A 60-year-old man from Toxteth has been named as Liverpool’s top citybike user, racking up almost 3,000 miles since he first started using the city’s famous green bikes in March last year. Phil Moreton has rented the bikes more than 1,600 times in a year and confesses to using citybike up to ten times a day.
Phil, who works for Q Park in Liverpool city centre, said: “It’s almost like the citybike network was designed for me. I can pick up a bike from the docking station near Princes Park – just a short walk from my house – and cycle to wherever I need to get to.
“There seems to be a citybike station near most of the places I tend to go, whether it’s the supermarket, the library, an art gallery or Sefton Park. If I’m going into town, I often use citybike instead of the bus, even though I have a senior bus pass. I also use citybike for work; I work at Q Park and often have to travel between multiple sites across the city centre.”
Phil has always been a regular cyclist and he decided to give citybike a try after finding out that he would need to spend £200 to repair his own bike, which had been damaged through wear and tear. An annual citybike membership cost him just £55 and he hasn’t looked back.
He said: “Although I have now managed to have my own bike repaired, I still use citybike for day-to-day cycling as it works well for me. While citybike keeps the maintenance needed on my own bike to a minimum, I also find that citybike is much more convenient because you can collect and return a bike from any station. If you use your own bike, you always have to return to the place where you left it to pick it up.”
It costs from £1 per hour to hire a citybike with subscriptions available for the day, week and year. Annual members get the benefit of the first 30 minutes of every rental free and the process couldn’t be easier. All citybike users have to do is register their details online or by phone to receive a membership number and pin, which is then keyed into any citybike station to release a bike. Special membership rates are available for students and businesses.
Visit www.citybikeliverpool.co.uk or follow @citybikelpl to find out more about citybike.
