Reading council examining potential replacement to ReadyBike

ReadyBike was launched with a £1.2m government grant in 2015

A replacement public bicycle hire scheme is being looked into three years after a previous one failed, a council has revealed.

The ReadyBike scheme allowed cyclists to use bikes in bays across Reading, but ended after struggling financially.

Tony Page, the authority's lead member for transport, said it was "reviewing the potential" for an alternative.

Most of the hire bikes have been repurposed for use by local hotels and businesses, the council said.

ReadyBike began operating in March 2015 but faltered after a central subsidy ended.

By 2017 Reading Borough Council was keeping the scheme running at a cost of £10,000 a month.

When external operator HourBike ended its contract with the council in 2019, 150 out of a total of 200 bikes were put in storage and most were given to hotels and small businesses.

The council has not entirely abandoned the idea of a public hire scheme, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Speaking at a meeting of the full council, Mr Page said: "Bike technology has changed considerably since the introduction of ReadyBike with modern peddle bikes being lighter in weight and easier to for the user to locate, pay, unlock, ride and park and lock.

"Transport officers will continue to review the potential to introduce a new public cycle hire scheme in Reading but, in the absence of public subsidy, any potential operators will have to bear the full cost of start-up capital and subsequent revenue operating costs."

He added that most of the existing bays were still in place.

Conservative group leader Clarence Mitchell said: "It's not right to lock up, hide away, and allow to rust taxpayers assets when the council should be doing everything possible to encourage healthy and environmentally friendly transport solutions around our town."