September 18, 2014 5.27 pm This story is over 123 months old

Access LN6 bike hire scheme extended to Lincoln villages

Skellingthorpe and Burton Waters: The Access LN6 bike hire scheme has been extended to two Lincoln villages, a year after it was first launched.

The Access LN6 bike hire scheme has been extended to two Lincoln villages, a year after it was first launched.

County and parish councillors, Lincoln MP Karl McCartney and Skellingthorpe residents celebrated the arrival of their new station at Skellingthorpe Community Centre on Thursday, September 18.

Another station at Burton Waters will be officially launched on September 25.

As previously reported, new docking stations and bikes are being added to the short-term hire scheme thanks to additional funding from the Department for Transport.

The scheme was launched on August 23, 2013 with seven Lincoln bike docks.

From day one, 1,200 people have registered for the scheme and the stations have seen almost 2000 bike rentals.

Through to September 2014 so far almost 200 bikes have been rented.

Hirebike is funded by the multi-million pound Access LN6 programme to increase sustainable transport opportunities in the area.

To hire one of the orange bikes, people must first become a member of the service by signing up online.

Once registered cyclists receive a unique code which unlocks their bike at the requested station. Bikes can be returned to any station.

The first half hour of each rental is free and then £1 per hour after that. The price is capped at £4 for a full day rental, and one person can hire up to five bikes for a family bike ride.

Kayleigh Smith lives in Skellingthorpe and works at Add Action near to Lincoln Brayford.

She has been renting a hirebike almost every day since the Skellingthorpe station was installed at the beginning of the month.

She said: “I was looking for a more active way of getting to work, rather than sitting in my car, usually for half an hour in the traffic.

“Cycling is definitively is quicker than driving, and I generally get to work feeling more awake, which I’m sure my boss appreciates!”

County Councillor for Skellingthorpe and South Hykeham, Reg Shore, said: “It’s great to see the Hirebike scheme extending across Lincoln, and I’m really pleased to be able to launch a new station in my division in Skellingthorpe.

“We’ve worked really closely with the Parish Council to install the station, and we hope residents from Skellingthorpe and the neighbouring villages will consider using the bikes to commute to work, or for leisure.”