LEEDS, England, March 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Bikeplus launches today to represent bike share
schemes nationwide. Research released at the launch shows 10
million trips were made by shared bikes in the UK in 2015.
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160315/344266 )
Antonia Roberts, Bikeplus
Manager, said:
"Bike share schemes have been shown to improve urban
mobility - reducing congestion and improving air
quality, helping take pressure off over-crowded public transport
routes and giving the travelling public a healthy, flexible way to
get around.
"We're seeing increased interest in
towns and cities outside London
following the great success of Santander Cycles. Local authorities
want impartial advice about how to set up schemes so that they will
be successful and maximise the benefits that bike share can
bring."
Benefits of bike share schemes are already emerging - including
attracting new cyclists (TFL: 49% of London users hadn't cycled
previously), reducing cyclist injuries in areas with bike share
schemes (Graves et al 2014) and a positive impact on local
businesses (Buehler and Hamre 2014) - as well as a reduction
in car use.
Bikeplus quantifies these benefits. It has begun to collect data
from the industry to monitor the scale of bike sharing nationwide
and identify the factors which make bike share schemes
successful.
"I strongly believe that there is a real role for an
independent, fact driven organisation that can be seen to provide
best practice and practical advice to local
authorities." Tim Caswell, Managing Director, Hour
Bike.
Bikeplus is supported by local authorities, bike share operators
including Serco, Nextbike and Hour Bike, and leading academics.
Bikeplus is launched by the shared transport organisation,
Carplus, which also collects and analyses similar data for car
clubs in the UK.
About Bikeplus
Bikeplus is a new representative body for bike sharing which
aims to optimise the benefits of cycling by supporting the growth
of an effective widespread network of shared bikes.
http://www.bikeplus.org.uk
Bike share in the UK
• 16 towns have bike share schemes, with at least another 4 in
development
• 13,000 bikes are shared, of which 10,000 are in London, with a further 1,000 bikes at railway
stations
• Over 10 million trips by bike share bike in 2015
About Carplus
Carplus promotes shared transport including car clubs, 2+ car
sharing, bike sharing and taxi sharing. To find out more visit
http://www.carplus.org.uk.
For more information:
Beate Kubitz +44(0)7974-369240 /
beate@carplus.org.uk