The cycle-sharing scheme Mobike UK has cut Gosforth and High West Jesmond from its operating area in Newcastle.
The announcement of the reduced operating area in Newcastle came in September 2018.
Users of the mobile app were presented with a new map of the operating area when they logged in on their smartphones.
Mobike UK launced with a fanfare in October 2017.
Having expanded the initial area of operating in February 2018 to include High West Jesmond, Gosforth and other areas in the north of Newcastle upon Tyne, the latest change severly restricts the operational area in the city.
Read our Feb 2018 article: Mobike extends to High West Jesmond & Gosforth
Mobike previously expanded to Gosforth & High West Jesmond
Mobike UK itself issued a blog posting in Feb 2018 promoting its expansion in Newcastle noting that it was:
“expanding its successful scheme in Newcastle to respond to increasing demand from the city and its residents.”
“The expansion follows discussions between Mobike, local authorities and councils. Newcastle has made significant investment in cycling infrastructure in recent years, thanks to it becoming one of the UK’s eight ‘Cycle Cities’ and its ambition to support sustainable travel. New cycle lanes and routes, both inside and out of the city centre, make Newcastle a perfect Mobike city.”
Now High West Jesmond & Gosforth are cut out from cycle scheme
Removing High West Jesmond and Gosforth means that residents can no longer take advantage of bikes in their local area.
At one point the cycle racks at the Ilford Road Metro station (platform towards the coast and airport) regularly had the distinctive orange Mobikes available, as illustrated in the photo below from 2 August 2018.
However, despite the fine weather, for much of the school summer holidays there were no orange Mobikes available at all at Ilford Road Metro station – the picture on 4 August 2018 illustrates the lack of bikes.
Our Twitter account @highwestjesmond notified Mobike UK of the lack of bikes at Ilford Ropad Metro station on 4 August 2018 and we received a reply that stated “thanks for letting us know – we will get bikes back to this area soon”.
The shrinkage in the operating area in Newcastle in Sept 2018 follows a decision by Mobike UK to withdraw completely from Manchester.