Westcountry Business Review September 1999

Cycling revolution pioneered

A revolutionary new cycle parking solution for the 21^st century is being pioneered in Plymouth.

Students at Estover Community College will be the first in the country to get their hands on a BikeAway - a cycle parking cabinet that will keep their bikes and helmets secure, dry, and out of reach of thieves, vandals, and unhousetrained birds.

Plymouth City Council, widely acknowledged as being one of the most active and committed providers of cycling facilities in Britain, has ordered 50 BikeAway cabinets that will be ready for students to use when they return to college in September.

The order is a coup for BikeAway's inventor, Jason Hamlyn, whose groundbreaking design is grabbing the attention of potential buyers all over the country, including several supermarket chains, rail operators, education authorities, factory owners, and other councils who are keen to follow Plymouth's lead.

Phil Rosindale, Plymouth's senior transport officer, says the sheer practicality and cost-effectiveness of BikeAway make it stand out a mile from its competitors - and it will help the council in it already-successful initiative to encourage more people to cycle.

"If people can't cycle from A to B and have somewhere to park their bikes securely when they arrive, they'll think twice about cycling in the first place," he says.  "We want to give people the choice of using an alternative means of transport.

"One of the most important ways of getting people to use their cycles to commute to work is to encourage them to cycle while they are still at school - but if schoolchildren have expensive mountain bikes, security can be a problem.  BikeAway solves that problem at a stroke."

Mr Rosindale, whose wish-list features were incorporated into BikeAway at the design stage, added: "BikeAway represents excellent value for money and the sort of facilities we need.

"The fact is, it is less than the price of the competition and that will allow us to put greater numbers into schools."

Adrian Trim, Plymouth's road safety team leader, is bracing himself for a deluge of requests for BikeAways as soon as other schools hear about the 50 at Estover.

"I do hope so," he said.  "If getting requests for more cycle cabinets is a problem, I hope I get lots of problems like that!"

Mr Trim says BikeAway was only chosen after he took two Estover pupils and a teacher along to the factory to check it out and test it.

"They think BikeAway is the bee's knees - which, is wonderful, because no-one cycles to school there at the moment.  From our point of view this is a marvellous opportunity."

Plymouth City Council was one of the first local authorities in the country to publish a Cycle Strategy - even before the Government made it a policy - and the city hopes BikeAway will help it reach the Government's target of doubling the number of cycle journeys by the year 2000 and doubling it again by 2012.

Jason Hamlyn, BikeAway's inventor, has applied for Millennium Product status for BikeAway and has already impressed the adjudicators with his green design and the fact that it price means it has a chance of going into widespread use instead of languishing in a museum as a prototype that everyone admired but no-one could afford.

He is also expecting a huge demand from employers whose staff would like to cycle to work but need somewhere safe and dry to store their valuable machines.

BikeAway is produced in a hi-tech factory, Westwood Automation, in Bell Close, Newnham, Plympton.

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Last modified: March 31, 2004