Nextbike in Glasgow broke its record for daily rentals in June as people took to cycling during lockdown.
The bike share operator said it had 1611 hires on June 14, 1716 on June 18 and 1938 on June 20. The monthly total of 32,396 was its second highest after July 2019, at 32,410.
It also signed up 16,876 new customers in June this year bringing the total registered to 72,530.
Nextbike has more than 200 schemes worldwide. Glasgow has 650 standard bikes and 63 e-bikes, with 79 standard stations and 21 electric stations.
Nextbike MD Krysia Solheim said: “We believe the increase in customer numbers and rentals is down to a number of factors, including people’s reluctance to travel on motorised public transport during the pandemic and the fact that we offered free cycling vouchers as a helping hand to key workers across the city.
“We’re hoping that now that people are starting to move around more frequently and freely, they will continue to include cycling as part of their daily lives. By making the simple switch, our customers are helping to reduce carbon emissions and congestion in the city, and are benefitting from the mental and physical health benefits that come with jumping on a bike.”
Cycling Scotland’s nationwide monitoring survey across 97 locations has shown the share of people cycling compared with other forms of transport increased to 3.44% in May 2020.
Its network of automatic cycle counters reported a 62.75% in people cycling in June compared with the same month last year.
