Brisbane to scrap CityCycle scheme as rider numbers collapse

The change means JCDecaux will continue to take revenue from the advertising schemes while not having to fund the CityCycle program.

The council has long eyed electric bikes as replacement for the CityCycle scheme, and on Tuesday public and active transport committee chairman Ryan Murphy confirmed the council would go to tender for 2000 e-bikes next year.

The original contract with JCDecaux was controversial, as then-lord mayor Campbell Newman touted it as cost-neutral, with advertising revenue from CityCycle street furniture and signs used to fund the scheme.

But the program ran at a loss and the council was left subsidising it, costing ratepayers an estimated $13 million by 2017. That has since risen to $16 million.

Patronage peaked in…