far larger than the initial pilot scheme back in 2011, with 500 self-service bikes located across the authority area. These will be based at a number of sites including strategic locations close to existing public transport facilities.

“The pilot scheme was financed through a Welsh Government grant and was withdrawn by the previous operator, following a financial takeover by a multinational corporation. The new scheme will be financed through sponsorship income and at no cost to the taxpayer, subject to a successful procurement exercise.”

Discuss bike sharing at LTT's Cycle City event in May