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City council hopes to revive plans for bike hire scheme

The Civic Centre in Newport (Credit: LDRS)

A BICYCLE hire scheme for Newport, which hit the brakes, could soon get back on track.

The city council hopes to revive a city-wide bike hire scheme by March 2025 after an initial attempt failed.

Bike-hire schemes are typically contracted out to third-party companies which provide the equipment and infrastructure.

A recent report shows the council is optimistic a deal can be struck with a firm to introduce a scheme to Newport in the near future.

The initiative could also include e-bikes.

If it goes ahead, the council will need to arrange funding for the scheme, and have a system of docking stations installed throughout the city.

A first attempt to set up a scheme fell short, however, because the council was “unable to award a contract for [its] delivery”.

The council now plans to make a “revised offer to the market”, according to the report.

This would not be the first time a bike hire scheme has been introduced in Wales, however, and previous events in Cardiff represent a cautionary tale.

A similar scheme with Nextbike was scrapped in the capital and the Vale of Glamorgan in 2023 because thousands of bikes were stolen or vandalised, it was reported at the time.

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That followed a temporary suspension of the scheme in 2021, again because of thefts or damage.

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