E-bike scheme peddled to Brisbane council ‘would have cost a bomb’

“The proposal that was put forward … would have cost a bomb. [It] would have cost a bomb to introduce electric bikes into the existing CityCycle scheme.

“So, it was, effectively: ‘You want electric bikes? Fine. Millions and millions upon millions to do that.'”

A council report submitted to the December 3 council meeting noted JCDecaux’s original proposal to replace CityCycle with e-bikes required the council to pay “significant” capital costs.

The council considered terminating the CityCycle contract early, but with 10 years still to run, the estimated costs would be too high, according to council documents.

In July, JCDecaux offered to end the CityCycle contract and remove the bikes and docking stations. In exchange, the company would…