The city council is hosting a suppliers’ event for companies hoping to get involved in the hire scheme next Monday, after the project was approved by officials in September. It is thought that cycles will be available at 32 locations. The hire scheme will be entirely privately financed and forms part of the European ‘Civitas Portis’ project.

Hire bicycles are being taken forward in Aberdeen after figures from the Scottish Household Survey 2017 revealed that more than a quarter of homes in Aberdeen do not have access to a car and more than two thirds do not have access to a bicycle.

Aberdeenshire’s electric bike hire project aims to create a series of bike hubs along the former Formartine and Buchan railway line (pictured), with various community partners involved in running each hub. The project forms part of the EU funded LEADER initiative.

“The project aims to support tourism and local communities and it is hoped that the bikes could also be used as part of any ‘social prescribing’ while introducing new riders to e-bike cycling,” says Aberdeenshire Council’s team leader for strategy development Chris Menzies MCIHT.

Council staff have previously taken part in an e-bike loan scheme and the authority has also been loaning an electric cargo bike to local businesses including grocery shops and a pharmacy to demonstrate that short deliveries can be made effectively and at a low cost by bike.

(Photograph: Aberdeenshire Council)