Regional transport forum

Ten years of public bike hire

talkweaver.app/examples/bike-hire-handout
Regional transport forum

Ten years of public bike hire

What a decade of trip data shows

City Transport Team
14 May 2026

The decade in numbers

Trips have grown every year since 2016

Steepest rises: 2018, the station opens; 2022, e-bikes arrive.

0.40.71.21.51.31.82.42.72.93.12016201720182019202020212022202320242025

Who rides

  • Commuters38 · 38%
  • Students27 · 27%
  • Visitors19 · 19%
  • Errands and leisure16 · 16%

Three numbers to remember

3.1mtrips in 2025
412bikes in service
7 minmedian trip time

Stations

Three kinds of station

Row of hire bikes at a street station in Taipei

Taipei: a long row beside the footpath

Docking stations on a cobbled square in Paris

Paris: docks on the square

Hire bikes on a pavement plaza in Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes: bays by the transport hub

Two lanes

A cyclist on a green lane in Chicago

Chicago: a green painted lane

Cyclists on a wide street in Copenhagen

Copenhagen: a lane beside the traffic

Four stations to compare

Paris

Chicago

Brisbane

Seoul

Six cities, six kinds of station

Taipei

Paris

Milton Keynes

Chicago

Brisbane

Seoul

Station pictures with no layout named

How it works

From dock to dock

1Unlock
2Ride
3Dock
4Rebalance
5Service

What every station needs

  • A dock for each bike, with a spare
  • A map and a price list
  • Lighting and a camera
  • A neighbour who agrees to it

What riders ask for

  • Bikes that are there when I arrive
  • A safe lane for the whole trip
  • A price I can work out in advance
  • A dock near the door
  • Help when something breaks

What the analysis used

  • OpenStreetMap
  • Python
  • GitHub
  • Slack

When the city rides

Pick weekday or weekend. The two peaks on a weekday are the commute.

Over to you

Break

Back at 11:15. Coffee is in the foyer.

Talk to your neighbour

Which journey in your town would you swap for a bike if the dock were at the door?

How did you get here today?

Audience pollSingle choice

How did you get here today?

  1. AWalked
  2. BHire bike
  3. COwn bike
  4. DBus or train
  5. ECar
Choose one answer.

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Where should the next ten stations go?

Audience pollBoard

Where should the next ten stations go?

Add a place and say why in a few words. One idea per card.

  1. Near homes0

  2. Near work and study0

  3. Near transport hubs0

Add up to 5 cards, 140 characters each.

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Take the survey

Tell us where the next ten stations should go.

example.org/bike-hire/survey

Thank you

talkweaver.app/examples/bike-hire-handout
Regional transport forum

Thank you

Questions and the survey are at the link

City Transport Team
14 May 2026