Sustainability steps up a gear with Great Northern’s new station cycle hub

The MP for North East Bedfordshire, Richard Fuller, has opened Great Northern’s new cycle parking hub at Biggleswade station, promoting greener travel in the community.

With storage for up to 44 bikes in a secure area accessed only by a fob available for free from the ticket office, it also has CCTV, two charging bays for electric bikes and a maintenance area.

Jenny Saunders, Customer Service Director for Thameslink and Great Northern, said: “We’re delighted to open this great new facility for our passengers at Biggleswade station. We hope that offering a more secure place to lock up your bike, as well as electric bike charging facilities, will encourage more passengers to go green and cycle to the station.

“Travelling by train and bike is the most environmentally-friendly travel combination, and through our station improvement programme, we’re working with local communities to make our stations even more sustainable.”

The hub has been funded by the Department for Transport’s cycle rail fund, being managed by the sustainable transport charity Sustrans, with further funding from Central Bedfordshire Council.

The government fund aims to improve cycling facilities at stations, promote economic growth, improve journeys, and encourage environmentally-friendly transport to cut carbon. Encouraging bike journeys to stations is also high on the agenda as a way of encouraging people to get out and enjoy ‘active travel’ as part of their journeys.

Over the next few years, further improvements to Biggleswade station include the installation of lifts and an accessible toilet as part of Network Rail’s Access for All scheme, and a new bus interchange funded by Central Beds Council.

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Note to editors

Other schemes funded by the DfT cycle rail grant this year include:

Bedford

Epsom

Bognor

St Albans

Harpenden