E-bikes can be hired for free for three months in Sheffield and South Yorkshire - Oliver Coppard - video Dailymotion

The Star, Sheffield

130 e-bikes will soon be available for hire feom the South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority for free for up to three months to promote community and cycling. Mayor Oliver Coppard sets out what he wants to see from the scheme.

Transcript

00:00Thank you Oliver, thank you for meeting us here today. We're here in Sheffield City Centre and

00:03there's an awful lot of bikes out today. Can you tell me what we're here to see at all?

00:06Yeah we're still part of South Yorkshire's Cycling Summer so we've got the Grand Prix

00:10event today which is a race across Sheffield City Centre. We've got the Rockburn Ride so

00:14people can just take part in the ride around Sheffield City Centre but we're also announcing

00:18our e-loan bike scheme and our South Yorkshire by bike route which has been designed by Emily

00:23Chapel. 250 kilometre cycle ride across South Yorkshire with eight family-friendly sections

00:28so people can get out and see the best of South Yorkshire by bike.

00:32Especially that about the e-loan bike or the e-bike loan system I suppose, that's a new one

00:36and one that's quite conducive to Sheffield. There are a lot of hills that you might want to not want

00:40to cycle up instead but they're also quite a hard technology to access until the prices come down

00:45one day. Can you tell me what people will be able to access through this and what are the kind of

00:50hurdles towards getting that for themselves? Hopefully no hurdles by bike but look

00:54I can say from personal experience it's obviously not always the easiest place is it to cycle

00:59South Yorkshire and so giving people access to an e-bike through a loan scheme that we've now got

01:05funded through Active Travel England means that more people have that freedom, that choice,

01:09that opportunity to try an e-bike see how it works for them in their day-to-day lives and

01:14move differently across South Yorkshire which is ultimately what we're here to try and do

01:17to support. So look it's a really great scheme we're really confident about that giving people

01:22freedom and choice, that opportunity to try a new way of moving and those e-bikes will be

01:26available through our local councils across South Yorkshire. How many have we got access to now?

01:30So we will have 130 that are immediately available and then through that £500,000

01:34scheme we'll have a load more that are out through our council so that people can access

01:38them between one and three months to try moving differently across South Yorkshire. I've got a

01:41note here saying that it's free for those first three months but people can sign up to it and

01:45there's 130 to get hold of I suppose. How will this screen develop as time goes forward I hope?

01:50So I want to give people more freedom, more choice, more opportunities to move differently

01:54across South Yorkshire. We're taking big steps obviously around the seat ramp, around the bus

01:58franchising system but we also want people to move differently in terms of wheeling, walking

02:02and cycling so we'll have more opportunities through infrastructure that we're putting in

02:06place but also offering people the opportunity to hire, loan or try bikes out in different ways as

02:11well and that will be happening over the next months and years to come. What do you hope to

02:16see out of races today and sort of people enjoying themselves? I just want people to try out cycling

02:22in South Yorkshire in a different way. I want people to see that cycling is something that you

02:25can do for fun, for competition, you can get out and be a bit healthier, a bit fitter and

02:30have a bit of fun in Sheffield City Centre and it's great to see so many people here.

E-bikes can be hired for free for three months in Sheffield and South Yorkshire - Oliver Coppard

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