The Inverclyde e-bike hire scheme has been established to demonstrate:

1. How to accelerate uptake and use of e-bikes in the Inverclyde community
2. Better understand the barriers holding back e-bike use in Inverclyde
3. How to create a scheme that is self-sustainable

Our pilot project is creating a self-sustainable e-bike hire scheme that can be expanded across Inverclyde, and beyond.

We choose to work with Glasgow based AddJam in developing the web application ebikes.scot, which facilitates the booking and management of our e-bike hire scheme. It has been built in such a way that it can be scaled and be used in additional locations.

We choose to use Facebook’s Account Kit authorisation system that sends security codes via text message to mobile phone numbers, meaning that users do not need to have an email address or remember a password to use the app. This method was selected to make the project more accessible to those who may not use email or have a high degree of computer-literacy, whereas, we have found that most people we are engaging with have access to a mobile phone. Bookings can be made from a smartphone or a computer; the only thing that a user requires is a mobile phone to receive text messages with confirmation codes. We hope that this approach will make the system easier to access for a wider range of people, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

We are working with our enthusiastic delivery partner, Cloch Housing Association, based in Greenock and who have a readymade user group in their tenants, home owners and staff.

We have completed a series of training events with the five person volunteer delivery team based around four key areas:

1. Familiarising the team with the model of e-bikes we will use, ensuring the controls and functionality are understood along with other key elements such a battery charging, storage and security.
2. Leading a course of on-road cycling skills training involving several sessions aimed at to up-skilling the team’s bike handling and riding confidence.
3. Designing and implementing an on-site system for check-out and check-in of bikes when users with pre-bookings arrive to collect.
4. Ensuring that each team member is able to use and understand the booking web app in order that they can help and advise the user group.

The initial version of the web-app required users to create a log-in online and then go to the Cloch Housing Association office to verify they are a Cloch Housing Association customers, providing a proof of address or photo ID before they could book-out a bike. We have since streamlined the system to take a provisional booking and then verification of identity will be taken at the time of initial rental collection.

We were supported by Nesta with an external User Experience (UX) consultant, Wojtek Kutyla, who helped us to improve the experience of booking out a bike and gave us valuable information and tools to better understand our user’s needs. This helped us to identify an issue and to implement a new ‘status’ setting for the bikes that would automatically update if returns were overdue, if a booking had been missed, or if the bike was unavailable due to being serviced.

From the outset, we wanted to create a heat map of riding activity using a GPS tracking system. There have been 2 areas of concern; the first being the cost, the second is about maintaining the privacy of users and ensuring that journeys taken are not routinely monitored without due consent. To manage this, we have ensured that our booking system and our GPS system are completely separate. While this method is a little cumbersome it will allow us to develop a heat map of use within the area without identifying the user and thus maintaining confidentiality. In longer term development this is an area which will need to be a more intuitive solution.

The Trust has several buildings in Inverclyde, but none with suitable storage or in a suitably central location to allow the pilot to function smoothly. Initially, therefore, we were concerned about finding the right delivery partner as we felt that we needed to place the project at the heart of the community physically as well as figuratively.

In the end, finding our partner was painless as the team at Cloch Housing Association understood the aims of our pilot immediately and understood how it ties in with some broader health and welfare programmes that they were already working on. They also had a ready group of staff who would volunteer to support the activity and a management team who positively encourage their staff to get involved. Their physical location is in central Greenock and they would help us to promote the activity to their tenants and owners group.

We had the pleasure of a visit from Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, to our project at Cloch Housing Association in August.

During his visit, the Cabinet Secretary was able to book out a bike and meet the various staff and consultants involved in the project.

Mr Mathieson said: “The Scottish Government believes that there is huge potential for the collaborative sharing economy to contribute to a fairer, more socially and environmentally responsible economy in Scotland. That is why we have invested £238,000 to deliver the ShareLab Scotland programme. Concluding this November, we will share key lessons and challenges in delivering collaborative economy initiatives at a local level, in order to support future innovation in this sector."