Issue - meetings

Question No. 1

Question From:

Councillor Alan Amos

Question to:

Councillor Riaz, Deputy Leader

Question:

Following the introduction of the Beryl bike scheme, what monitoring will take place to ensure users do not cycle along the pavement getting to and from the parking locations and what monitoring will be undertaken to ensure the pick-up/drop-off locations cause no danger to pedestrians and motorists; and can he assure me that no taxpayers' money at all will be used to subsidise the scheme?

Answer:

Thank you to the Member for his questions, I’ll go through them question by question if that’s okay?

Question 1 - Cycling on pavements is in breach of the Highway Code, which applies to all road users and all cyclists, whether riding a Beryl bike or not, and is enforceable by the Police. There are no specific plans to monitor pavement cycling, although rides are tracked and the data could be made available to the Police, if required. The bays are adjacent to roads and cycle paths and so there is no need or incentive for cyclists to ride along pavements.

Question 2 - The locations of bays have been selected to ensure that they do not cause any obstruction of the highway, and our officers have worked closely with colleagues at County Highways to ensure that this is the case. The bikes are GPS tracked and so Beryl can monitor their locations at all times, and local operatives can relocate bikes to support demand as well as identifying any bikes that may be parked outside of the bay. Parking out of the bay incurs an additional charge of £10, which encourages riders to end their rides at a designated bay. City Council officers will continue to monitor the scheme as part of a routine contract monitoring.

Question 3 - The bikeshare scheme is part of the Worcester Town Investment Plan as approved by Policy and Resources Committee back in January 2021. The business case for the scheme was approved by Policy and Resources in March 2022, and subsequently signed off by Government with a Towns Fund Grant allocation of £700k, which included subsidising the cost of setting up the scheme and the Council’s ongoing contract management costs. Beryl were procured through a competitive process to deliver the scheme and their proposed financial model did not include any provision for additional support. There are no further budget allocations for this scheme. Thank you.

Supplementary Question:

I thank Councillor Riaz for his answer. I specifically asked about enforcement because the criminal behaviour of cycling on pavements, and particularly in the pedestrianised city centre, is now out of control given that the police have chosen not to enforce the law, and the Council doesn’t enforce it either, even though both these agencies could and should do so. Therefore, would Councillor Riaz join with me in campaigning for it to be made a legal requirement for all bikes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29