Cardiff bus users can now travel around the city ‘seamlessly’ thanks to a collaboration between leading bike share operator nextbike, the Cardiff Bus app and its developer Passenger.
nextbike will feature on the app, which allows its 53,000 monthly users to find out everything they need for travelling around the city by bus, from journey planning to live times and purchasing tickets. The addition of nextbike will give passengers the option to hop off a service and grab an available bike to travel on.
Bosses at nextbike, Cardiff Bus and Passenger believe the move allows essential workers travelling around the city now – and the passengers of the future post-lockdown – more options to control their journeys.
Users will be able to see on the app how many nextbikes are available at bays near bus routes across the city, and will be able to make an informed decision to adjust their journey.
Gareth Stevens, Operations and Commercial Director at Cardiff Bus said: “Cardiff Bus are thrilled to be able to integrate nextbike locations into our app and website.
“Not only does it give people travelling in Cardiff more options when planning their essential journeys right now, but it also helps to bridge the first mile last mile gaps, which will ultimately help to keep our city greener and cleaner in the future.”
Tom Quay, CEO, Passenger, said: “Anticipating the challenges the UK would have trying to social distance on public transport, we immediately knew that cycle hire schemes could make a difference. Having already worked with another bike sharing company in Bournemouth, we contacted nextbike to help get their bike and bay locations featured on the Cardiff Bus app and website.
“Key workers can now see the locations of nextbike bikes across Cardiff, providing them with travel options that support social distancing recommendations.”
nextbike MD Krysia Solheim said: “This collaboration allows us to empower Cardiff citizens to make more choices about the way they travel, which is going to be even more important moving forward post-lockdown.
“Cycling is going to be a huge part of transport in the future, and the more options we can give people to cycle thanks to collaborations like this one with Cardiff Bus and Passenger, can only be a good thing.
“During the pandemic, we’ve been monitoring the situation constantly and current evidence shows that the COVID-19 virus doesn’t survive for long in the open air, meaning using a nextbike is considered a reasonably low-risk way of getting around.
“To minimise risks even further, we’re continuing to carry out enhanced cleaning measures at our warehouses, including sanitising the handlebars and bike computers of all bicycles before they are redistributed and again when they are checked in the field.”
