Cash boost to get the nation cycling
New campaign will make underused bikes roadworthy.
A new £1 million campaign to encourage the nation to dust off their bikes and ride more has been launched today (12 March 2015) by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill.
The ‘Big Bike Revival’ brings together a programme of events to be delivered by CTC, the national cycling charity, which will help people cycle more safely and with confidence by giving them the skills to fix and maintain their bikes.
The launch comes as the government launches how £15 million will be spent on nearly 300 railway stations to improve cycle facilities.
A total of 279 stations will benefit from the grant, which will pay for an additional 7500 new cycle parking spaces to triple the number of cycle parking spaces at stations since 2010.
Transport Minister Robert Goodwill said:
We are serious about getting people on their bike – cycling is great for our health and means less congested cities and less pollution.
Now spring has arrived, there is no better time to bring out that bike gathering dust in the shed. The Big Bike Revival will help you sort out the punctures and minor mechanical problems that we have all used as an excuse not to get out on 2 wheels.
It is also important we do all we can to integrate cycling into longer journeys, and that’s why increasing facilities at rail stations is vital.
These new facilities will make it easier and more convenient for people to cycle to and from their station and I am delighted we will have tripled cycle parking at stations since 2010 once these new schemes have been built.
CTC chief executive Paul Tuohy said:
As the national cycling charity, CTC wants to encourage as many people as possible to fall back in love with cycling and experience all the benefits, health and economic, it brings.
Knowing so many bikes are lying dormant gathering dust in people’s homes, the Big Bike Revival aims to bring them back to life and give people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities the incentive they need to reengage with cycling. The minister’s backing is a sign of the level of importance that the Department for Transport is placing on getting people back into the saddle, for which we are enormously grateful.
The Big Bike Revival will begin in May and will work with bike ‘re-cycle’ centres, which recycle second-hand bikes to get them back on the road. The events will help give people the basic mechanical skills needed to fix and maintain their bikes. A final list of participating centres and more details will be available via CTC in May.
Railway stations receiving funding will include Derby, Lincoln, Dorking, Preston and Rugby stations, which will see hundreds of new cycle parking places, the much needed extension of Woking Cycle Hub giving a further 250 spaces, plus a new high quality cycle route and 300 cycle parking spaces in a 2 tier system at Cheltenham Spa.
The new projects will build on the success of those schemes previously funded by the department which have promoted links between cycling and train use and have seen the number of cycle trips to stations reach an all-time high.
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