Melbourne’s blue bike share scheme scrapped

Melbourne’s blue bike scheme is set to be scrapped, due to lack of use.

The scheme, which costs $2 million a year to run, is being wrapped up after a decade.

The decision comes after findings that each bicycle had, on average, only been used once a day.

Elizabeth Kim, General Manager of Mobility at the RACV, which runs the scheme on behalf of the state government, said several factors reduced public bike patronage in Melbourne.

“Helmets might have been one of them, but really, the free tram zone is … right next door to many of the bike share stations,” she told 3AW’s Ross and John.

“At the end of the day, the bike share scheme was quite small for a city of this size.”

But Ms Kim said the failure of the blue bike scheme doesn’t mean cycling is falling out of favour in the CBD.

“We definitely see a future for bike riding here in the city,” she said.

“There’s certainly scope in the future for different combinations of bikes and other ways of getting around.”

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Click PLAY below to here Edward Hore, President of Australian Cycle Alliance’s, solution