Get on your bikes: Gold Coast to get new ride share scheme as council goes to tender

Gold Coast residents can expect to see hundreds of brightly coloured bikes back on the streets before long after an announcement today.

A BIKE share scheme similar to the one which operated during the Commonwealth Games could be up and running on Gold Coast cycleways by the summer holidays.

Councillors after debating in closed session today backed an officer’s report which recommended the city go to the market to seek a contract for the supply, management and maintenance of a bike share scheme.

Some of the bikes used in the first bike share scheme. Picture: Mike Batterham.

But for the operator to get a tick from council, it will have to be at no cost to the ratepayer.

The report said a contract to Transit Australia Group was terminated on June 30 following Meituan Dianping’s decision to withdraw Mobike from the Gold Coast.

But officers concluded the scheme had been successful and another contract to a new supplier could be offered on a three year timeline.

“Based on previous experience, the City expects the number of operational bikes to be between 750 and 1500 once the scheme is fully operational. This will however be dependent on the model proposed by the tenderers,” the report said.

It is hoped the new scheme will be up and running by the summer. Picture: Ian Currie.

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Officers will set key requirements on the contract including on-street management, and the bikes not causing safety or accessibility issues.

In a bid not to discourage tenders, the council has agreed to the option of power-assisted bicycles.

But councillors were advised these bicycles only helped older riders manage hilly sections of pathways and should not be confused with motorised scooters.

An investigation into the viability, safety and legal operation of ride share e-scooters is expected to be presented to council later this year.

Outside the meeting, Mayor Tom Tate who attended the committee debate said the previous scheme had about 90,000 registered users.

“So from a scheme and a city point of view it was a success. It was the corporate restructuring that they wanted to deploy their asset back in China which was their parent country, and I guess they have more population there and want their bikes back,” Cr Tate told the Bulletin.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is a big supporter of the bike share scheme. Picture: Jerad Williams.

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“I said today we should re-tender and now what we should look at is to re-tender for bikies with the highest technology. It means with your smart phone you can pick which bike you want.”

The Mayor said he hoped the tender process could be sorted across a 12-week period.

“It would be in time for the summer holidays. I’d be happy (for council) to do add-on bike racks,” he said.

Cr Tate said older and less fit residents could choose a battery-assisted bike to get up a hill.

“There’s a big difference. On the motorised scooter, it is a safety issue. You switch a switch and it takes off. The result has shown in Brisbane that a lot of people have gone to hospital because of that,” he said.

“This is a totally different issue. It’s not the speed, it’s really the assistance. With the Mobike scheme with 90,000 registered users, I don’t recall anyone having to go to hospital.”