Herefordshire Council has been successfully awarded £1.5m from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Access Fund to implement active travel measures across Hereford city. A key element of this project is to implement a public bike share scheme,’HereBikes’.

This report seeks approval to proceed with a preferred delivery model for a Hereford city based public bike share scheme.  

That:

(a)   A ‘dock less bike share scheme’ be procured at a value of approximately £165k;  and

(b)  that no more than £160k of grant funding from the DfT (with prior agreement from the DfT) is used for public realm enhancements to facilitate the delivery of a free floating bike share scheme in the city.

1.            A docking station based bike share scheme for Hereford City procured at an estimated cost of £280k for initial implementation with annual running costs in the region of £30k.

The c. £280k would be used for the purchase and installation of bike share bikes and associated docking stations.

The scheme would cost in the region of £30k p/a to operate for the lifetime of the scheme (a guide figure provided by local authorities of similar size with similar sized bike share schemes). This annual cost would cover the cost of maintenance, repair and replacement of the bikes, as well as redistribution of the bikes around the city where necessary.

Through usage fees and any sponsorship that could be gained, the scheme should aim to be self-sustaining in three years, there is risk that if this was not achieved there would be need for ongoing financial support of the scheme, or if this was not possible to end the scheme and remove it from the city.

This option is not recommended due to the high initial set up costs and ongoing cost implications to the council.

2.            Do nothing – Herefordshire Council would not meet the objectives of the DfT Access Fund. A bike share scheme will help to deliver Destination Hereford 3 (DH3) which is a part of our Local Transport Plan (LTP) by aiding the move away from cars and onto public transport, bicycles or walking, reducing congestion on the roads around the city and improving the air quality within the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). This option carries great reputational risk and may jeopardise future funding applications to the DfT.