New cycling culture for Nottingham students

Cash strapped students in Nottingham can make their dwindling bank balances stay in the black for longer by travelling around the city for less.

Sustrans is lending its expertise to this city-wide project to get students on their bikes.

Ucycle Nottingham is giving students the chance to:

• Hire bikes for the entire academic year for a nominal fee
• Boost their cycle skills and confidence by taking part in free cycle training
• Get discounts on cycling lights, locks and other accessories from local bike stores
• Gain advice from cycling experts at a series of awareness events

The project will also create new cycle routes in and around the city's university campuses.

When you consider that the average household budget spends one in every six pounds on travel, using a bike for everyday journeys is one of the easiest ways to save cash. Once you're kitted out with the right bike and accessories you can get around for practically nothing.

The project team hopes that by showing students the benefits of walking and cycling more often while they have a real incentive to do so will give them good travel habits which will stay with them when they begin their careers.

Sustrans is working alongside Nottingham City Council in the project which is targeting students and staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.

The project is modeled on the successful UTravelActive scheme that encourages students and staff at Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan University to walk or cycle to benefit their health. The project has had great success with Velocampus Leeds, a bike loan scheme which involves loaning new bikes to students.

Linking up with universities is a natural progression from Sustrans' Bike It project, which is doubling the number of children cycling on a daily basis at its schools. And hopefully these higher education projects will encourage universities and hospitals across the country to work with Sustrans on similar schemes.

For further information regarding Ucycle email andrew.parkinson@sustrans.org.uk

More details on UTravelActive.

(c) Sustrans 2009 - www.sustrans.org.uk