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Students in the city of Harbourton will soon be able to borrow a bicycle for free, thanks to a new scheme announced by the city council this week.
From the start of the new academic year in September, 800 bicycles will be available at forty stations across the city, including outside both universities, the main library and the central bus station. Students will be able to unlock a bike using an app on their phone and ride it for up to sixty minutes at no cost. Longer journeys will cost fifty pence for every extra thirty minutes.
The scheme is part of the council's plan to reduce traffic in the city centre, where roads are often blocked during the morning rush hour. A survey last year found that almost a third of car journeys in Harbourton are shorter than three kilometres, a distance that most people could easily cycle in about fifteen minutes.
To make cycling safer, the council has also promised to build twelve kilometres of new cycle lanes over the next two years. The first section, along the river between the old bridge and the university, will open in October.
Not everyone is happy with the plan. Some shop owners in the city centre say that the new cycle lanes will take away parking spaces and that customers who drive will stop coming. The council replied that research from other cities shows that people who walk and cycle visit local shops more often, even if they spend less on each visit.
Students, however, have welcomed the news. "At the moment I pay almost £70 a month for the bus," said Tom Reid, a second-year engineering student. "If I can cycle to lectures for free, that's a big saving."
The council says that if the scheme is successful, it may be opened to all residents next year.