Vandalism & theft: How You Can Help
The lifeblood of the city’s cycle hire scheme is you: our users and the people of Edinburgh who live in the communities where our bikes are.
In recent weeks we’ve noticed a spike in theft and vandalism of our fleet. As a first priority we are working with Police Scotland to detect, catch and prosecute people who are flagrantly abusing our bikes. But in order to protect our scheme and the people who use it from anti-social behavior, we need your continued support.
We have invested significantly in pedal bikes and physical stations in Edinburgh and Transport for Edinburgh, through grant funding, have been funding the additional expansion of the scheme.
This vandalism and theft occurs all over the network and it continues despite our efforts to reduce the chances of it happening. We have completed the following actions to try and ensure that the chances of it occurring are limited:
· Reviewed all stations, with updated risk assessments, to ensure bikes are located in areas with good lighting, lots of passing traffic and CCTV (where possible).
· Hired roving security patrols at times when vandalism has peaked.
· Increased our operational staff in order to manage bike collections and attending to stations more regularly.
Despite these actions and ongoing improvements to security, vandalism & theft is continuing — especially by young teenagers. This type of criminal activity affects the number of bikes available to Users on the street and the performance of the scheme for end-users. At worst, it could affect the viability of the Scheme. In particular it could affect the appetite for the scheme to continue to grow at the pace it has been and into residential areas where it is needed.
How you can help
In order for the Scheme to continue to deliver the great service that is does for Edinburgh, we are seeking your help (our users and members of the community) in order to help us fight the actions of a few that are ruining the benefit for the majority.
If you see one of the following things, please report it to the Police by calling 101:
· Someone stealing or vandalising a bike.
· Someone riding a bike with flashing blue and red front lights.
· Someone riding a bike with no lights on.
Please take photos and/or videos as well as calling the Police via 101 in order to report the activity for what it is, a crime.
In addition if you see a bike that has been dumped or left somewhere inappropriate please contact us (support@edinburghcyclehire.com or 0131 278 3000) with the following information:
· Name & Number of Bike
· Picture of Bike
· Location
One of our team can then come and collect the bike, and return it to our workshop for some TLC.
We thank you for your continued support.
The Just Eat Cycles team
