{"id":231258,"date":"2019-03-20T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T05:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=231258"},"modified":"2020-07-22T10:35:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T00:35:34","slug":"council-to-trial-bicycle-hire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/03\/20\/council-to-trial-bicycle-hire\/","title":{"rendered":"Council To Trial Bicycle Hire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The South Burnett Regional Council will conduct an 8-week trial of free bicycle hire soon to test if there’s a local market for this type of service (Photo: rnrwanderers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 20, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

People who would like to cycle the South Burnett Rail Trail but don’t own a bicycle will soon be able to hire one from the Kingaroy or Wondai Visitor Information Centres.<\/p>\n

South Burnett Regional Council plans to hold a two-month trial of free bicycle hire soon.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s monthly meeting, Councillors heard the SBRC inherited 15 mountain bikes after running a free 10-week women’s cycling course last year.<\/p>\n

The course was funded by a grant from the State Government’s “Get Out, Get Active” program aimed at encouraging Queenslanders to develop regular fitness habits.<\/p>\n

The Council had to buy the bicycles as part of the course.<\/p>\n

Now – to comply with the grant’s conditions – it had to find an alternate use for them.<\/p>\n

After investigating possible options, officers recommended trialling free bicycle hire at the two Visitor Information Centres to test if there was a market for this service among Rail Trail users.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five bicycles will also be trialled at Lake Boondooma to test if there is any appetite for cycling at the region’s tourist parks.<\/p>\n

The meeting was told the Wondai Regional Art Gallery and Wooroolin Post Office had both expressed interest in the program.<\/p>\n

However, they had been ruled out of the initial trial because bike hirers would not be covered by Council’s public liability insurance.<\/p>\n

Council will buy two five-bicycle parking racks for the Visitor Information Centres over coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The meeting heard hirers will be asked to produce a driver’s licence for identification, and a photocopy of this will be turned over to police if the bicycle isn’t returned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apart from testing the market’s appetite for the service, the trial will also examine what maintenance issues will be involved.<\/p>\n

Councillors noted all bicycles need some degree of maintenance during normal use, and it was likely hire bikes would require more than usual.<\/p>\n

The motion to proceed with the trial was moved by Cr Roz Frohloff, seconded by Cr Ros Heit and passed unanimously.<\/p>\n