ELECTRIC bikes could soon be available for hire in York.

And e-scooters and e-bikes could be used almost anywhere within the outer ring road, A1237, by summer as hire company Tier looks to expand across the city.

Council transport bosses have been asked to give the expansion plans the green light at a meeting next week.

It means the number of e-scooters available for hire in York would increase to 700, rental e-bikes would also be added to the programme in the next few weeks and the area where the scooters and bikes can be used would be expanded to Clifton, Rawcliffe, Southbank, Fulford and Heworth by the end of February.

By March, most of the city within the outer ring road would be accessible by e-bike or e-scooter under the Tier scheme.

No incidents - involving someone being injured as a result of the e-scooters - have occurred in the first six weeks of the trial, according to a council report.

A total of 3,822 trips were taken during that time, with more than 25,000km travelled by users.

But there are fears that e-scooter hire schemes could encourage people to use their own e-scooters on the roads - which remains against the law.

According to a council report: "Other local authority areas participating in the trial have noted an increase in use of private e-scooters which remain illegal to ride on the public highway.

"Whilst their use has not been as prevalent in York, as the trial continues we may see a similar increase in use of private e-scooters.

"Tier and North Yorkshire Police are taking proactive measures, engaging and learning from other local police in participating trial areas, to address this issue."

Fred Jones from Tier said: “York’s trial is off to a great start, and despite the lockdowns, we’ve seen strong uptake from the public, while a number of key workers have also been making the most of our free rides offer.

“In just over three months, TIER riders have travelled more than 50,000km across the city on our e-scooters."

"We have successfully launched a number of initiatives in York, including the first ever e-scooter theory test in partnership with the AA’s DriveTech and a recycling scheme, which offers private e-scooter owners the chance to trade in their vehicles to be recycled or repurposed, in exchange for ride credit.

“In the coming months, we’ll be expanding operations to cover several new areas including South Bank, Clifton and Fulford. Hopefully, once we’re out of lockdown, this will lead to many more residents opting to use Tier e-scooters as a convenient and climate-friendly way of getting around the city.”

The meeting is on Monday at 10am.