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Rent-a-bike scheme could cut queues
6:07am Saturday 23rd February 2008
Comments (5)OXFORD could soon have its own low-cost, 24-hour rent-a-bike scheme in an effort to cut traffic congestion, as seen in several European cities.
Oxfordshire County Council has pledged £100,000 to pay for a feasibility study.
The scheme could see a network of cycle stations set up at key points in the city, including the train station, Westgate Centre, park-and-ride sites and city hospitals.
Although plans are at an early stage, council chiefs hope a credit card-payable rent-a-bike scheme would take a significant number of cars off the city's roads. They say they want to make any scheme cheap and convenient.
A rent-a-bike scheme started in Paris last July recorded more than seven million cycle trips by the end of the year.
It is believed the county council wants to replicate the French capital's blueprint of providing robust cycles, which weigh about 20kg, to make them unattractive to thieves and sturdy enough to withstand damage from vandals.
County council cabinet member for transport Ian Hudspeth said: "Cutting congestion has got to be the prime motivation, but the scheme would bring lots of other benefits to individuals, including helping them live more active lifestyles.
"Congestion is a difficult area to quantify, but we'd hope it takes a significant number of cars off the road.
"It will also help to declutter the city and enable us to remove some of the bike racks there, which can be quite unsightly. There would have to be a small charge for bike rental but we want to make it as cheap and convenient as possible rather than having something unwieldy that wouldn't work."
News of the scheme was welcomed by James Styring, chairman of Oxford cycling campaign group Cyclox.
He said: "I think it's great news. The county council seemed quite sceptical about this a couple of years ago, but they must have changed their minds after seeing the visible success of schemes in cities like Paris.
"I'm certain there would be uptake from both tourists and city residents.
"Even people who own their own bike will probably use them as there are some places in the city where you don't want to leave an expensive bike.
"In cities that have introduced these schemes, it's extraordinary how quickly bikes take over the landscape.
"Some cross-city journeys are complex on a bus because they run on exact routes, but bikes are great for commuters because you can literally go anywhere you want."
The council's feasibility study starts in April and, if the scheme is viable, it could be introduced in the city before summer 2009.
Last year Oxford University announced its own plans for a bike loan scheme in the city.
Your Say Yourthisisoxfordshire
Ed, Oxford says...
4:23pm Sat 23 Feb 08
DanOxford, says...
11:50pm Sat 23 Feb 08
The Council will put money into this (pointless) scheme and remove existing cycle racks because people using their own bicycles doesn't generate any revenue.
By simply knocking down one of the colleges and installing a secure cycle park with CCTV and a controlled entrance/ exit people could use their own bicycles and not have them stolen, as has happened to several of my friends recently- all of them locked securely.
Of course a car is warmer, drier, has a stereo and allows you to beep loudly at cyclists weaving across the road fiddling about with a phone/ MP3 player while having no peripheral vision due to wearing an enormous hood, as I had occasion to do earlier today.
Kate, Eynsham says...
10:44pm Sun 24 Feb 08
Paul, Oxford says...
6:23pm Mon 25 Feb 08
Ian Hudspeth, front, with county transport officers, Green city councillor Sid Phelps and members of campaign group Cyclox
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DanOxford, says...
3:28pm Sat 23 Feb 08
Paris is a huge city with an extensive underground system, and having seen the bike scheme there myself, I can imagine that they would be very useful for someone hopping off an underground train and cycling over to another part of the city where they can leave the bike for someone else at another rack.
I can also imagine they might be useful to Parisians as many live in apartments where it is not easy to keep a bicycle.
But who is going to find these bikes useful in Oxford? Everything a tourist or casual visitor might want to see is within a very short distance by foot and any longer term resident would presumably have their own bicycle.
It seems bizarre to suggest that people who already own a bicycle would pay to hire one to avoid having their own cycle stolen- perhaps the Council should invest in secure cycle parks around the city instead? Friends of mine who cycle have had bikes stolen and have a 'run around' for use in Oxford and a decent bike for use at weekends.