Hundreds of bikes in cycle-hire scheme went missing

The West Midlands Cycle Hire project was launched in 2021

Three hundred bikes from a cycle-hire scheme have gone missing and another 280 need repairs, it has been revealed.

The West Midlands Cycle Hire project, operated for the region's combined authority by contractor Serco, was launched in 2021.

The authority said that since April last year, the cost for vandalism and repairs was £316,000.

Sums were up eightfold in the three months to June 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier, a report stated.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) document said about 780 bikes were available to the scheme in October last year, "well below the required targets" and this was a direct result of vandalised and missing bikes.

The figure had since recovered to more than 1,000, as of 30 January, and was predicted to be back to more than 1,100 by the end of March.

'Recovery plan'

It would take about four months to complete work to put the 281 bikes awaiting repair back into service, the authority said.

In a statement to the BBC, the authority's Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) body said a "full mitigation and recovery plan" was in place and proving "very successful" in recovering many bikes that went missing.

TfWM added that itself and Serco were also working closely with police to tackle issues, with the operator committing additional resources to help with recoveries.

Such issues had been "a challenge for cycle hire schemes nationally and internationally", it stated.

A spokesperson said: "Since launching the hire scheme in 2021, backed by Government funding, the level of use in Birmingham and Coventry particularly has exceeded original expectations."