Total Pageviews

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Greater Anglia announce 3,500 additional cycle parking spaces and new cycle hire facilities

Good news as Greater Anglia customers are set to benefit from 3,500 new cycle parking spaces, following an announcement by the Department for Transport (DfT).  

Cambridge station will gain 3,000 of these new cycle parking spaces, in proposals which will see the largest CyclePoint ever created in the UK with facilities for repair, hire and cycle sales all included in the project. The DfT funding will augment funding already pledged by CB1 developer Brookgate, as part of a wider station upgrade delivered in partnership with Network Rail.  Parking at Cambridge was promised to be improved by former franchisee National Express East Anglia, after concerns about the lack of space, and disabled access ramps being blocked.



Images FixMyTransport/Cambridge Cycle Campaign


Chelmsford station will be the location for a 500 space CyclePoint, which will include maintenance, information and cycle hire facilities. The train operator has already dedicated some of its own funding to this project, which will be augmented with contributions from the DfT and Essex County Council.

A further, innovative scheme to improve cycle facilities for will be the introduction of PlusBike cycle hire schemes at 15 stations across the Greater Anglia network. In this pioneering project, cycle hire or ‘PlusBike’ will be an option for customers when purchasing their rail ticket, giving rail passengers the option to hire a bike for a day in addition to their rail travel.

In total, the Greater Anglia TOC has successfully bid for funding worth £1.2m from the DfT’s Cycle Rail Working Group, which will be invested in these three cycle schemes, in addition to the commitments it has already made to improve cycle facilities across its network, with additional cycle storage at stations and trial of a new cycle hire facility in Norwich.