It may be that Scotland escapes the OBike debacle, but there are now at least 5 operators offering dockless bike hire in the UK
Nextbike - operating in 20 countries and membership gives access to all public schemes at the local tariffs. Bikes can be placed overnight, and RBS has a small fleet on trial at Gogarburn - because of the electronic back office facility RBS staff get 2 hours free hire using a phone app to hire the RBS bikes, but standard tariffs elsewhere. Can be hired by phone call/SMS/RFID card/QR Code/Phone app and also through docking station and pillar In business 13 years
Donkey Republic - mainly in Oxford area uses phone app (Danish system with links IIRC to the 1995 Citybikes.
Mobike - Chinese origins but Taiwan buying in - UK MD used to manage London bikes - now in Manchester hired only via phone app
OBike - Singapore copy of Mobike likewise phone app only
Ofo - Chinese version claiming to be first dockless bike hire - Taking that literally the claim is totally false back in the 1960's Luud Schimmelpennick's Witfietsen fitted that description, and the modern 'dockless' systems were around in 2001 when DB bought out Call-a-Bike.
Section 97 of the Roads Scotland Act protects us to some extent from the problems South of the Border as it already puts teeth into regulation of commercial use of main roads, including bike hire.
Unlike the mess that was the earloy stages of London, and that still costs money to run the new models are already operating at no cost to the city in New York and Milton Keynes, where the bike branding - sold to sponsors, plus the user fees covers the operating costs.
In Manchester the tariff model should deliver for a sustainable level of users per bike per day, and generally this should deliver.
In Germany Call-a- Bike and Nextbike operate in the same towns and iun the UK Oxford has Hourbike, Donkey Republic and Brompton at or near the rail station.
What will be needed are 1) model contracts for concession or licences to operate 2)interoperability - the ability to belong to a single scheme but hire anywhere in the UK or any town in Scotland regardless of the operator who supplied the bikes 3)integration - the ability to hire bikes with a ridacard or concession card and buy them as a transport utility (Mobility as a Service)
The future is dockless but dockable, bikes that can operate across as many systems as possible
Corporate buy in will deliver core support - SEPA already has employee access to bikes in Stirling (and presumably Glasgow) I'd really expect Transport Scotland to have the facility available to staff (it saves 10-15 minutes on a trip to Atlantic Quay from Glasgow Queen Street, and if a matching Edinburgh scheme it could deliver a 70 minute Victoria Quay-Atlantic Quay journey time) Glasgow University staff & students get free membership (it saves on the cost of providing some parking and an intensive shuttle bus service) Others give discounted membership. A quietly promoted scheme in Glasgow provides low cost (£3) membership for households with 'transport poverty' issues.
Conferences too can be served by providing extra bikes for the duration.
George Lowder is smartly keeping options open and giving Edinburgh the ability to have more than one public bike provider in a managed delivery across the city.
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