Cycle stands that were used near venues during the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will now be permanently located around the city, increasing the number of stations from 31 to 41.
The new stations springing up will mainly be in the south and east of the city following overwhelming feedback from users of the scheme and requests from businesses and the public. They will service transport hubs, interchanges and high footfall areas where demand is expected to be high.
Although the bikes are being used by a wide range of people, it seems commuters are making the most of them Monday to Friday. The most popular cycle station is Glasgow Green, closely followed by Broomielaw and University of Glasgow (west).
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council: “The people of Glasgow – and visitors – have clearly embraced our cycle scheme as is borne out by the hire figures.
“The fact that we are fast approaching 50,000 hires since its launch in nine months is fantastic.
“People of Glasgow and surrounding areas have clearly taken this scheme to their hearts from the extremely positive feedback and numerous requests we have received to provide more stations around the city.
“Two of our legacy aims were to make the city more sustainable and accessible and this scheme fits the bill. Making it easier to get around Glasgow while reducing carbon emissions, leading to an improvement in air quality and giving people ready access to a healthy method of travel.”
The council and NextBike (who operate the network) are also in discussions with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde about expanding the scheme to include stations at hospital sites including the new South Glasgow hospital.
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Glasgow City Council: ‘Next stage for NextBike as Glasgow City Council increases the number of bike stations around the city‘