Hi-Bike’s e-bike scheme in Inverness has been restarted following its suspension last month due to what was described as “an obscene amount of vandalism”. The capacity will be approximately 50% of the original fleet size.
Hi-Bike said the vandalism had caused approximately £100,000 of damage to its bikes, and that all but about six to eight bikes out of 50 had been damaged.
Chris Finlay, project manager at HiTrans, told the Inverness Courier the reintroduction will be a “soft launch,” with new measures to prevent further vandalism. The bikes’ basket size has been reduced to stop them being used to carry passengers, and security measures have been introduced to mitigate bikes being stolen.
A message on Hi-Bike’s website reads: “Hi-Bike will be returning to the streets of Inverness on 31/7/24. This will be at a reduced capacity of approx 50% of the original fleet size.
“The customer service opening hours will be extended to 20:00 - 7 days a week for anyone who needs to report any issues or witnesses any misuse. Thanks for your patience!”
Finlay said: “We have managed to repair all the bikes over the past weeks, however we will reintroduce them gradually to the network so that we have more available in case any need to be substituted.
“We have reduced the basket size to stop them being used to carry passengers. We have also introduced security measures in the bikes and the docking stations to mitigate bikes being stolen.”
The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (Hitrans), which set up the scheme in 2021, said there had been a "huge surge" in vandalism since the Easter holidays, as well as incidents involving young people sitting in the bikes’ baskets.
A Hi-Bike Facebook post said the scheme had spoken to Police Scotland to provide information on the acts of vandalism. The Fort William Hi-Bike system remained open.
Finlay added: “We hope we will gradually go back to full capacity. We have also been working with Police Scotland to identify the people carrying out the acts of vandalism in the first place, and we will be working with Inverness City Centre BID, Highland Council and ScotRail to promote the scheme and reduce the amount of vandalism on our bikes.”
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