AN on-street bike hire initiative is introducing a £100 deposit fee in an effort to tackle bike “misuse”.

Forth Bike, which has stations around Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire allowing riders to easily rent bikes via an app, has had a “lot of issues with vandalism” since launching the scheme in 2019.

It costs £2 to pay per ride, £10 for a monthly membership and £65 for an annual subscription. The new £100 fee will only apply to those looking to cycle on a pay-per-ride basis.

Forth Bike’s community outreach and business development officer Suvi Loponen told the Falkirk Herald that they hope the fee will be a “temporary measure to curb the problem” of vandalism and misuse.

“It’s a better way of identifying the user. The measure was put in place so we have time to get more bikes out and more parts,” she explained.

“We can’t return some of the bikes to the stations because we don’t have enough parts – this is a global cycling issue. They’re taking longer to arrive.”

She went on: “Registration can be done online or by downloading the app. You’d pay the £100 deposit when you take out the membership. There’s still daily, monthly and annual membership.

“You don’t have to have it for a month. There are users we know already – they can call us and we’ll refund their deposit immediately and not hold it for a month.

“Most people have got the money back in a couple of hours but for some people it’s been a couple of days.”

The scheme said earlier this year that since its launch, its users have cycled more than 83,000 miles overall.

Last year nextbike, another on-street bike rental company based in Glasgow, had to temporarily remove their service in Govan following vandalism and theft of bikes.

It was the first time since the scheme launched in 2014 that the step had to be taken.