Ebike Centres | Electric Bike Shop | Leicester, East Midlands UK

Ebike Centres | Electric Bike Shop | Leicester, East Midlands UK

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Leicester makes bid for city electric bike scheme

Leicester City Council has submitted an ambitious bid for a £100,000 government grant to fund an electric bike rental scheme.

The plan which has been submitted, called ‘Wheels to Work Plus’, will build upon Leicester’s existing ‘Wheels to Work’ scheme, which started in April this year. The current scheme has 15 electric bikes which are rented to new job starters on low incomes for a six month period to get them ‘on their feet (excuse the pun). After 6 months they return the bike and make their own arrangements, and the bike is passed on to someone else.

The grant, if the bid is successful, is intended to add 130 electric bikes and increase the scope of the scheme. As well as increasing the number of ‘Wheels to Work’ bikes, five new hubs will be created.

Three of the hubs will be operated by large city centre employers (Leicester College, Leicester City Council and the University of Leicester), who will create ‘bike pool’ schemes for their staff. The fourth hub will be at Leicester train station, where bikes will be rented out to commuters. This will be supported by East Midlands Trains, with the possibility of ebikes being rented out at the same time as train tickets are sold. The final hub will be at Highcross shopping centre, where bikes will be rented to staff, the public and tourists.

The overall aim of the scheme is to greatly increase the number of electric bikes in use in Leicester. This in turn will lead to increased familiarity, encouraging more people to start using electric bikes for their daily commute.

Leicester and Nottingham have shown consistently among the highest levels of air pollution in Europe, and the city’s ambition is to bring about a dramatic drop on air pollution levels. Added benefits include less traffic congestion and a healthier population.

An average three mile commute by electric bike takes less than 15 minutes, costs less than 1p in electricity, and uses less energy than making two slices of toast.

It is hoped that the results will be announced by the end of August 2015.