RTD 24

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Damaged sewers mostly repaired
Today the government announced the damaged sewers in Anastasia have mostly been repaired with a the few remaining likely to be fixed within a month. The government praised the quick work of contractors in restoring sewerage and water pipes as well as other services. The government have said that only a few thousand are without piped sewer services and those are being served by the anaerobic toilets and waste dispensers supplied as an emergency The government of the Duchies announced they would be ramping up investment in the city and construction of the tram and metro systems with plans to link all lines to Baltia. A new competition is being launched to design a high speed railway station, they hope to have a high speed rail link directly in Anastasia within 4 years. For not connections to the city will remain to be by bus and coach , with fullsize shopping centres hopefully open by year 3 . Until then the constructed temporary shipping container constructed and prefabricated buildings will remain.

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OGO announced on demand bus hailing integration
OGO today announced councils will be able to move to software systems to enable on demand bus hailing on OGO Maps. The OGO maps will be updated to enable integration of hailing of on demand bus services of councils and transport agencies, and private bus companies that sign up. The app would show your nearest virtual stops arrange the trip and process the payment to the bus company using the OGO wallet.

The company said in a statement "At the moment people having to download 20 different apps puts tourists off using public transport especially on demand buses . We will show the on demand bus hailing options first and integrate fare collection into our system or let you choose to pay or show a card on the bus. This will make collection of payments easier for transit agencies and operators and make paying easier for the consumer. It will also make using services easier by providing one place to book all your on demand bus trips and letting you book trips in parts of the country you may be visiting only once or twice. We will continue to roll out these innovative solutions nationwide. You can also add your Go Pass to pay for this just like you can use to pay bus fares, train fares and transit fares on the app or website already. Now OGO Maps will be even more of the one stop app for all your navigation and transport needs."

Several Duchy Transit regional agencies are signing up to the app already with plans to have the whole country on board by the end of the year. The app will also work with countries internationally including Reitzmag , Yosai and other countries governments to roll out further integration of ticketing and payment processing into the OGO Maps. Some critics worry this will only add to the data that OGO collect on trips though its worth noting that data on location or any trips through the app are already stored and the company knows where one is at all times already so this isn't a new concern.

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Government of UD Distance themselfs from European Enterprise Penalties Act
The government of the United Duchies has distanced itself from the European Enterprise Penalties Act currently going through the European Council which would if passed either have mandatory fines if 10% of global revenue of a company for breaking EU law or up to that amount if amended and have fines be stackable. The business community in Duchies expressed concern it could potentially bankrupt companies for innocent and minor mistakes with it being met with concern from most Duchian businesses who already deal with a fair amount of regulation and say they shouldn't have to deal with a risk of a 10% fine on global revenue on top of that for small mistakes.

The government in a statement said "While we believe James Mizrachi-Roscoe is a good councillor and right to be concerned about fines being at levels that they can be seen as a cost of doing business we believe this is not the right approach. This approach could do more harm than good and we would like to register our opposition to this proposed act. Even here in Duchies we only allow up to 2.5% of revenue in the Duchies and only in the most severe of circumstances with most fines being set at a scale to the damages caused by a company practise or as a percent of profits if that is an option. We can't make him withdraw the act but he should reconsider the act. Potential 10's of billions of euros fines per company may be excessive." The statement is a surprise as usually the government do not comment on European Councillor activities so this is seen as a big intervention for the government.

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19/02/2022
Remembrance events throughout Duchies draw millions combined
Remembrance events in every city were held drawing millions for concerts and cultural events and a moment of silence to remember the victims and the families. The events were marked by a tone of moving on and not looking back in anger but rather overcoming the terrorists who killed over 3,000 that day. Victims who were alive from the attacks including some well known ones were included in the many services across the Duchies .

Crowds around the country sang Don't look back in anger to show unity and that the terrorists have not won. All parties also joined in with The Left to make clear they do not blame the left. Nikolai in a Speech to the crowd at the event in Cair Para below the palace said "Today we show Left, Centre or Right , Christian or non-christian it doesn't matter you cannot divide this nation with your hate, you can cannot defeat us with bombs and you cannot erase the legacy of all those killed and affected. We as a nation stand together and overcome as these Duchies have always done , we as a nation unite and say evil will never win , fear will never defeat hope and terror will never stop us from achieving our bright future" The PM also released his statements and attended events with all party leaders. Victims of the attack where they wanted to were invited onto stages at official events with official events held in all towns and cities. The flag was lowered half mast at the start of the day and raised as the High Duke signalled for a cannon salute and singing of the anthem. This was done at all embassies across the world and people with Duchian flags were asked to lower and raise the flags on poles where they had flag poles with the Duchian flag . A moments silence will be held in 2023.

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Mizrachi-Roscoe announces European Enterprise Penalties Act is dead
Today after a call from parties in the Duchies Parliament James Mizrachi-Roscoe announced that the European Enterprise Penalties Act will not be reintroduced with the current system of penalties being set in act being enough. He said in a statement " There are obvious concerns over the act and the penalties. While serious penalties for breaking EU law are needed this perhaps is not the way to do so instead having them on a case by case , act by act basis. Therefore I will not be reintroducing the bill instead focusing on other issues." The U-Turn was welcomed by businesses in the Duchies including Roscoes itself which was said to be concerned that small mistakes could damage the business but hadn't been able to say anything due to the links to Roscoe.

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Buns in the Oven biggest taking over Greggs

Buns in the Oven have overtook Greggs to become the biggest chain in the Duchies. Greggs were previously the largest at 4.2 Billion Euros from 4,004 Bakeries in the country. The chains have been battling furiously throughout the country with Buns in the Oven famous for their Double Buns Special with a choice of fillings and Greggs famous for their festive and steak bakes. The working class staples are seen everywhere including small regional towns in the Duchies alongside a Hole Lot in a Toad and Great Tits Brewery Pubs.

Buns in the Oven reported 5 billion Euros in Revenue from 5,340 restaurants against Greggs 4.6 Billion Euros from 4,067 bakeries. Buns in the Oven went to twitter to mock Greggs saying "Sorry Greggs but it seems the ladies prefer their buns in our ovens rather than yours!" . The tweet has been shared widely in the Duchies.

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Op-ed: Strathae please stop apologising

I passed protestors in town today from the Strathaen community singing that wretched sing "We don't want no Gobshite" and offering the free hugs for catholics. I know they mean well , I know they are sorry for their former leader ever having been elected but please stop apologising and please stop with the love bombing.Its almost sickening how full of sorrow and shame they are and that's coming from a Duchian who's country has never moved on.

You have done enough in fact too much. It was sad you destroyed freedom of speech in your country just protect catholics with a level of protection our brothers never asked for. As a Catholic I can handle protest and hate thank you very much and I get you don't agree with our pope's policies on many issues but here's the thing neither do we we understand. I want to say we know you are sorry and we love you , we know Blairites do not represent you all or a majority ,we know she was only that extreme in the last 5 years or so. So please stop ,you can move on now prove you are a good neighbour by repealing the restrictions on religion like you are but for goodness sake shut up. We don't need to hear every day how sorry you are we know. I hope you can find it in you to move on from this wretched 3 years you have had and rebuild for all ,you are doing enough you just need to be confident and proud of yourself again.

Yours sincerely a Duchian Catholic

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Selling Cooperatives raise Minimum Price Floors on agricultural goods
The Selling Cooperatives at their annual meetings and the annual producers council have agreed to raise their Minimum Price Floors by an average of 20% over all agricultural products. This decision has affected prices of all foods and agriculture products in Duchies from wool and leather to wheat and dairy products. The average yearly spend on food and groceries is currently €8,771 Euros with the average restaurant meal at a cheap restaurant currently at €20.50 Experts have predicted this will rise to €11,403 a rise of 30% with increase in labour costs and restaurant meals for a cheap 3 course meal to rise €24.50. The cost rises however are likely to be outweighed by a growth in wages.Roscoes is said to be dissapointed by the levels of the rise which it hoped would be in the 10% range however all supermarkets are complying with the rise due to the fears of producers having a sales embargo with any supermarket that tries to undermine the the minimum price floors.

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Christian denominations and Brieighzhigist denominations join up to form Interfaith organisation
Today the ICS Church,Duchies Episocal Church Catholic Church of the Duchies , Lutheran Church , Orthodox Church , New Frontiers, Elim , Baptist and Methodist Churches along with the United Council of Shia Muslims and Duchies Sunni Muslim Council,International Reformed Breizhighism ,Orthodox Union of Breizhighists and Breizonic Breizhigism Alliance as well as denominations of christians and other religions such as Jewish Denominations around Europe have come together to form a new organisation European Interfaith Alliance and the Duchies Interfaith Alliance. The organisations have said in the joint statement "We the faith organisations of Europe believe that there is more to unite us than divide us. We may disagree on a great many social issues, who is God , and different teachings but it doesn't mean we cannot work together for the good of man, woman, inter and bi-kind regardless of sexuality or any other characteristics. We believe it is better to work together than fight over petty disputes of ideology and instead show the love we believe whatever creator we believe in calls for and will work together to this end to end bigotry between religions and also work to show love to all through charity and social work and through interfaith diologue."

The initiative has been praised and while other interfaith dialogues have existed this is though to be the first one uniting so many diverse religions and denominations. The organisation would have a Europe wide organisation which would then have national organisations in each nation connected to the European Interfaith Alliance . The Breizhighist organisations said in a seperate statement " We feel it is important to come together especially for us to join something like this to show there truly is more in common with the Abrahamic faiths than what divides us. All our religions believe in human kindness, acceptance , tolerance, charitable giving and protecting this planet we live on we want to show that through cooperating on this new initiative instead of focusing on our differences of opinion. "

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Farmers boycott supermarkets
Farmers and Producer Unions have today announced a boycott of many supermarkets starting 3 weeks in that import cheaper vegetables and fruits from abroad in the category they produce fruit and vegetables in as well as boycotting food processing and manufactauring companies that do so. All the farmers Selling Cooperatives have joined in on the supply boycott of companies like Aldi ,Spadi ,Walmont ,Heron and even Roscoes who despite being over 70% domestic produced ranges import some cheaper veg and produce from other countries for some of the cheapest ranges.

The boycott aims to cut off the cheap import market by forcing supermarkets to choose either Duchian products which they say are produced more ethically and at a higher standard or foreign products. So far supermarkets are discussing what to do. Roscoes and Spadi are understood to be negotiatiing with Unions with other supermarkets having a tougher stance. The alliance of the selling cooperatives said "We have in place minimum price alliances for a reason to protect our vital domestic farmers from lower standard produce.This is being got around by some unscrupulous groups by buying some cheaper vegetables , crops and fruit from abroad which is fundamentally unfair. We therefore are taking action before this trend grows larger to make sure supermarkets give our farmers a fair shot and prices."

Roscoes said in a statement "The allegations are fundamentally untrue , we import some variety of vegetables and fruit from abroad out of season or if they grow better in that climate. We do not import cheaper or inferior quality to undercut the Duchian farmers. We work well with farmers to ensure they get a fair price and fair volume of sales for their products prioritising local fruit and vegetables to protect from climate change."

Spadi also released a statement saying "We are comitted to Duchian farming and providing a fair price for our suppliers. The allegations are entirely untrue and without merit."Other supermarkets have also released statements however it is expected most will have to back down restricting consumer choice in the market due to the sheer weight of farmers in farmer selling cooperatives since Duchians are unlikely to support a supermarket that doesn't support local farmers.

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James Mizrachi-Roscoe calls for EDA budget boost
Today James Mizrachi-Roscoe indicated he is considering voting to raise the EU budget contribution consent despite the likely defeat of his amendments to allow a growth in the EDA budget. He has said in a statement " I believe in the EU and believe in its power to change lives, nations and help in a green transition. That is why I would like to see the EDA budget raised to a minimum of 20 billion Euros but preferably 30 billion Euros this year so it becomes less of a chocolate teapot . I would then support growing the EDA to over 50 billion Euros a year over a series of years. I believe this sort of money is needed in addition to funds like the GEF and Kiresile to help poorer nations develop more and transition all economies including oil and resource economies like the DU and Vayinaod as quick as possible. Its essential we reach carbon neutrality in an equitable way by 2040 at the latest but preferable 2030-2035 if we are to stop the biggest effects of climate change on the poorest in this world and on this continent and poorer nations should not have to spend money to transition themselves they need for poverty alleviation. This is where I believe we need big EDA budget boosts to help not only anti-poverty relief and developments but also the Green transition." The government has said it will assess its Green European Fund contributions depending on the EDA budget but would prefer an EDA budget boost over a boost in contribution to the Green European Fund. It did however say if it feels the EDA budget boost is not enough it will likely double or triple the GEF contribution boosts over 2 to 3 years.

I feel the the current IAC and Premier Comissioner are good for Europe and giving it a purpose while reforming it in a democratic way. I can only hope they can help deliver a budget over time that will make the EDA relevent and a great tool in anti-poverty relief , development and green transition development. I will support budgets that achieve this if enough is spent on the EDA.

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Joint Shield fails to pass in Imperial Senate
Today the Joint Shield Programme has failed to pass the Imperial Senate. The upper house voted down the programme by a margin of 60% with government withdrawing the bill soon afterwards. The Imperial senate debate expressed concerns about rising nuclear technology or possibly hypersonic missiles to overcome such a shield and many said they worried it would actually make the security situation worse. The government is expected to try to find a new path now that ABM has been blocked with the government expected to apply for nuclear weapons albeit reluctantly following the increased nuclearization in Europe. Though the government have refused to confirm such a course of action saying only "We are taking the threat of nuclear weapons seriously"

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New Dawn banned by government after police arrest leadership
The "Far Right" New Dawn Party have today been banned by government and all candidates suspended from parliament under laws governing links to extremism and terrorism. The party has been officially linked to terrorism and far right extremism and organised hate crimes after a police and intelligence investigation results were unveiled. The ban will mean they cannot take part in parliamentary proceedings and the seats they won will go to an election if local or if list seats be put on a national election for the list seats.

The party leadership and over half the Ministers of Parliament have been arrested on charges of terror, incitement to violence , hate speech and threats of violence. The investigation has been ongoing for over 2 years with the evidence found to be overwhelming according to police. It is expected trials will last until at least Christmas to New Years period. The party in a statement have said "The government are persecuting us and our supporters for being true patriots to the Duchies and opposing their liberal agenda. We will fight this ban and fight the charges and have launched legal funds to help anyone being charged." A host of far right groups have also been banned with the leadership arrested. The government said "There is no persecution of the far right going on. All we have done is made them follow the law like anyone else and prosecuted groups who have consistently refused to follow our laws of acceptance and tolerance and not threatening others."It is expected the government will look to run all out elections in the Duchies instead of partial elections with a campaigning period until May 5th . The government and opposition parties have voted to dissolve parliament until May 5th the day of the the next elections and to have elections for Members of Parliament on May 5th alongside the local elections.

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Roscoes fire employee after transphobic comment
Today Roscoes fired an employee for a transphobic comment on his Twitter feed. The manager of a store in Brummagem in the Duchies posted "Women are people with an XX chromosone okay. All these XY "women" are not real women so don't call yourselves that and force your maleness into our female spaces thank you. Just a memo science doesn't care about your feelings." The outburst of the lady was noticed by thousands and condemned by many. Raw data from the company has shown 2,060 sackings for homophobic, transphobic , sexist or racist comments in public under the hate speech provision of the job contract at Roscoes.

The company said "Our manager crossed the line and we appologise to customers and people in the community offended by the comments. We cannot have people who don't follow our values of tolerance and acceptance of all working for us especially in such a senior role. She has therefore been fired in line with company policy with immediate effect and will not be able to work for us for at least 10 years and only then with monitoring of her social media for 2-3 years into any future job contract with us. We hope this is a lesson for transphobes that if you are a transphobe Roscoes is not the company for you."

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Councillors should work to "European not National Interests" says Roscoe
Today James Mizrachi-Roscoe in an interview said councillors should work for European Interest and not National interests alone in an interview about the job and his role on national tv. He said " I think the most difficult skill some councillors don't get is that the role of a European councillor is to fight for the European interest and not just the national interest. Sometimes this will mean supporting laws or amendments that openly harm your own countries national interests to please other countries and come to laws that will benefit the broader European community. Ultimately it comes down to compromising on national interest in order to get balance policy that works for all nations in the EU. We need more people and nation pleasing candidates willing to overcome national interests to compromise to come up with the best solutions for all. A good example of this is my amendments on behalf of Nofoaga and other nations that are not the Duchies. I know this was appreciated by them and I was thanked by them. We need more councillors willing to introduce amendments on behalf of other nations.We need less selfishness and only considering your own nation in EU and more considering the needs of European nations especially those who are poorer end on the economic front or that have smaller populations. Europe should not be run for the benefit of a few big imperialist laissez fair powers "

This has proved controversial with his supporting parties supporting his stance but his critics on the nationalist right saying he is "Forgetting he is the Duchies councillor and has become part of the European establishment". However we want to know what you think. Do you agree with James Mizrachi-Roscoe on this?

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Election poll and seat projection for 2022 General Election as 24/04/2022
House of Commons
CPCI:0.02%(1 Seat)(+0 Seats)
The Left:2.20%(14 Seats)(-141 Seats)
IUAC:0.14%(2 Seats)(+1 Seats)
PSD:22.28%(145 Seats)(+76 Seats)
Liberal Party:9.86%(64 Seats)(-3 Seats)
Moderate Party:28.34%(185 Seats)(+65 Seats)
Union of Democrats:23.27%(152 Seats)(+33 Seats)
Unus:13.89%(90 Seats)(+1 Seat)

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PSD pledge "New Deal" for workers if in coaltion
The PSD competing for The Left votes have announced a new package they would make a red line if they were to enter a coaltion. They unveiled plans for a "New Workers Deal " to strengthen work place protections. They pledged to make UD the nation with the best labour rights in the EU . The new package would contain 4 key measures to increase labour rights and conditions the first would be 45 days of paid holidays per year for all workers. The second is to set the amount of hours over which is considerer overtime to any hours over 32 hours per week. The third and fourth proposals are raising minimum wage to 14 Dux Libra Minumum wage or €17.42 per hour overiding any lower minimum wages raising all but one minimum wage in the country and workers representatives or union representatives having 50% of the seats on company boards being elected by the workers and union members in that business. A fifth proposal of mandatory profit sharing and and percentage of profits to go to a welfare fund to help fund employees through additional costs as a result of natural disaster or illness on top of any mandatory sick pay. Any company with a physical presence in Duchies would have to offer these in their Duchian subsidiaries.

The package has been described by the PSD as "The next stage in labour rights guaranteeing a work-life balance , higher incomes and better worker control of the businesses." The package proposals have been opposed by the UoD who said they would damage the competitiveness of the Duchies and hurt workers more than it helps especially in lower gdp duchies. The PSD have stated however it would be a red line. The Moderate Party said all options are open for coalitions and they would look at all parties red lines.The Moderate party said they would be revealing labour proposals in the next few days but their proposals are expected to be moderate increases in minimu wages and introduction of welfare society requirements for businesses.

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The Left run on Co-operatisation and significant wage increases
The Left today have announced their upcoming labour red lines if they are asked into coalition. The party known for its left wing politics has prioritised cost of living and labour reform as their main policies. The party has promised its red lines for any coalition would be a drive to cooperatise the economy and disincentise any big private business , raising minimum wage to to a national minimum wage of 25 Dux Libra per hour or €33.25 per hour within a year and capping with overtime pay kicking in at just 28 hours and a max wage cap of 5 times the lowest paid full time worker working 28 Hours a week or €242,060 a year for the average CEO on standard hours. The policies they say would encourage equality and good work conditions as well as "democratise" business. The plans have been criticised by a broad spectrum of parties who said they will not go into coalition with The Left on these conditions with most parties saying they would damage the economy and are just envy of the rich.

The party also will seek some democratic reform including abolishing the Imperial Senate or turning it into an elected house that would be elected by union members with union foremen allowed to run to be in the house with 1 foreman representing each union.

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Remaining policy redlines announced
The Union of Democrats have announced their red lines for any coalition they are in. They have said they will oppose any requirement for companies to be forced profit share or set up welfare funds for the workers saying it should be up to the companies. They also said they would require tax cuts in income tax and spending increase freezes with a commitment to keep government spending to a maximum of 46% and try to cut it down to 43% if possible over the coming years to help people keep more money in their pockets. The party also said it would try to cut income tax to 40% of income for the highest bracket to help people keep more money in their pocket.

On business the party said they would seek to limit minimum wage increases to inflation to prevent job losses.

This leaves a stark choice for the Moderates if current polls or something close to it prove correct a Moderate government with Liberals and UoD with emphasis on cutting or maintaining only existing spending as % of GDP or a more high spending high minimum wage government with more pro-union policies in a change of course. The UoD said " We can afford to not spend as much percent of GDP on government services and still benefit from the rising tide of the economy."

The Liberal Party promised it would seek to maintain existing policies on economy and try to keep any change to a minimum while focusing on social policies in any coalition including the mandating of bathroom access laws for transgender across the Duchies and increasing strength of anti-discrimination codes in law.They have not laid out any redlines saying they would work with any party and approach negotiations on a case by case basis.

Unus have set redlines at maintaining the immigration quotas at 1 million excluding anastasia with no increase while hoping to decrease the quota and banning Anastasia citizens from taking jobs up anywhere outside of Anastasia City. They would also seek to reduce money transfer to the Anastasian government to only the level required by treaty. The party is seen as hostile to Anastasia City and its refugee population. The party is also seeking stricter requirements for immigrants including shortening the amount of time they have to learn Duchian English or Duchian German. The party seeks to increase public services for citizens while restricting non-citizens from accessing services without payment arguing they have not paid into the system or accepted the commitments to society. The party also seeks to mandate a 5 year residency requirement before citizenship is considered.

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Duchies unifies E-Mobility payments
Today the United Duchies has announced all E-Bike and and E-Scooter rental schemes are being transferred onto the GO Payment system with a new GO Pass to be made available for nationwide E-Scooter or E-Bike rental. Under the new system all systems would still offer their own passes but would have to offer the GO-Move pass which will cover E-Scooters and E-Bike rental nationwide. The revenue from this would be passed onto the companies depending on the proportion of use the user uses those scooters per month. All would have to accept bookings of a new Go-Move app that will have all options on the app and either show the charge of the local scooter company in case of just processing the payments or be able to unlock the E-Scooter or E-Bike for free.

The Department of Transport has been working on the scheme for months getting all the E-Scooter and E-Bike rental companies on board. The move is designed to make it easier for people to catch a train to a new city and just scoot away without having to face license ID checks again in the new city if the scheme is run by a different company. The app will pass details of the user onto the E-Scooter or E-Bike provider.The Department of transports said "This is one part of our bold strategy in order to allow people to move more freely and easily around the country without having to worry about paying extra , or compatibility of apps or having to provide license details again. We must make environmentally friendly options the most conveniant choice." The app will offer a pass for 75 Dux Libra a month for nationwide Scooter rentals with unlimited rides of up to 45 minutes. They will also offer at select centres day rentals for E-Bikes under Go-Cycle to allow intercity trips on a rental bike with you having to return the bike to a station at the other city. This would be monitored and bikes repositions between cities as necessary.