250 bike parking places to be added to railway stations in Greater Manchester

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Northern Rail have successfully bid for £636,000 from the Department for Transport (DfT) to improve cycle parking facilities at local railway stations. In total, 250 new bike parking places will be added across nine different stations.

Nick Fisher, TfGM’s Customer Operations Director, said:

“We are very happy to secure funding that will help to improve facilities for cyclists that fit in with our long-term vision to make Greater Manchester a cycle city.

“Better cycle parking facilities will allow more people to use bikes to get to key destinations, as well as to cycle as part of a longer journey. It also helps people to build exercise into their daily routine. These improvements will help many more people to access rail services and allow them to travel further afield.”

Covered stands will be installed at Gorton, Heaton Chapel, Hyde Central, Marple, Mills Hill, and Trafford Park stations, while enclosed secure cycle hubs are to be added at Cheadle Hulme and Deansgate. The Fairfield Street entrance of Piccadilly station will also benefit from new covered bike racks.

Ian Joslin, area director for Network Rail, said he hoped that the money would encourage more people to travel to and from stations by bike and said that the aim now was to install the new facilities as soon as possible.

TfGM is aiming to increase cycling to 10 per cent of all journeys by 2025. Earlier in the month, we reported how an extra £22 million had been secured via Cycle City Ambition funding to spend on cycling infrastructure and there are now plans to build 100km of cycle lanes around the city.

The flagship project is along Wilmslow Road, a route which carries an estimated 2,000 cyclists a day. Plans are for fully kerb-protected cycle lanes on both sides of the street. Major cycle path projects are also planned for Manchester Airport, Prestwich, Cheetham Hill, Salford and Stockport as well as alongside the Bridgewater and Ashton Canals.