MELBURNIANS will be offered free helmets as an enticement to take part in the city's struggling bike hire scheme.
Introduced in 2010, the scheme was slow to get off the ground because of Victoria's compulsory helmet laws.
The Victorian government began selling helmets for $5, with users able to claim $3 back upon their return.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder says the government will now give out 200 free helmets at the city's 51 hire sites to try to boost rentals.
Mr Mulder said a similar trial was successful in Brisbane.
"The bikes that have free helmets attached to them in Brisbane had an uptake of three times greater than those that didn't," he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
Advertisements would be put on the bikes to recoup some of the costs of running the scheme.
The minister said the scheme was picking up, with 137,000 usages in 2011/12, compared to 102,000 in 2010/11.
The government has spent $5 million on the scheme in its first three years, Mr Mulder said.
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