New areas for booming Edinburgh Voi electric bike hire scheme revealed by city council

Edinburgh's booming new electric hire bike scheme could be expanded as far as Cramond and Portobello in time for the Edinburgh Festival in August, The Scotsman has learned.

The move is being considered by city council officials as they revealed the 800-bike operation had clocked up rentals at two-and-a-half times the rate of its ill-fated predecessor.

Voi bikes in Edinburgh have been hired 619,500 times | City of Edinburgh Council/Voi

A total of 619,500 rides have been taken since the Voi scheme was launched in September compared to 234,500 in the first eight months of the Just Eat Cycles scheme in 2018.

It ended three years later because of the high vandalism cost to the council, but Voi bears the risk of its own operation.

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More than 58,500 people have used the Voi bikes, which are unlocked using a phone app, with trips averaging 1.5 miles (2.5km) and totalling near 1 million miles (1.56m km).

The scheme has been expanded three times from an original 120 bikes in the city centre - north eastwards in October, southwards in December and north westwards in February.

The Edinburgh scheme has been extended three times since being launched in September 2025 | City of Edinburgh Council

A council spokesperson said: “We’re hoping to complete the next stage of expansion before the start of the festivals in August.

“The new areas we’re considering include Cramond, Portobello, Dalry, and Gorgie, but we’re still working out the finer details with Voi to make sure this is done correctly, as in previous phases.”

WATCH: How to save money - and aggravation - using Edinburgh and Glasgow's fun new electric hire bikes

Spokes, the Lothian cycle campaign, said its annual traffic count on May 12 had shown the hire bikes as a “likely contributory factor” to the increased cycling it recorded.

Dave du Feu, of the group, said: “The count suggested the Voi bike hire scheme is creating new bike trips, not just replacing existing trips, so it is great to see the scheme expanding further.

“Cramond and Portobello residents will also be delighted - indeed, only a few days ago we had an email from a Portobello resident saying how much they were hoping for this.”

A coral-coloured Voi bike, left, among those being used by riders to reach the Pedal on Parliament rally in Edinburgh on Saturday | Pedal on Parliament

Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, the former Sustrans, said boosting cycling paid a range of dividends.

Mark Shields, its head of policy in Scotland, said: “Walking, wheeling and cycling adds £336.7 million in economic benefit for individuals and Edinburgh every year, and prevents over 1,300 serious, long-term health conditions annually.

WATCH: I test rode one of Edinburgh's new Voi electric hire bikes - and they're the business

“But we know there’s more that can be done to break down the barriers which are stopping even more people from travelling under their own steam.

“In our Walking and Cycling Index report, almost half of Edinburgh residents told us that access to a hire scheme would encourage them to cycle more, and 44 per cent said access to an e-bike would also help them travel by bike more often.

“By making it easy and convenient for more people across the city to get on a bike, we can expect to see the benefits to the city, its communities and residents increase even further.”

The Scotsman revealed last month that Voi in Glasgow had recorded 517,000 rides since it took over the established 1,000-bike city council scheme from nextbike in November.

Meantime, Aberdeen City Council’s hire scheme, also run by Voi and launched on May 21, has notched up more than 5,000 trips with the number of bikes due to be doubled to 200 this week.