Santander cycles removed from streets as bike share scheme is suspended in Milton Keynes

But the decision is due to Covid-19 related staff absences and not because there is a risk of spreading germs from sharing bicycles.

Operators nextbike announced this morning that all the Santander Cycles in the fleet have now been removed from the streets.

Krysia Solheim, nextbike UK MD, said: “After discussions with our sponsors, Santander, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw the Santander Cycles fleet from the streets of Milton Keynes and to suspend the system with immediate effect for the foreseeable future.

“Unfortunately, a high level of staff absence amongst our local service team means we’re not able to maintain the fleet to a safe standard for our riders.

“This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly. The Santander Cycles MK scheme, which has clocked up 139,757 rides to date, is a hugely successful and sustainable way of moving around the area. We know that many of our customers rely on the bikes on a daily basis and we would like to extend our unreserved apologies to everyone this decision will affect, but customer safety has to be our number one priority.

“We would like to emphasise that this decision has been made due to low staffing levels. Current evidence shows the Covid-19 virus doesn’t survive for long in the open air, making bike share a relatively low-risk alternative mode of transport.

“We’re monitoring the situation closely and hope to have the fleet back on the streets for our customers in the coming weeks. We’ll be providing regular updates to customers via email, text, our website and our social media channels.”