More cycle trips being made thanks to dockless bike share schemes, claims org

The dockless bike share sector is new, but it’s already having a measurable impact on the number of UK cycle journeys. That’s the claim from Bikeplus, the representative bikeshare body in the UK. The organisation claims an extra 10, 000 extra cycle trips were made per day prior to December 2017, and that figure is likely to be even higher now that more dockless schemes have opened in British cities or are being expanded. –

There were 17,500 public hire bikes in June 2017 with 17 towns and cities operating schemes. From June 2017 to December 2017 there were at least 5000 new dockless bikes put into circulation, with distinctively designed bikes dropped in Newcastle, Manchester and Norwich. Now there are 30+ schemes in 25 towns and cities across the UK. 

The estimated 10,000 extra trips are in addition to the tens of thousands of trips made by docked bikes each day in the UK, such as London’s Santander cycles. 

"Sadiq Cycles" average 28,000 trips per day.

The expansion of bikeshare has not just been seen with dockless schemes but also in the traditional docked schemes. Nextbike has been operating in the UK since 2014 and has docked schemes in including Glasgow, Bath and Milton Keynes. The German firm recently expanded its Glasgow scheme adding 10 new station locations and increasing the number of bikes to 500. 

Dockless schemes – driven by Chinese companies such as Mobike and Ofo – have launched in the UK with guidance from Bikeplus, which developed an accreditation scheme in conjunction with operators and local authorities to act as a form of soft-touch regulation for the ballooning sector.