Newcastle will be home to a permanent electric-bike sharing scheme as docking stations pop up around the city.
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Topics has heard that Transport for NSW will launch the scheme next week, offering 19 charging stations and a fleet of e-bikes as a new option for tourists, commuters and anyone else who wants to cruise around the city with the least possible effort.
Hunter firm BYKKO trialled the scheme, billed as an Australian first, for three months in Newcastle two years ago with three bikes and one docking hub, but the new system looks to be on a far grander scale.
The trial offered bikes at just $2 an hour and the first 90 minutes for free.
The Mobility Parc docking stations, made by Swiss e-bike firm WattWorld, look like track-and-field hurdles with a row of red lights above a corresponding row of power sockets and charge indicators.
The Mobility Parc Facebook page recently posted this enthusiastic missive (translated from the French): “The Mobility Park of wattworld in the land of kangaroos!
“The City of Newcastle in Australia has chosen a Swiss-shared electric bicycle system, 160 stations produced in Geneva and electric bikes are now sailing to the southern hemisphere.”
