Bike sharing scheme comes to Manchester

A cycle hire scheme, aimed at helping make cycling a more convenient and attractive way to travel in city centres, is coming to Manchester and Salford.

Greater Manchester’s political leaders have welcomed news that urban bicycle sharing service Mobike is launching a six-month pilot scheme this week, which will see 1,000 bikes made available for public hire in central Manchester and Salford.

The scheme’s unique bike design, built-in smart lock and cashless smartphone app system allow cyclists to pick up and drop off hire bikes at any convenient legal cycle parking location, rather than needing to be parked at dedicated docking stations.

The Mobike app allows users to rent a bike nearby, locate it using inbuilt GPS mapping and unlock it automatically by scanning a QR code on the bike.

The scheme has been welcomed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), with the potential to support the region’s Cycle City strategy, helping boost the number of journeys made by bicycle, contributing to regional targets to improve air quality, reduce emissions and improve public health.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “As Mayor I want to see many more people swapping their cars for bikes in Greater Manchester and I will take a positive approach to promoting cycling across our city-region. This scheme could help make cycling more accessible to people, but it is an untested idea in the UK and we will need to keep this under review.

“We’re conscious that our city centre is a complex and busy area already, so TfGM has been working hard to establish a voluntary code of working with Mobike to make sure the service operates in a way that doesn’t inconvenience other road users, pedestrians or city centre traders.

“If successful, it could play an important part of our long-term plans for cycling in the region and for making travel easier and more sustainable.