I used only Bee Bikes to get around Manchester for a month and was fined twice - but it wasn't all bad

The bikes, available for short-term hire from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), are a crucial part of the Bee Network. Officially called Starling Bank Bikes, users can rent one via an app and it costs 5p-per-minute for a traditional push-bike, and 10p-per-minute for e-bikes.

And with a swathe of stations in Manchester, Salford, and Trafford, Bee Bikes promise to be a convenient way of getting about. Cycling is eco-friendly and brings health benefits.

I’m no stranger to cycling, as I used to commute on two wheels from Salford to Oxford Road. I stopped because my wheel was stolen in Withington — then my replacement bike was nicked from Market Street.

So with the health benefits already well-known and the promise of getting around cheaply, I decided to ditch my car, the bus, and the tram to get around Manchester for a month to see if I could fall in love with cycling again.

‘I’m off... I’m enjoying it’

I took 15 journeys, over the course of a month, at all times of day, including morning rush hour, during evening rush hour and after dark.

My start point was typically the Arundel Street station near Chester Road roundabout and my destinations were largely key city centre locations; St Peter’s Square, Piccadilly Gardens, Angel Square near Corporation Street and Deansgate — with trips further afield to Peel Park and Miles Platting.

My trial started in 27C sunshine with a short walk to the Arundel St station – and it took four minutes to find a problem: there were no bikes at said station. However, there were plenty at my next one, Hulme Hall Lane, off the A56, Chester Rd.

Unlike the ill-fated Mobikes, Manchester’s last experiment with short-term cycle rental, you can’t pick up these bikes, which are part of a franchise under public control, from anywhere.

Bee Bikes need to be collected and dropped off at one of 224 stations, largely in the city centre but also in certain areas within three miles of the city centre including parts of Salford and Trafford as well as Manchester.

Bee Bikes were rolled out a few years ago and faced a rocky start. In 2023, the scheme was put in ‘recovery mode’ after 800 were vandalised or stolen. TfGM closed 1,000 stations and repaired bikes, and slowly put them back on the roads.

By August 2024, ‘recovery mode’ was closed as ridership was growing and vandalism was under control. There are plans to expand, with TfGM’s ‘ambition for a Greater Manchester-wide cycle hire service integrated with other modes of travel’, according to its active travel network director, Richard Nickson.

To unlock a Bee Bike, you simply tap your phone on the very-well-marked handlebar reader, like a contactless payment. It beeps, the front lock drops, releasing the bike from its stand, and the rear lock drops to release the back wheel. I’m off. And I’m enjoying it.

One forgets how much quicker cycling is to walking, but the difference is remarkable: On my fourth and final journey on day one, a 25-minute walk home from Circle Square became a seven-minute cycle for 85p.

My enjoyment continued throughout my first few days of the trial… until I was fined. Users can be hit with a £10 surcharge if they don’t securely lock a bike to a stand. It’s £60 if you dump one outside the Bee Bike zone.

I was given my first £10 fine because I didn’t properly secure the front lock. I caught my bag strap in it, paused the ride to unlock, freed my bag and re-locked. In an interview after my trial, Beryl — the company which runs Bee Bikes for TfGM — boss Phil Ellis said this was ‘a fairly atypical case’ and the system is ‘is probably erring on the side of caution’ to provide ‘as much confidence as we can the bike is double locked’.

My second fine came after I crossed the road. Running late to a Beetham Tower meeting, I locked up over the road, ran across the crossing just before the lights changed. I was fined £10 fine for not locking up at a stand, even though I had. Mr Ellis suspected I suffered ‘a GPS issue’ due to being ‘around high buildings’.

He added it’s possible to appeal a fine via the app’s live-chat function, which connects you to Beryl’s Salford control room. But it lacks a specific ‘appeals button’, something Mr Nickson said they’d ‘have a look at’.

Undeterred, I bulk-bought 100 minutes on the app, meaning I wouldn’t have to pay the 50p fee each time I unlocked a push bike. Curiously, there’s no bulk-buy minutes discount: 100 minutes for £5 is the same 5p-per-minute pay-as-you-go rate. One can buy up to 400 minutes in bulk — but the price is £20, so 5p per minute. That’s an intentional decision from TfGM, according to Iain Baxter, cycle hire manager.

“We introduced minute bundles and didn’t want to straight off make it advantageous for bigger purchases of bundles of minutes, making it more affordable for people who have more money,” he explained.

At the midpoint of my trial, I felt like I’d figured out the teething problems and cycling was for me. But the teething problems returned.

Teething problems

My irritation began to grow when I kept heading to well-known Manchester spots — such as Stevenson Square, St Ann’s Square, and Shudehill — only to find no station nearby.

So I spent time and money literally going round in circles to find one. That said, ‘97 percent’ of (Bee Bike area residents) are ‘within 500 metres of a station’, according to Mr Baxter, and ‘87 percent are within 300 metres’.

TfGM’s want to use Bee Bikes to give ‘flexible transport that’s hop on hop off’, added Mr Nickson, especially ‘on routes where you’re never going to get a rapid transit or a bus service’.

However, my peak frustration came when the main cycle lane from the Chester Road roundabout was shut to cyclists with no diversion in place, meaning I had to dismount. Ironically, it was closed for Manchester council roadworks to install new active travel measures.

A spokesperson for the council said ‘construction activity associated with this project and nearby development has resulted in a degree of disruption to the road network’. “However,” they added, “when completed there will be a dedicated and much-improved route for cyclists and pedestrians into the centre of Manchester”.

At this point, I was thinking the end of my trial would signify the end of my return to cycling. But on the last day, I went for a final hurrah. To finish, I cycled to Peel Park then to Collyhurst. It took 52 minutes, but reminded me this is the quickest way to get around town on your own terms. Maybe I should give cycling more time.

So have I started cycling again?

The short answer is no. But it’s not a no forever. There’s a lot to like about Bee Bikes. They can give you the joy of cycling: freedom to travel where you please and when you want, faster journeys than cars in snarled-up traffic jams, and kinship one can feel with a bike.

I felt those things because when Bee Bikes work, they’re brilliant. Too often, however, things don’t work. I began to dread locking issues an any potential fines. I became worried about unexpectedly closed cycle lanes. I was inconvenienced by availability issues. And I was frustrated that stations weren’t where I expected, in major Mancunian landmarks.

It’s best therefore to think of Bee Bikes like a bus on pedals. You can’t go anywhere you wish, as you’re bound to existing stations. But it’s a bus which sets off whenever you feel like and takes you to your destination on your preferred route.

I crave transport freedom, and Manchester’s current public transport doesn’t offer that yet, while traffic prohibits that in a car. Cycling, therefore, seems like the next-best option. Maybe, next spring, I’ll give it another try.