Swansea University’s bike hire scheme has seen a 280% increase in users across the city over the past four years. And one sixth (14%) of daily commuter journeys made by students and staff at the University are by bike (compared to Welsh national average of 1.1%).
2022 saw more than 45,000 journeys being made on the Santander Cycles, when six bike hubs for students, staff, and the wider community were made available to use. As well as access to the Santander bike hire scheme the University is investing in cycle safe pathways, storage and changing facilities, and access to free tools and equipment for students and the local community.
Active Travel officer at Swansea University, Jayne Cornelius said: “Over the past four years, we have significantly invested at both the Singleton and Bay campus in improving the end-to-end facilities for cyclists. The bikes and the facilities have provided an incentive for both our students, and members of the local community to actively travel short distances across the city.
“Since launch in July 2018, we have seen annual subscriptions to the Santander bike hire scheme increase from just 202 to over 4000 in 2023, and annual journeys increase from 16,000 to over 45,000, with total journeys over five years amounting to 148,000.”
Samuel Ross, a student at Swansea University said: “Cycling is a great way to travel around the city. The storage and changing facilities have also been a game changer, with free bike registration through Bike Register provided free on Campus along with free lights and locks for all student cyclists you feel more confident to park your bike on campus.”
Swansea University has continued to improve provisions following feedback from students and the local community. A further hub was introduced to the scheme in 2019 in the Mumbles which has been one of the most popular hubs.
Most recently, the university has added eight public workstations across the two University Campuses, which offer tools and bike pumps for repairing bikes. It is also currently offering free locks and lights to students who register their bikes to support bike safety. They even offer people the chance to learn to ride to those who are keen to use a bike but don’t have the confidence to use one. In addition, working with partners, the university runs a series of cycle roadshows at both campuses. These are designed to encourage active travel, keep students safe while using their bikes, and engage with users to further improve services.
Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport said: “This is a great initiative by Swansea University and shows that when you make it easy and safe for people to cycle lots of people are keen to jump on a bike rather than use a car. The fact that the University has properly monitored the change they have seen we have good evidence about the effectiveness of schemes like this and hope we can encourage others to follow suit.”
