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1,500 ‘Bee Bikes’ to be introduced across Greater Manchester this autumn
The Bee Bikes come as part of a larger plan to get the region cycling again
A bicycle hire system will be introduced across Greater Manchester this autumn, it has been confirmed this week.
The new initiative comes as part of the region’s Bee Network, a ten year, £1.5 billion plan to create 1,800 miles of walking/cycling routes in the city-region.
1,500 ‘Bee Bikes’ will be rolled out across 200 docking stations in Manchester, Salford and Trafford during the first phase of the plan in November – more boroughs will be included at a later date.
Transport Commissioner Chris Boardman said that over 100,000 local households will live within a 5-minute walk of a Bee Bike docking station.
“Today is a major milestone for the city-region – not only do we have a solid plan to make vehicles on our roads cleaner, we’ll soon be bringing cycle hire to our streets – providing a healthy, convenient, non-polluting transport option for tens of thousands of people.
“Together with our plans for hundreds of miles of cycling and walking routes by 2024, we are building a truly world-leading sustainable transport system.”
Transport for Greater Manchester report that demand for bicycles across the region is up by 20%, though only 16% of people living in flats have access to their own bike.
This comes just after £150m of government funding was secured for Greater Manchester’s ‘Clean Air Zone’ was secured – the scheme which will see highly-polluting vehicles face extra costs to drive across the county.
Heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches will need to pay £60 a day to drive within the zone, with vans paying £10 and taxi and private hire vehicles paying £7.50. Failure to pay the charge will also result in a £120 fine plus the daily charge.
‘Tackling pollution cannot be ignored any more,’ Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said on air pollution levels in across the region, which contribute to around 1,200 deaths every year.
He said: “Coming out of the pandemic, I think we’ve got to get a lot more serious about people’s health and health inequalities that we have in this city region and across the country.”