More bikes for Manchester’s towpaths?

One of China’s largest ‘dockless bike-share’ companies, Mobike, which operates 5 million bikes in China, has announced that it will launch their introduction in Manchester and Salford at the end of June, with an initial 1,000 bikes. Users download an app that displays a map with locations of the GPS-enabled bikes, and then use their phones to unlock the cycle. When riders reach their destination, they are free to park it wherever they want, with no need to return it to a fixed docking point. However, despite trying to reduce congestion in cities, dockless bike-share schemes have sometimes contributed to the problem. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said he would keep the scheme under review. “I want to see many more people swapping their cars for bikes. But we’re conscious that our city centre is a complex and busy area already, so Transport for Greater Manchester has been working with Mobike to make sure the service operates in a way that doesn’t inconvenience other road users, pedestrians or city centre traders.” In a radio interview (Radio 4, You & Yours, 19^th June) he commented that there is a possibility of “using old industrial infrastructure, such as old railway lines and canal towpaths, to avoid taking road space off the motorist”.

David Fletcher commented: “We came up the Bridgewater into Manchester; bikers rule OK. Bikers are generally behaving badly: no concern for oncomers or walkers; riding through bridge-holes etc. None of this impacts boaters as you cannot moor ‒ the towpath is paved to the edge, about 5 feet wide with no rings ‒ but neither would you want to.”