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“Only four applications for Scottish bike loan scheme that cost government £145k

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    “

    Liberal Democrat climate emergency spokesman Liam McArthur said: “This is an absolute embarrassment for Patrick Harvie and the Scottish Government. A much-trumpeted scheme has been drowned in a mixture of government bureaucracy and incompetence.

    “When government schemes unravel as badly as this, is it any wonder that next to no progress has been made over the past decade towards achieving Scotland’s cycling target?”

    A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “This was a trial scheme. The very nature of a trial scheme is that some approaches will work better than others.

    “

    https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/four-applications-scottish-bike-loan-1767295

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. Morningsider
    Member

    This is what happens when policy is designed by people with no understanding of the lives being lived by the people they actually set out to help. The vast majority of people on very low incomes simply cannot take on (more) debt. They can hardly cope as it is.

    I am a bit concerned that the increasing active travel budget is helping create a whole ecosystem of Transport Scotland dependent NGOs, advisers and other hangers-on. Great news for Scottish graduate employment, possibly not so good for actually getting more people walking and cycling.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    Yes.

    This applies to more than ‘active travel’.

    Long tradition of orgs and NGOs working in ‘deprived area’, or just surveying/consulting in them - with many varieties of success.

    Sad thing is that there MANY ways that access to bikes could make a significant difference to individual lives and - potentially - whole areas.

    This is Edinburgh’s latest attempt -

    https://neat.scot/

    Not just the ‘public sector’ either -

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_industry

    Though this doesn’t apply to the latter…

    “designed by people with no understanding of the lives being lived by the people they actually set out to help.”

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. Tulyar
    Member

    30+ years of seeing every great idea - & so many crashing & burning, right from Luud Schimmelpennicks WitFiets which rapidly turned brown as they spent a lot of time in the canals of Amsterdam

    The Nextbike model of 'hiring' to those with transport poverty, and working with the same cohort to provide the management & maintenance of the fleet seems to be a robust option?

    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    “

    Our systems can be easily integrated into the existing infrastructure. We will find the best solution for your city.

    “

    https://www.nextbike.net/en/

    Maybe they should just get on with it…

    Posted 1 year ago #

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