Electric bikes at Leicester train station
Celebrating local businesses at Leicester train station…
East Midlands Trains and Leicester train station have been holding a week long event to celebrate the diversity of local businesses in Leicester city centre. To do this they opened their doors (and floors) to anyone who felt they had anything new and exciting to offer the thousands of train travelers passing through the main ticket concourse every morning and evening.
Their offer was enthusiastically accepted by Ebike Centres, a bicycle shop and electric bike specialist, based on Granby Street only 100 metres away.
From Tuesday morning until Friday evening they have pitched their distinctive blue gazebo in the main concourse of the station, along with a selection of their modern electric bikes, and used the time to chat to passing commuters about the benefits of using pedal power to get to and from work.
“It has been very useful. We deliberately chose a selection of bikes which would appeal to commuters and train passengers, from lightweight folding bikes to longer range city bikes. Most of them are available through employer’s ‘Cycle to Work’ schemes, and can bring real savings in time and transport costs for travelers”, says Liam Dunphy of Ebike Centres.
Bikes featured during the week included the ‘Beat Bike Nipper’, ‘FreeGo Folder’ and the ‘Raleigh XC’.
The event comes at an appropriate time for Leicester station, with the planned development of the new ‘Cycle Hub’ due to start soon. With secure cycle storage for over 200 bicycles, the idea is to allow more passengers to use their bicycles to get to and from the station.
“We have learnt a lot from talking to travelers during the week about how they use their bikes, and what they feel would attract them back to cycling” says Liam. “It has been an exciting year for us at our new Granby Street location and we are looking forward to continuing growth in our bicycle servicing and workshop services as well as bike sales”.
