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"Brakes on city's bike hire plans"
(13 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
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"They have now estimated that the scheme would cost £2.3m per year to operate". I appreciate that start-up costs for these things are pretty large, e.g. buying bikes, installing docking stations, developing booking systems etc. and that there are the ongoing servicing and management costs but this seems incredibly high. If London can manage with 6000 bikes then Edinburgh could manage with say 1000 - would it really cost £2300 per bike, per year?
I would be interested to see this report and have a dig around the figures and assumptions used - anyone know if it is publicly available?
Posted 13 years ago # -
Morningsider - why not use the WriteToThem.com site to email your councillors
* Alison Johnstone
Green
* Paul Godzik
Labour
* Marilyne MacLaren
Liberal Democrat
* Mark McInnes
ConservativePosted 13 years ago # -
Presumably if its not publicly available you could ask for it to be made so?
I'm not totally convinced by these schemes myself, but I guess they do raise visibility of cycling.
Any Transitions Edinburgh lurkers out there who could let us know if the University is considering a scheme?
Posted 13 years ago # -
The Council tells me -
"
The feasibility studies were undertaken in July 2008 and March 2009 and the results of these were summarised and made public in the following reports to the TIE Committee:
http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=114278
http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=125487
The full feasibility study reports have not been made publicly available as such but copies are available on request from cycling@edinburgh.gov.uk
Start-up costs were estimated at £3500 per bike (based on figures from the Paris scheme) whilst ongoing costs were estimated to be between £800-2000 per annum (based on figures from a number of continental schemes).
We were working on an assumption of 800 bikes which came to £2.8M start-up and £0.6-1.6M per annum running costs for an Edinburgh scheme.
Some quick maths gives us the answer for London: £140M / 6 years of operation / 6000 bikes = ££3889 per annum per bike.
The bottom line is these schemes aren't as cheap as people think they are. Part of the reason for this perception is that they are mostly subsidised through additional on-street advertising (or in some cases by local authorities).
"Of course challenging the assumption that such a scheme should 'pay for itself' would be futile!
Factoring in the health benefits, road maintenance reductions, tourism benefits, international PR etc etc is beyond the capability of most politicians who are increasingly hiding behind the 'only game in town is deficit reduction' mantra...
Wasn't Boris lucky he got the money before the last election...
If London = Barclays, perhaps Edinburgh should = RBS...
Posted 13 years ago # -
At that price it's a terrible waste and would be far better invested in just subsidising the purchase of bikes and improving the rather lacking cyclign infrastructure.
Posted 13 years ago # -
kaputnik -- I agree. there is so much that could/should be done.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"At that price it's a terrible waste"
All things are relative.
One 'problem' is that in places like Paris and London it's seen as a coherent part of the transport 'mix'.
TfL saves money by not having to invest (much more/sooner) in increasing bus/tube capacity.
Here it might reduce the need for Lothian Buses to buy an extra bus or two, BUT, even though LB is basically owned by the council, such calculations are not on any agenda.
Perhaps whichever arms length company is eventually responsible for the Tram and LB, should run a bike scheme.
Then again...
It's also been suggested that the City Car Club should do it. That's not nearly as daft as it might sound. It has equipment, logistics, experience etc. and one of it's purposes is to reduce the number of cars in Edinburgh - and also to make people think about their travel habits/requirements.
Posted 13 years ago # -
I've had a very brief look through the report produced by Halcrow for the council, the figures quoted for an Edinburgh scheme do seem to be "reasonable" when compared with other cycle hire schemes.
Interstingly, while funding the scheme through advertising as happens in Paris might not be possible, schemes in other cities like Barcleona are funded from parking charges, subscription fees and rental income. Not sure why this mode of funding has been discounted by the Council, also I'd love to see the reaction of the Evening News to the suggestion that a bike hire scheme be funded from parking charges.
Posted 13 years ago # -
"I'd love to see the reaction of the Evening News to the suggestion that a bike hire scheme be funded from parking charges."
Sadly you have highlighted another issue.
Politicians are SCARED of the EN, DMail etc.
They seem to believe that these papers 'represent' the masses - who are all rabid motorists.
There seem to be few people who can eloquently argue that it's not about 'cycling' it's about 'mobility' 'quality of city centre living/working/visiting' etc. (and such people are seldom 'in power'.)
Most politicians are too busy trying (and failing) to keep 'everyone happy' rather than argue a case that they think might be 'unpopular' though they might be pleasantly surprised to find that some things might be more popular than they imagine - like safer streets, more pleasant environments for being in, less traffic/noise/danger etc. etc.
Posted 13 years ago # -
TfL has just spent £300k on YouTube videos to promote cycling.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mindthegap/2010/08/ping_another_initiative_from_t.html
Posted 13 years ago # -
"
On the subject of the trams Johnston said: “Clearly we are having to live through pain at the moment but I genuinely believe that the outcome will be worth it. I am sure that there are lessons to be learnt but I’m not close enough to know what they are. I am confident that the boost that the tram has given to other cities will happen in Edinburgh too.”
"
http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/markets-economy/the-recession-has-a-good-side-says-new-city-marketing-chief-1.1049666Alan Johnston is "the new non-executive chairman of Edinburgh’s public-private marketing body Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (DEMA)".
He "also revealed that DEMA, whose slogan exhorts people to “Visit, Invest, Live, Work and Study” in Edinburgh, was in the process of a low-cost rebranding exercise".
Sunday Herald story adds "Other work in progress was exploration of the potential for an intermodal transport payment system, based on London’s hugely successful Oyster Card system, part of DEMA’s drive to “join the dots up” and making the capital more visitor-friendly."
Perhaps DEMA would like to help Edinburgh get a cycle scheme like Paris, London etc.
Posted 13 years ago # -
TfL has just spent £300k on YouTube videos to promote cycling.
Kind of thought the point in youtube videos is that you can make them for the sub-£300 it costs for a camera?
Posted 13 years ago #
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