A change to the BTN BikeShare tariff will come into effect in April.
From Friday 1 April, the cost of hiring a BTN BikeShare bike will increase by a penny from 3p per minute to 4p per minute. There is no change to the £1 unlock fee.
The change will mainly affect those using the scheme’s ‘Easy Rider’ pricing option, but will also apply to those with an annual membership once they have exceeded their daily 30 minute allowance.
This means the cost of a typical 20-minute BTN BikeShare journey will increase from £1:60 to £1:80. This is still cheaper than many other UK bikeshare schemes offering pedal only bike hire rather than ebikes.
A £5 increase to the scheme’s annual membership came into effect earlier this year.
The tariff increase is the scheme’s first since 2019 and only the second since it was launched in September 2017. It will ensure its viability as it moves towards a reorganisation in the next 12 months.
The city is about to publish a tender for this reorganisation which will mean a larger fleet, of which at least 60% will be e-bikes with the potential to expand to neighbouring local authorities.
Earlier this year Brighton & Hove City Council invested £80,000 from its own surplus share reserves from the scheme into refurbishing some of the fleet’s broken bikes and partially refurbishing others
BTN BikeShare remains a very popular form of travel around Brighton & Hove for residents, visitors and commuters with a choice of 563 bikes docked at 86 hubs across the city.
Since it launched, users have cycled over 3.5 million miles.
Councillor Steve Davis, Co-Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee said: “BTN BikeShare remains very popular and a community asset the city should be very proud of.
“The tariff increase is important ahead of an exciting next step for making BikeShare bigger and better. We’ll have at least 60% of the fleet as e-bikes with the possibility of it being expanded into other local authorities.
“BTN BikeShare still offers excellent value for money and is an affordable and sustainable option for moving around Brighton & Hove."
