Prices published for new Edinburgh cycle hire scheme ahead of launch

Prices for Edinburgh’s new cycle hire scheme have been published as operator Voi gears up for its launch next Wednesday.

Visible in the company’s app, a pay-as-you-go rate will be £0.11 per minute, meaning an hour on the bike will cost £6.60.

Packages of minutes, which the firm calls ‘bundles’, will also be available, with a 45-minute package valid for one day costing £2.99.

Meanwhile, a 60-minute package will cost £7.99 – a discount currently bringing it down to £5.99 – and the minutes expire after three days.

A 120-minute package will cost £14.99, presently discounted to £11.99, and the minutes expire after a week.

A subscription offer is also available, offering 300 minutes per month for £12.99 per month, which the firm says is equivalent to £0.09 per minute.

The scheme will launch on Wednesday, September 3, with 80 bikes set to be placed on city streets that morning.

Initially, the bikes will be limited to the city centre ward, but both the coverage area and the number of bikes will be expanded over time.

Voi and the council have said that, if the demand is there, the number of bikes could be expanded to 800 by the end of December.

It will use a dockless model, with bikes parked out of the way on pavements and at other points in the city, as opposed to the docked model used by the old Just Eat cycles scheme.

And it is expected to be run at no cost to the city, with the cost of running the service to be met from fares collected by Voi.

The firm is also set to run the cycle hire scheme in Glasgow, replacing the current nextbikes service.

A press launch of the scheme took place last Friday, where the city’s transport boss, Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson, was optimistic about it.

He said: “I think to get the buy-in from citizens of Edinburgh, I think it’s important to look at delivering services differently, and being able to deliver a service which is zero cost is quite a refreshing, new way of thinking.

“I’m really pleased that we found the service provider who is going to tick our boxes, and make sure this is as successful as it can be.”

Edinburgh’s last cycle hire scheme collapsed under the cost of maintenance and vandalism in 2021, and cost the council £1.8 million – despite a plan to run it at zero cost to the city.

A Voi executive said on Friday that the firm had plans to address vandalism already in place, and that their bikes were more robust than those used under the previous scheme.

Additionally, he said the firm had plans already in place to retrieve hire bikes from the water, having dealt with this issue in other cities.

The Just Eat cycle scheme saw a large number of hire bikes thrown in the Water of Leith and other bodies of water in the Capital.