A cash-strapped council has been slammed for spending £25,000 on a state-of-the art machine to count bicycles that does not work.
The high-tech display, placed on a busy road in Brighton, is designed to tell cyclists how many fellow pedallers have passed by the same spot.
An LED display updates every time a bike passes, saying: “You are cyclist number xxx today, out of a total of xxx cyclists this year, on this path.”
But in the two months since the machine was installed it has counted thousands of motor vehicles – including ambulances, minibuses and cars – as well as bicycles.
Alex Knutsen, Unison branch secretary, said that Conservative Brighton and Hove City Council – which needs to make £45 million cuts in the next three years – was “profligate”.
He said: “This was a complete waste of money in the first place – a prime example of politicians getting their priorities all wrong.
“Who needs to count bicycles?
“But the fact it doesn’t even work is just laughable.
“Just as school support grants are cut, the council splashes out on a gimmicky bit of kit.
“They decide there is no more funding to teach children numeracy skills, but are prepared to spend thousands of pounds counting bicycles – and they can’t even do that.
“There is a funding crisis, with jobs being axed. It makes you mad.
“Does anybody in government know what they are doing?”
The council was forced to defend the roadside counter in May this year after critics said it was a waste of money.
It claimed that the technology collected important data and promoted cycling at the same time.
But in one half-hour period last week the machine recorded six vehicles and only a couple of bicycles, suggesting the displayed total of more than 17,000 cyclists in two months is completely inaccurate.
A council spokesman said: “These counters, which were paid for largely by the European Union, use some of the most cutting-edge technology in the world and the council fully expected these sorts of teething problems while it was trialling them.
“It is therefore likely to take a few weeks to get all the settings right so that they are accurate.
“It is worth adding that bike counters are proven to increase numbers of cyclists where they are used across Europe.”
The counter is one of two machines installed at a total cost of £50,000.
It was paid for with a mixture of council money, EU grants and funding from Cycling England, a government scheme designed to promote cycling in English towns.
The uproar comes a day after the council was criticised for paying consultants £300,000 to teach it “value for money”.
John Connor Press Associates – Sussex news for the national press
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