Andy Burnham: don’t throw Manchester hire bikes in the canal

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

GeekDadZoid

Über Member
The electric scooters have technology that can restrict them to certain areas. I was talking to one of their team last week - they have restricted access close to the river to make chucking them in more difficult.

The scheme does seem to be working well. The chap claimed something like 40% of car journeys being replaced by scooter use.


That figure sounds quite high. I wonder if he meant 40% of trips on the scooters replace car journeys.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Such a shame, especially for all the university students and visitors who use them a lot.
Up my end the university lot are liable to be the culprits for anything like that which happens, andna fair few hiremscooters seem to end up in the Nene in close proximity to Stalag Luft 43 the Uni. Indeed, their behaviour is so, erm, lively that the Poshshire Plod have set up a special team just to police them and keep them in check.
 
Always depressing when you see these schemes failing due to vandalism and general abuse but I have to say completely expected in many city environments which have a high crime rate. We are not Japan where the vast majority of people including teenagers are law abiding and they can have vending machines on every block because its extremely rare for them to be vandalised or even leave bicycles unlocked for long periods of time. You have to work with what you have got and clearly you have to have a scheme where such vermin cannot get access to such bikes to abuse them and there may be locations where it simply isn't possible to run such a scheme because it is destined to fail.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Indeed. In Japan even the Angels and Nomads can be seen going round pickup up litter after a biker meet!

And thats what sets my teeth on edge when the government and large organisations use the fact that "it worked well in XYZ cohntry" as justification for doing something here. Rarely do good ideas transplant difectly into British culture, in large lart due to this kind of muppetry.
 

Oldhippy

Cynical idealist
It sadly is a good example of the state of our modern society. The I'm alright Jack, every man for himself, don't give a crap about my community or environment.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Not sure how many bikes, but looking at the Salford Trial (on the app) there aren't that many. With the docks not being locked, I can see it going the mobike way. At least if you park your bike near the dock (even if full) you won't get charged extra. I assume the docks must charge the leccy bikes. The app isn't giving much away as the scheme doesn't launch for a week or so.
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
The electric scooters have technology that can restrict them to certain areas. I was talking to one of their team last week - they have restricted access close to the river to make chucking them in more difficult.

The scheme does seem to be working well. The chap claimed something like 40% of car journeys being replaced by scooter use.

Yeah, I was reading about that the other night. Very clever sounding bit of kit. I also didn't know you weren't allowed electric scooters on the Metro!
 
These schemes fail not because there are yoofs but because of poor planning.

All the Chinese low value and dockless scheme failed in cities around the world and not just in the UK. People abandoned the bikes. Boris Bikes were one of the pioneers. Transport for London did the planning and Serco given the maintenance contracts. Serco even had maintenance contracts for dockless bikes but withdrew after the contract expired due to vandalism and missing bikes.

The Boris bikes were tough, heavy and manufactured in Canada based on specs provided by Transport for London. The original scheme was supposed to be a pilot and Barclays underwrote the cost as sponsors. It became success.

And believe me there are more yoofs in London.
 
Last edited:
I was going to suggest that its disgruntled conservative voters, but some humourless git won't get the joke and will grass, so i won't.
Too late.

617345
 
These schemes fail not because there are yoofs but because of poor planning.

All the Chinese low value and dockless scheme failed in cities around the world and not just in the UK. People abandoned the bikes. Boris Bikes were one of the pioneers. Transport for London did the planning and Serco given the maintenance contracts. Serco even had maintenance contracts for dockless bikes but withdrew after the contract expired due to vandalism and missing bikes.

The Boris bikes were tough, heavy and manufactured in Canada based on specs provided by Transport for London. The original scheme was supposed to be a pilot and Barclays underwrote the cost as sponsors. It became success.

And believe me there are more yoofs in London.

I guess its been a success in the number of users but its been hugely subsidised by the taxpayer and really it should be self-financing. It's expensive bikes, expensive maintenance and of course many bikes disappear etc. The scheme seems to have very little regard for keeping costs down.

https://www.verdict.co.uk/londons-b...taxpayers-nearly-200m-foi-disclosure-reveals/
 

annedonnelly

Girl from the North Country
Yeah, I was reading about that the other night. Very clever sounding bit of kit. I also didn't know you weren't allowed electric scooters on the Metro!
Metro banned the mobility type scooters many years ago after someone lost control on boarding and bashed through the opposite doors onto the track:stop:
 

annedonnelly

Girl from the North Country
That figure sounds quite high. I wonder if he meant 40% of trips on the scooters replace car journeys.
Most likley. And his figures will be skewed anyway by people WFH during most of the trial period.

I had the misfortune to be on a bus out of Newcastle this afternoon & traffic seems to have returned to pre-pandemic levels :sad:
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Most likley. And his figures will be skewed anyway by people WFH during most of the trial period.

I had the misfortune to be on a bus out of Newcastle this afternoon & traffic seems to have returned to pre-pandemic levels :sad:

I was on one to the MetroCentre around 11.30 and the bottom deck was pretty much full! Barely any mask wearing either.

It wasn't so bad on the way back to the correct side of the river.

Not been on a bus here for years, those QR code ticket things are pretty neat, but you have to get the reading height pretty spot on.

[/derail]
 
I guess its been a success in the number of users but its been hugely subsidised by the taxpayer and really it should be self-financing. It's expensive bikes, expensive maintenance and of course many bikes disappear etc. The scheme seems to have very little regard for keeping costs down.

https://www.verdict.co.uk/londons-b...taxpayers-nearly-200m-foi-disclosure-reveals/
If you stand in any of the busy corner of London, you will inevitably realise the majority of users are tourists. It helps with tourism which is significant revenue earner for us. Ever wondered it has not be scrapped or debated by the various parties in Parliament. It no different to paying for roads, infrastructure.

Cities around are looking for bike schemes for similar reason.

Anyway we talking about bikes thrown in canals.
 
Top Bottom