Brighton’s first Bikehangar – an on-street lock up for bicycles – has been officially handed over to residents.
The University of Brighton-led project is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Brighton and Hove City Council’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)*.
The hangar was formally presented on Tuesday, 9th September to the Ditchling Rise Area Residents Association (DRARA) which will manage the facility.
The hangar, on the corner of Ditchling Rise and Shaftesbury Road, is part of the university’s ‘smart e-bikes’ research project which is trialling and researching electrically-assisted cycles.
The ‘smart e-bikes’ research project, led by the University of Brighton between 2011 and 2014, is funded by the EPSRC. The aim of the project is to understand how people engage with smart e-cycling and the issues for policy, design/product development and research that could lead to a higher uptake of e-bikes in the UK, with the aim of reducing carbon emissions.
Dr Frauke Behrendt, senior lecturer and leading the project at the university, said: “This trial enabled us to understand how the combination of an e-bike and sheltered cycle storage might encourage more people to take up cycling. The Bikehangar is of particular importance to those who do not have space to park their bike in or outside their own homes.”
The new hangar has six spaces available for rent by nearby residents.
Attending the handover were: Abby Hone, Principal Transport Planner, Brighton & Hove City Council; Chris Sevink, Chair of the Ditchling Rise Area Residents Association; and Frauke Behrendt, Project Leader, Smart e-bikes Research Project, University of Brighton.
* Further information on Brighton & Hove City Council’s LSTF project can be found here.