£150k E-Bikes Scheme To Come Under Spotlight At Full Council

Pembrokeshire County Council’s £150,000 e-bikes scheme, which got off to a rocky start with limited availability at weekends and bikes unavailable to hire in Haverfordwest ‘due to required repairs’ is to come under the spotlight next week.

Introduced in April, the bikes – positioned in Fishguard and Goodwick, Haverfordwest and Tenby – proved problematic within weeks when fears of vandalism by revellers and mischief-makers forced the authority to cut down their weekend night time availability hours.

And one disgruntled cyclist found himself with a £57 bill – later refunded – when his E-bike refused to re-start and had to be transported by car.

In June, the council reported that the E-bikes were currently unavailable to hire in Haverfordwest ‘due to required repairs’.

In a post on Facebook, the authority said: “We will update in due course when they have been returned and are ready to ride.

“The E-bikes remain available for hire at the other project trial sites of Tenby and Fishguard and Goodwick.”

The E-bikes are maintained by the scheme provider, Zipp Mobility, with the trial made possible by funding from South West Wales Metro.

The post attracted more than 60 comments, with a number of people wondering if the repairs are needed because of vandalism.

Commented one: “Disgusting the way people abuse them…better off not giving them to a lot of people.”

And another said: “It’s amazing how many kids can get on one of them in one go, seeing is believing!”

Another claimed that youngsters ‘have found a way to use them for free’ .

The scheme was also described as ‘a white elephant and ‘a waste of money’.

But it is not without its fans.

Pembrokeshire County Council said in May that the scheme had got off to a ‘fantastic start’ and one happy E-cyclist posted: “Love these!! Use them a lot.”

In a submitted question to be heard and answered at the October 17 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, Councillor Rhys Jordan will ask: “Can the Cabinet Member for Resident Services [Cllr Rhys Sinnett] provide usage figures and an update on the progress of the 12-month e-bike scheme that was launched in April of this year?”