Bike sharing firm claims vandalism is driving it out of city
Bike-sharing firm Mobike has revealed Manchester could become the first ever city it has pulled out of because of persistent problems with vandalism and theft.
The Chinese firm, which has operations across the world, says that every month 10% of its orange and silver bikes go missing in Manchester.
Many of them are believed to have been dumped in the Manchester Ship Canal by the city’s inhabitants.
Steve Milton, Mobike’s global communications and marketing leader, said the firm has decided to issue a final warning after 2,000 bikes were dumped in canals and waterways across the city in one month.
The pay-to-ride service is now in 200 cities in 19 countries across the world but Manchester could be the first to be axed.
Many bikes have had their locks and GPS tracker units hacked off and dozens have been resprayed.
Mr Milton said: “This is not an idle threat, the losses are not sustainable.
“We are going to have to draw a line under this at some point.”
“Everyone is unhappy with the current situation. Users are unhappy because they can’t find bikes when they want them, the police are unhappy because they’re having to waste time dealing with petty vandalism and we are unhappy because we aren’t delivering the service we want.”
Meanwhile in Manchester… #mobike pic.twitter.com/r5b9yp9N3z
— April Preston ? (@AprilPreston_) April 28, 2018
Mobike has said it will make a final decision at the end of the summer whether to walk away from Manchester.
The company is also considering leaving Newcastle where it has faced similar problems.
Four months ago fines were introduced in a bid to cut down on the thefts.
Chris Boardman, the city’s cycling tsar who recently announced plans to introduce 1,000 miles of safe cycling and walking routes called Beelines, said: “It’s a real shame that a small minority of people have not treated the Mobike scheme with respect.
“Issues with the theft and vandalism of bikes are not unique to Greater Manchester – unfortunately many other cities worldwide have experienced the same problems.”
A Mobike spokesman added: “In cities where there are docked schemes, such as in London where there are Santander bikes, people seem to understand better the concept of public bike-sharing.
“But in London, too, we have discovered there are some areas we have realised are no-go areas, for social reasons. They are areas where, if you put bikes there, they disappear. Maybe in Manchester we see that more because these sorts of areas are nearer the city centre, or in between Manchester and Media City in Salford?”
