As the city’s bike hire scheme comes to a close this month, Alt.Cardiff asks just how bike-friendly Cardiff really is?
The OY Bike station at City Hall. The scheme will end on 23 December unless a commercial sponsor is found
In the depths of a Welsh winter, cycling is perhaps not the preferred mode of transport. Yet despite the deterrents imposed by the wind and relentless drizzle on this particularly depressing Tuesday, five of the 12 bikes at the OY Bike station outside City Hall are in use.
Cardiff’s bike hire scheme has proved a popular addition to the cityscape, aiding its 2,000 members make more than 11,000 journeys round the city since its launch in September 2009. Part of the Sustainable Travel City initiative, the Council-backed scheme was tapped to reduce traffic congestion, become an icon of the city centre, not to mention prove a viable business venture. However funding issues have forced the company behind the scheme to lock up its bikes for good.
Having provided financial backing for the scheme since its launch in 2009, Cardiff City Council gave notice that it would not be funding OY Bike into its third year back in 2010. And having been unable to secure a commercial sponsor, OY Bike Cardiff has been forced to cut its losses and terminate its contract early.
The sudden halt of the scheme is a blow for the Council’s Sustainable Travel City initiative, which holds cycling as integral to its agenda, having implemented a strategic cycle network plan and hired a cycle officer to represent the interests of cyclists. In a statement issued when OY Bike announced its decision in November, Cllr Neil McEvoy described the end of the scheme as frustrating and regretful.
Sustainable Travel City
The Sustainable Travel City initiative represented a £28.5 million investment from the Welsh Assembly and Council back in 2009, which paved the way for projects such as the OY Bike scheme. According to Adam Garrett, operations manager at OY Bike, his company was able to develop a bike scheme in Cardiff thanks to this support. “Unfortunately I think the UK market’s a bit immature in terms of bike schemes,” he explained. “Cardiff was the council that was up for it, had some funding and was a nice city to work with.”
Providing the bike scheme certainly represented a positive step by the Council. Despite being forced to withdraw the Cardiff scheme, Adam is keen to emphasise the support his company has received. “The Council has always been pro-sustainability and I think still are. It’s just unfortunate the funding’s been cut,” he said.
Still, it was not without its critics. “I think that particular scheme was quite badly thought out to begin with,” explains Sam Coates, Green Party candidate for Cathays ward, adding that the size of Cardiff, combined with the locations of the bike stations, left the network flawed. “Cardiff is quite compact, so the benefits are probably not as big as somewhere like London or Birmingham. But I think it would have worked out better than it has if it had been thought out properly, within the framework of a whole city transport plan.”
OY Bike was just one of the a number of steps taken by the Council to improve sustainable transport in Cardiff, which included expanding the cycle network and developing public transport infrastructure. However, many feel they are not going far enough to make Cardiff a truly sustainable travel hub. City resident Ceri Jones, 30, uses his bike as his primary mode of transport. According to Ceri, while cycling in Cardiff is practical, insufficient bike docks and poorly implemented cycle paths prove a daily frustration. “Basically there’s two arguments,” he explains. “You either have to make the roads more friendly, which means altering the behaviour of motorists, or you have to have entirely segregated cycle lanes.”
Despite the current shortcomings in the infrastructure, the future is looking bright for cycling in Cardiff as it remains a focus for local government. “It’s good that they’re making progress,” says Ceri. “They’ve hired a bike officer and they’re actually listening to us. [But] I think it needs significant investment.”
According to Cllr McEvoy, the council is currently in process of creating a new cycle network to support both commuter and leisure cyclists. In Sam’s opinion, the work taken to improving cycle corridors, such as the development of the Pont y Werin bridge, has proved a good development to the city’s sustainable transport network.
And while Ceri believes a culture shift is needed to improve the cycle facilities in the city, he says he has noticed a significant increase in the number of cyclists on Cardiff’s roads, which he believes leads to a decrease in accidents as drivers become more aware.
Unfortunately for its 2,000 users though, without a sponsor OY Bike will no longer be part of Cardiff’s sustainable future, and it looks likely that those yellow bike stations will soon remain empty for good.
