24 June 2011
Tactran and University get behind the bike shed
Photo opportunity: 10am on Monday, 27th June at the new bike shelter, Hawhill Place, University of Dundee. Director of Campus Services Colin McNally will be performing the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the shelter.
From next week, more University of Dundee staff who prefer to travel on two wheels will be able to park their vehicles safely and securely on campus with the opening of a new bike shelter.
The shelter, which will allow up to 50 staff members to lock their bikes under cover, cost around £15,000 and is situated at the top of Hawkhill Place in the centre of campus, near Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and the College of Life Sciences.
The Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Network (TACTRAN) provided £5,000 of funding to allow the shelter to be built, while the remainder was met by the University. It will be officially opened at 10am on Monday, 27th June when Colin McNally, Director of Campus Services at the University, cuts the ribbon and throws the doors open to bicycling enthusiasts.
He said the new facility was necessary because the number of staff travelling to work by bike had increased by 300 per cent in the past three years.
'This is great for all the staff who commute by bicycle every day and shows again how keen the University is to promote sustainable travel,' he said.
'The shelter has been built to meet demand, as we had a waiting list of staff requiring secure bike parking. It’s great that the number of employees cycling to work continues to grow. Three years ago approximately 100 members of staff were cycling to work every day and over 400 are now.
'Cycling to work has benefits for all - it’s good for the environment because it helps lower carbon emissions, it's good for the cyclists financially and for their physical and mental well being. It's good for the University as it reduces the number of cars on campus and reduces our footprint.
'I'd like to thank TACTRAN for their continuing support for our efforts to promote sustainable travel.'
The University actively encourages staff to make more environmentally friendly travel choices. All staff are issued with comprehensive information covering public transport, Dundee cycle maps and car sharing options, while there is also a bike pool for staff to use when making local journeys from the main campus.
The University became the first employer in Tayside to receive a Cycle Friendly Employer Award from Cycling Scotland in recognition of its efforts to encourage staff to leave their cars at home and cycle to work instead.
Approximately 15 per cent of staff and 5 per cent of students currently commute by bike, and a Bicycle Users Group is well established at the University. New racks, partly funded by TACTRAN, were installed across the University campus to allow cyclists to safely park and lock their bikes outside the most commonly used buildings last year.
Notes to editors:
About TACTRAN:
TACTRAN is one of seven statutory Regional Transport Partnerships covering the whole of Scotland, which were created under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005.
The Tactran region forms an important "hub" lying at the heart of Scotland's transport network and includes the local authority areas of Angus, Dundee City, Perth & Kinross and Stirling which together make up just under 10% of Scotland’s land mass and nearly 12% of the nation’s population.
The Partnership Board and Director have been progressing Tactran's role and contribution, by ensuring that the diverse range of the region's transport needs are understood and addressed through the development and implementation of its Regional Transport Strategy.
The primary purpose of the Partnership is to develop a Regional Transport Strategy setting out a vision for the medium to long term future of transport in the area over a 15 year time horizon and to oversee its implementation.
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University of Dundee
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