You may be wondering what happened to Nextbike, Auckland’s public bike hire company, after they went off the streets some 2 years ago due to disagreements with the former Council about their operating model.
Below, there’s a some news directly from them – it’s good to hear the bikes aren’t just gathering dust somewhere, and are instead still being ridden, even if it’s not as easy to hop on as it was.
Hello Nextbike Riders
The new financial year has rolled around and we realised it’d been too long since we told you what we’ve been up to. We still have bikes available at a number of locations in Auckland, as well as a couple of public locations. In particular T.Whites Bikes on 132 Symonds Street… these guys have a sweet new store that opened this week that sells all kinds of bicycle goodies for you everyday cyclists. Our bikes are also available from Auckland City Hotel on 157 Hobson Street, who continue to lead and innovate in the area of sustainable accommodation. We understand that Auckland Transport is now ready to tender for the creation of the business case for public bike in the next month. Their would still be a number of steps after that, but it’s progress.
This summer has been busy with projects to get more people cycling more often. We have been working together with the Cycling Advocates Network, BikeNZ and the NZ Transport Agency to get bus drivers and cyclist talking and riding together, rather than shouting at each other through windows. We have worked with HP, Westpac and Fluid City to make bikes available at a number of high profile events. And in collaboration with Auckland Transport we have made bikes available to Botany Town Centre staff, Manurewa Police, various District Health Boards and the parents at a local school in Mangere that are involved in the very cool http://www.bikeon.co.nz/
This work has been fantastically varied and we have met some great people. We have also started work with a partner in Christchurch who along with University of Canterbury Accommodation provider, Campus Living Villages, are making bikes available to their +800 students for free. It’s this kind of thinking and clever partnerships that will see the Garden City bloom again.
You might prefer to keep up to date through www.facebook.com/NextbikeRider or www.twitter.com/NextbikeRider. Ride safe.
Your Nextbike Team
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To be aboveboard, we should disclose that the founder of Nextbike in recent times has become a committee member of Cycle Action Auckland. He is also very active in general cycle advocacy.
