Manchester’s experiment with Mobike has come to an end after a little over twelve months.
The Chinese Company behind the scheme cited continued vandalism as one of the main reasons behind its departure.
In a statement, the Company said:
“We are very grateful to the City of Manchester to have been the first city in Europe to welcome Mobike. However, after careful evaluation, we have decided to remove our bikes and refund our users. As a private company, we have a duty to ensure our revenues cover our costs since unlike some operators we do not use taxpayer money to help balance our books. Unfortunately the circumstances in Manchester have not made this possible.
We want to thank the people of Manchester, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Police and the City Council for all their support. We have all learnt valuable lessons that will help cities continue to make urban life more sustainable, more active and more healthy through cycling.
We are already processing refunds to our users in Manchester, and advising people to check their bank statements. The refunds may take a day or two to arrive.”
Mobike launched in Manchester in July 2017, with Mancunians taking some 250,000 trips,
cycling over 180,000 miles. However, during the summer Mobike suffered increased bike
losses dues to theft and vandalism in the city.
Mobike will conduct a full review of its time in Manchester, and intends to submit a
proposal to the City of Manchester to offer an alternative affordable future model for
bikesharing that could be relaunched in partnership with the local authorities.
The scheme has been beset by problems from the start with bikes ending up in canals, being stripped of their parts and being recovered from outside the city centre area.
Users have found problems with the app,which they download and employs GPS technology to show them where the nearest available bicycle can be found. They then scan a QR code to release a lock.
