Bike hire schemes

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Do you have these bicycle hire schemes where you live? A year or two ago they sprung up all over the place here, there was actually a choice of four different companies operating in the town! I couldn’t figure out how they could make much money from the scheme. Hundreds of bicycles all decorated in each company’s colour-scheme appeared all over the place in short order. Presumably whole container-loads must have been quickly manufactured and shipped over from somewhere where they are cheap to make. I don’t know how much they cost to use – I never tried one as I have my own bike, and anyway I didn’t want to go through the registration process – but I believe it was a few pounds which is not bad if you just need to get home, certainly better than a taxi. But people hired the bikes and then left them in all sorts of random places from where they needed to be collected again by the owners. Many were left blocking pvements, as well as at junctions and crossings and even in private gardens! Not to mention a few thrown in the river of course. They were the bane of the lives of wheelchair users and those with prams/buggies/puchchairs. Eventually I read an article explaining that the bike hire was really just a means to an end – the collection of data about the users. Their names and addresses, credit/debit card details, where they were going to and from and at what times. All of that made far more sense, and also made me even less likely to use them. But then, as suddenly as they appeared, they all vanished again. Did the operators decide the model was not cost-effective? Where did they all go? I have no idea but they all disappeared as quickly as they came and now we are just left with the death-trap electric scooters for hire instead. Do you have these operations where you live? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.