Dockless bikes will make a return to Enfield amid growing demand for the service, the council has confirmed.

The borough’s dockless bike hire scheme was launched in February under a trial arrangement with Irish company Urbo, which was scheduled to run for a year.

Urbo rolled out more than 20 virtual ‘dockless bike parking zones’ near transport interchanges and town centres, mainly along the A105 Green Lanes cycle route.

The scheme was intended to run in tandem with the council’s Cycle Enfield scheme, which has been designed to encourage more people to take up cycling.

But Urbo pulled out of Enfield, Waltham Forest and Redbridge on July 4, claiming the locations were no longer suited to its business model.

Dockless bikes can be unlocked using a mobile phone app and left at designated locations without the need for docking stations, with users paying a small fee to use the service.

A council spokesperson said: “The first months of the dockless trial in Enfield have shown a growing demand for affordable access to short bike rides, so to keep providing this service, we are looking to confirm a replacement dockless operator very soon.”