Cycle war rolls on ... as helmets vanish

NEWS

City Council’s rollout of complimentary helmets as one of a number of initiatives to kickstart the wobbly CityCycle scheme has proved a resounding success – with thieves. Of 400 yellow helmets attached to the hire bikes several months ago in a bid to kickstart the faltering scheme, some 250 have been “misplaced”, in the words of Public and Active Transport Chairman Julian Simmonds.

Despite these losses, Cr Simmonds said a further 500 new helmets would be jointly provided with operator JC Decaux. Council’s $2500 share of the cost would come from the existing CityCycle marketing budget.
The trial of the complimentary helmets over three months, along with reduced hire fees and subscription packages, had seen a 72 per cent increase in the number of weekly trips since the changes were made three months ago, Cr Simmonds said.
Weekly average of the scheme during its first 10 months was 1470 trips. During the past three months the average had jumped to 2530 trips per week. “Lord Mayor Graham Quirk listened to feedback, reviewed the scheme and made changes three months ago that have delivered a significant increase in trips,” he said.
Every CityCycle trip was potentially one less vehicle on the road and it was part of Brisbane’s overall public transport infrastructure and offering residents and visitors an alternative, sustainable mode of travel in the inner-city.
The ALP’s Lord Mayoral candidate Ray Smith said the CityCycle bike hire scheme continued to struggle and was at least 5000 annual subscribers short, even after the recent trial of measures to boost usage of the bikes. Mr Smith said the scheme was still being plagued by waste, abysmal usage figures and helmet problems.
“This scheme was supposed to pay for itself but it’s now costing ratepayers over $2.4 million per year, just to have bikes sitting on the side of the road gathering rust and dust,” he said.
“The CEO of CityCycle operator JC Decaux is on record saying the scheme will need 15,000 to 20,000 full-time subscribers in the first two years for it to be successful, so with around annual 2000 subscribers, the scheme is still at least 5000 short of where it needs to be. “
Council is touting an increase in the number of weekly CityCycle trips since May, but the trial didn’t start until the end of August. These figures are flaky at best, and the Lord Mayor still hasn’t revealed the current number of annual CityCycle subscribers.
“CityCycle is costing ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars every week while the vast majority of bicycles are left unused. Brisbane ratepayers are saying loud and clear that they don’t want to see any more of their hard-earned money wasted on this scheme.