Urbo: Bike-share scheme misses Ipswich return date

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-45485620

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The future of a bike-sharing scheme in Ipswich is uncertain, with the company yet to return its cycles to the town.

Urbo withdrew its dockless bikes in June, saying it would return with a "new fleet" in "early September".

However, both Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council said they had "not heard" from Urbo for three months,

The BBC has made several attempts to contact Urbo over the past few weeks, but has so far been unsuccessful.

A fleet of about 100 Urbo bikes were released in the town in March in a joint partnership between Urbo and the two councils.

A joint council statement said: "Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council have not heard from the company since they suspended the operation and we do not have any update on whether they plan to resume service in the town, despite trying to make contact recently.

"The operation was a commercial venture by Urbo and incurred no cost to Ipswich Borough Council or Suffolk County Council."

Urbo also had an operation in the London boroughs of Enfield, Waltham Forest and Redbridge, but pulled out in July "due to these locations no longer being suited to our business model".

In July, bike sharing firm ofo announced it was quitting Norwich to concentrate on its users in London.

Earlier this month, Mobike pulled out of Manchester after losing 10% of its cycles each month to theft and vandalism.