Cycle Winchester was delighted to secure funding from Winchester City Council’s Town Forum Grant to purchase equipment to help run and develop ‘Cycle Buses’. In the absence of dedicated infrastructure, Cycle Buses act a bit like a rolling cycle lane, with experienced volunteer cyclists supporting less confident or novice riders’ journeys to and from key destinations like schools.
Cycle Buses can be transformational in giving riders of all ages and ability a way into what we hope will be a lifetime of cycling. They are also a lot of fun!
The funding was used to buy kit such as trailers (to carry school bags), signage, hi-vis vests and puncture repair kits. The equipment is already being used to support existing Cycle Buses to and from Kings’ and Westgate schools from Colden Common and Twyford (cyclebusnetwork@gmail.com), and to St Bede school from Abbott’s Barton. New routes are also in the pipeline.
We continue to campaign for dedicated cycle infrastructure but, in the meantime, our vision is to see Cycle Buses all over the City and District, enabling more people to get to and from where they need by bike. If you are interested in setting up a route, we now have an enthusiastic network of volunteers with experience of running buses, and kit we can loan out to help get you started.
If you’d like to know more, contact us at: hello@cyclewinchester.org. Also check out our interview earlier this year with Hannah, one of the organisers of the Colden Common and Twyford bus.