Copenhagen’s city bikes an expensive failure

Heavy and hard to order and operate, GoBikes would appear to be close to stopping

Copenhagen’s electric-driven GoBike city bike program is proving to be a disaster.

The bikes have proven difficult to use and the few customers who have used them have mostly expressed dissatisfaction.

Morten Kabell, the technical and environmental mayor, has confirmed they will not be replaced.

READ MORE:New city bikes already encountering problems

The wrong choice
Kabell said that the city had simply chosen the wrong company to deliver the bikes.

“They were not up to the task,” Kabell told Berlingske.

Kabell said that the city will most likely not have another city bike program.

“Copenhageners have their own bikes, and the number of hotels supplying bikes has exploded. I don’t think we need to spend millions to compete with them.”

A total failure
GoBike, the company behind the city bikes, has only delivered 424 of the promised 1,860 bikes.

If the company fails to deliver by the April 30 deadline set by Copenhagen Municipality, the fund behind the 88 million kroner project – of which 40 million kroner comes from the city – will be declared bankrupt.

The city will then remove the bikes and 27 of the promised 105 charging stations that have been constructed.

Legal option possible
Kabell does not believe that Gobike will deliver the agreed bikes on time.

“If it happens, I will have to eat my words,” he said.

Kabell not has not ruled out the possibility of legal action.

In the first half of December, the 2014 GoBikes were only used 530 times.

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