Public electric bicycle service suspended after sabotage by vandals: ‘It’s disappointing’

An electric bicycle project in Scotland was forced to suspend services in June after significant vandalism.

According to the BBC, the cost of damage to bicycles in Inverness and Fort William has risen to as much as £100,000 ($134,000), with some found crashed and broken and others thrown into local rivers.

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Since the bikes were brought to the north of the country in 2021, HiTrans’ Hi-Bikes had 40,000 rides to its name until the suspension. Access to bicycles was restored at the end of July, although only 50% of the bicycles were made available, partly because some bicycles no longer functioned.

Among the changes made, bicycles were reintroduced with smaller baskets on the front to discourage cyclists from carrying passengers.

Ranald Robinson, HiTrans’s partnership director, noted that this was a particular problem.

“It is disappointing that a small minority of people are abusing the system,” they told the BBC.

“Those who choose to cycle while others are in the basket will have their membership suspended if reported, while all incidents of vandalism will be reported to Police Scotland and the British Transport Police.”

HiTrans project manager Chris Finlay told the Inverness Courier that increased security measures had been introduced for both bikes and docking stations – the latter had also witnessed damage from people trying to force bikes out of the charging technology.

It’s an unfortunate situation that will now hopefully improve, as the plan was quite a success before it was shelved.

As well as giving residents of Inverness and Fort William more freedom to travel, the availability of electric bicycles would likely have prevented some car journeys, helping to reduce the production of planet-warming pollution in the area. National Geographic even cited a study from the University of Oxford showing that using a bicycle instead of a car once a day helps reduce individual transport pollution by 67%.

This would also have improved air quality – with vehicle emissions leading to an increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease for residents – and allowed more opportunities for exercise.

Those who swap their car for a bike – whether it’s an electric one or a fully human-powered car – will find it’s a lot cheaper to ride.

We hope that the bicycles will be treated a little better in the future, given the benefits they bring to the whole community.

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