By Tony Moore
Brisbane's bike-hire scheme will move into gear today when tenders go out to build the first of the 150 bike parking stations between St Lucia and Newstead.
Brisbane City Council has revealed the locations of the first batch of parking stations, which will go out to tender this morning.
Construction will begin in May, and the first of Brisbane's 2000 hire bikes could be in operation by September.
Cyclists who have pre-registered will be able to use the bikes free of charge for the first 30 minutes, or $11 for the first two hours.
Public Transport committee chair Jane Prentice said she expected the first hire bikes would be operating "in the second half of the year".
Cr Prentice said advertising would cover the operating cost of the scheme, but ratepayers also contribute around $1 million this year.
She said under this contract, Brisbane City Council would also receive a share of income - understood to be about 20 per cent - once the revenue from the bike hire scheme reached a certain level.
It is understood the scheme is predicted to generate about $9 million profit over the next 20 years.
Cr Prentice said "City Lights" panels - which would sit next to the actual bike hire station - would provide information about the scheme.
"The City Lights are like our bus stop signs," she said.
"They stand next next to the actual bike hire station, where one side is advertising and the other side is local information about where the next bike station is."
Brisbane's public bike hire scheme will be the first of its kind in Australia.
We are also contributing towards the cost of the infrastructure - and that was in the budget figures last year around $1 million - so we are helping there.
Operator JC Decaux already runs them in several cities including Paris, Barcelona and, most recently, Dublin.
People wanting to hire the bikes must pre-register and get a swipe card, which they can them use at any location around the inner-city.
The remaining 35 bike hire stations will go to tender late this year.
Once the scheme is operational, people wanting to use the bikes could buy a swipe card for $55 a year, $25 a quarter, or $10 a day.
As long as the bicycle was returned to one of the locations within 30 minutes, there would be no extra charges.