The size of Edinburgh’s new cycle hire scheme has been revealed two days ahead of its public launch.
Users will be able to cycle from Powderhall to the Commonwealth Pool and Holyrood to Haymarket in the 8km2 coverage area, on bikes provided by Swedish firm Voi.
But the zone also sees Bruntsfield cut in half, and it juts inland from the Water of Leith to cut out Dean Village before returning to its course.
The coverage area is wider than was expected, with initial suggestions being that it would be limited to the City Centre council ward.
From Wednesday, riders using the Voi app will be able to access 50 dockless electric bikes which will be deployed across the capital.
Fares are set at £0.11 per minute of use, or £6.60 per hour – though the firm has also made discount bundles and subscriptions available.
The north edge of the coverage area roughly follows the Water of Leith, minus cuts inland to avoid Dean Village and part of Stockbridge.
Around Powderhall, the boundary heads south along McDonald Road and Brunswick Road, before reaching Easter Road.
It then goes down Easter Road, before running south across Holyrood Park to a point west of St Margaret’s Loch.
After that, it goes around Queen’s Drive, until reaching the University of Edinburgh’s Pollock Halls, which it circles to reach Dalkeith Road.
Going west, it follows Salisbury Road, Salisbury Place, Grange Court, Sciennes Road and Warrender Park Road, before carving out the south end of the Links.
Completing the boundary of the coverage area, it runs up Viewforth, along Dundee Street, and then in a roughly straight line between Murdoch Terrace and Magdelena Crescent.
Edinburgh Council bosses and the firm have both said the scheme will expand, in coverage area and number of bikes, with demand.
Voi, who will run the scheme at no cost to the council, have said they can put out up to 800 bikes by New Year’s if the demand is there.
Bosses at the firm have said they will avoid the same fate as Edinburgh’s last cycle hire scheme, which collapsed under the cost of maintenance and vandalism.
Bikes were often thrown in the Water of Leith or other bodies of water, and that scheme – which was also meant to run at no cost – ended up costing ratepayers £1.8 million.
Managers have said that Voi’s bikes are sturdier than those used by the old Just Eat scheme, and have benefited from technological advances since its failure four years ago.
And, they told the Local Democracy Reporting service two weeks ago that they have plans for if more bikes end up in the Water of Leith.
Voi UK general manager James Bolton said: “If we do find ourselves in a situation where one has been thrown into the river, if it is safe we will retrieve it ourselves.
“However, if it’s something where we need to partner with a third party diving firm to do that, that’s something we’ve done over the years as well.”
He also said Edinburgh was not unique in having vandals target hire bikes, and that every city “thinks their own behaviour is worse than others”.
Mr Bolton said that the company’s bikes had been in use in other cities across the UK for years, in other schemes it runs, with no issue.
The rollout has happened quickly, with the council only choosing Voi as the preferred operator for the scheme in the past few weeks.
It had long been thought that the council would go with a larger provider, such as Dott or Lime, which have extensive operations in the UK.
Voi runs cycle hire schemes in Liverpool, Northampton, and parts of London, among other parts of the country.
And it was recently selected to run Glasgow’s new cycle hire scheme, replacing the incumbent nextbike service.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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