Evening Herald Saturday   June 23 2001

Bid to get pupils on to bikes

A Plymouth secondary school has installed 30 lockers to encourage students to bring their bikes to school.

Plymouth manufacturers BikeAway estimate that if the lockers are fully used they will save 9,000 car journeys a year to and from Parkside School in Devonport.

Plymouth City Council has paid for the lockers after they proved a hit at Estover Community College.

The upright lockers have enough room for the entire bike, as well as a helmet and other clothing.

                                                                     Deterrent

The Plymouth-based company says that the lack of secure parking is the biggest deterrent to cycling to school.

Peter Messenger, deputy head of the school, a specialist technology college, said: "Our pupils are pleased as Punch. A lot of them have wanted to ride to school for a long time, but they want to leave their bikes somewhere dry, safe and secure. No one wants to cycle home on a soggy saddle."

BikeAway says that if each pupil saves two car journeys a day by cycling instead, that would save more than 300 car movements a year.

Multiplied by the number of lockers and pupils it could save 9,000 car journeys a year. A spokesman said: "This would make a serious dent in the school run, which causes misery for drivers and pollutes the air that we breathe.

 " BikeAway was chosen because it has a proven track record at schools all over the country."

Plymouth City Council highway officers this week met with business leaders to discuss how best to reduce traffic use in the city.

Transport officers want to reduce the number of cars coming into the city at peak times with only one occupant.

It is estimated that makes up about 8,000 cars coming in to Plymouth every morning, and the council wants to agree systems with business leaders that will allow it to lay on bus routes at times suitable to shift patterns, and to look at the creation of a citywide car-sharing database. The meeting at the Guildhall also looked at recent successes, which have seen bus use increase by two per cent in the city while park-and-ride use has increased by 1.7 per cent.

By Stuart Abel 

Education Reporter

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