City cycle hire plan aims to get more in the saddle

Aug 21 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

AN AUTOMATED cycle hire scheme could be set up in Liverpool.

Council officials are to hold a meeting with public, private, and not-for-profit representatives next month to discuss creating a consortium for setting up a cycle hire network in Liverpool.

It is likely that a pilot project will be set up in the city centre, but it could also be based at university campuses or train stations.

Last night, council officials said they hoped the scheme could be up and running during the Capital of Culture year, to maximise use by visitors.

It is hoped a system that allowed people to collect and drop-off bikes at ranks across the city would cut down on congestion and pollution.

Liverpool is one of a number of cities that have been watching the introduction of the world’s biggest cycle-hire scheme started in Paris in July.

The high-tech Velib (freedom bikes in French) system supplies 10,000 bikes from 750 ranks for up to one euro per half-hour.

Subscribers pay 29 euros (£20) a year and must hand over a 150 euro credit card deposit.

This buys cyclists 30 minutes each day on a card, and further time can be bought from automated stations spaced every 300 metres in the city centre.

The card allows users to unlock bikes from the specialist ranks.

Each bike is being borrowed at an average rate of six times a day. Tracy Allatt, cycling officer at Liverpool council, said: “At the meeting we are going to look at what is already being done locally and at other schemes, and decided the best way forward.

“I think we would probably concentrate on the city centre initially with a pilot project.”

She said it could end up being a hybrid of staffed hire facilities and automated machines.

She said the idea behind setting up a scheme was to encourage workers to try out cycling to work, but also to provide tourists an easy way to get around the city.

“We are hoping to have the pilot up and running for next year, everyone involved is very keen.

“It seems like a really good time to do it.

“A lot of other cities have introduced schemes, so we can see where things have gone well and where they have not.”

Miss Allatt said bikes have anti-theft mechanisms to ensure they are not stolen – wheels that do not fit regular bikes.

“I am sure something positive is going to come out of it.”

Representatives from The Mersey Partnership, Liverpool University, John Moores University, and Merseytravel are among those to attend the meeting in late September.

davidbartlett

Growing demand for bicycles helps bank manager’s hire company grow

HIRING bicycles is a growing business according to a bank manager who set up his own small rental scheme.

Colin Trigg, 49, of Prenton, Wirral, has been running Liverpool Bicycle Co-operative Ltd with his wife Christine, 49, for about a year.

During the summer the not-for-profit company has a base at the ferry terminal in Seacombe, and delivers rental bikes all year round.

Over the past year the company has taken 500 bookings with little publicity.

Mr Trigg, whose day job is as bank manager of the Heswall branch of Lloyds TSB, created the company because of a lack of facilities in the area.

Christine has given up her job working for meals on wheels to run the business.

Mr Trigg will be attending the conference next month to discuss setting up a larger-scale scheme and believes his company could complement an automated scheme.

“I believe there is scope for both,” he said. “I would say the manned hire stations option should not be discarded.

“You can never make it totally automated.”

Liverpool Bicycle Co-operative was set up after the couple had enjoyed a number of cycling holidays with their grown-up children and saw the opportunities in the area.

Mr Trigg said they eventually hoped to employ local people.