Half of the bikes have been stolen or vandalised and people who work for the scheme have been abused and attacked
Nextbike are halting their OVO Bikes scheme for the rest of the year due to high levels of vandalism, theft of bikes and aggression towards staff members.
Today, nextbike piled damaged bikes outside Cardiff Castle to draw attention to the scale of the problem. Over half of the Cardiff fleet of 1,030 have either been stolen or damaged so much that they had to be scrapped.
Krysia Solheim, managing director of nextbike UK, said: “The amount of vandalism and theft that we have seen is simply staggering and not something we’ve experienced to the same extent anywhere else in the UK.”
Vandalism has included bikes being set on fire, broken in half, and thrown into rivers. Staff members have also faced abuse while recovering bikes in Cardiff, with recent incidents including a member of staff being urinated on and another being chased with a shovel.
“It’s just really heart-breaking for all of us and we’re all quite gutted that it has come to this point,” Ms Solheim said.
“We definitely are committed to staying and working on the issue but we do need everybody’s support.”
The bike rental scheme will be suspended from November 15 while the company repairs damaged bikes and acquires more in order to relaunch in early 2022.
However, Ms Solheim said: ‘If vandalism and theft continue at this rate, we will have no other choice but to pull the scheme permanently or significantly reduce the current network.’
More than 300 bikes have been stolen since the start of the scheme in 2018 with 130 of the thefts happening since August this year. 260 bikes have been scrapped due to damage.
“If you can identify a stolen bike and you try and retrieve the bike from someone on the street, you will get some abuse,” said Andy Barnes, who works for nextbike redistributing bikes.
He told the Cardiffian that, though he personally had not faced too much hostility, a colleague had been attacked from behind while trying to retrieve a bike from a group of young teenagers and lost part of his ear.
“It’s just a minority that have spoilt it – and they have literally spoilt the scheme,” he said.
Inspector Darren Grady of South Wales Police said: “Abuse of nextbike employees, theft and vandalism will not be tolerated and our Neighbourhood Policing Teams are extremely proactive in arresting those responsible.
“In the city centre alone, nine people have recently been convicted at court for such offences resulting in prison sentences, fines and community work.”
A similar bike rental scheme in Edinburgh run by Serco was shut down in August after it also sustained significant vandalism.
