Co Bikes hire scheme unveil new ‘dockless’ sites

The expansion of Exeter’s Co Bikes, the UK’s first on-street city electric bike hire scheme, continues with three new dockless sites for the city.

The new stations, which need no fixed infrastructure for bikes to be locked into, are being trialled at the junction of Magdalen Road and College Road, in Digby Park & Ride and outside Chapel Platt Surgery in Topsham.

Instead of a docking station, the bikes are rented and returned within a virtual geofenced space. Customers simply push the Co Bike into, or as close as possible to, the rack then lock the bike and end their hire via the nextbike app.

To help easily identify exactly where to leave a Co Bike at the end of a hire, each dockless station features a bright orange ‘toast rack’ style bike rack.

The new locations are part of Devon County Council’s plans to increase access to walking and cycling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cycling levels have increased since the pandemic began and use of the Co Bike network is up by more than 400 per cent this year.

Co Bikes was launched in 2016 and now has just under 50 bikes at 13 sites with more than 1700 active members registered up to end of September 2020.