Melbourne's bicycle share scheme is likely to be expanded into the inner suburbs in a bid to lift poor patronage levels, with hundreds of the distinctive blue bikes being used as little as once every two days.

The state government also hopes to sell advertising space at the bike-docking stations and to lure a corporate sponsor to help pay for the scheme's expansion into suburbs including Fitzroy, Collingwood, Abbotsford and Richmond.

The public use of the scheme – 550 bikes can be rented from 51 spots in the inner city – is well below financially sustainable levels.

A VicRoads workshop in June was told that each bike was rented 0.5 to 0.7 times a day on average, and that patronage needed to rise to about two rents a day to break even.

Nevertheless, VicRoads wants to continue the scheme beyond June 30, when the contract with operator the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria expires, and will soon call for expressions of interest to run and expand the service after then.