Bike marking event at Amex stadium reaches goal of promoting sustainable travel

The new Mayor of Brighton & Hove set sustainable travel as a civic goal during the event.

More than 20 cyclists from the area as well as students and staff from the universities of Sussex and Brighton had their bikes marked and registered on the day. The details are added to a national database promoted by Bike Register and supported by all police services.

The marking was carried out by wheeling and cycling charity Sustrans and funded by Community Rail Network.

The Mayor of Brighton & Hove Cllr Mohammed Asaduzzaman attended the opening ceremony in his first official engagement as the city’s civic representative.

He said: “It’s a privilege to be here to support your sustainable travel initiative. This is my first engagement this morning - I cannot miss it. We all will be working together to make sure our city as a whole we are promoting sustainable travel for every single transport policy.”

The event was opened by Seaford town crier Peter White who made the traditional ‘oyez, oyez, oyez’ cry.

He told the group gathered at the Amex stadium: “The goal of today’s activity is to secure Brighton’s bikes, so when its students are told to ‘get on their bikes’, they are still there for them to use!

“Bike Register is a national scheme supported by all police forces to protect and mark bikes. Those marked bikes are 83% less likely to be stolen than their anonymous cousins.

“This event is part of Community Rail Week highlighting activities which are ‘More Than A Railway’. Community Rail Week will “encourage and enable more people to use the train as a sustainable, healthy, inclusive way to travel”, enabling cyclists to travel by train to get out and launch their rides. There are leaflets available today to promote cycle rides from ‘hub’ stations.”

Sustrans officer Stuart Langridge commented: “The bike marking was a great success … it all went very, very well, very smoothly and I think Sustrans’ involvement in projects like this goes hand-in-hand with the Community Rail Partnership.

“Multi-modal travel is something that we all promote: cycling to and from train stations and from the other side when you get to your destinations. It’s something that Sustrans fully promotes whether it’s trains, buses, bikes, wheels, walking – you name it – so projects like these are something we should all take part in and do more of.”

Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Community rail partnerships and thousands of ‘station friends’ volunteers the length and breadth of Britain are mobilising en masse, engaging local people and partners to raise awareness about sustainable travel by rail, and get people enthused about its many benefits.

“Community Rail Week is about bringing people together around the theme of ‘More Than A Railway’. Community rail has an inspiring track record of promoting travel confidence and broadening mobility horizons, sometimes with life-changing effects, while giving communities a voice on transport, and putting railways and stations at the heart of community life.”

Southeast Communities Rail Partnership is a Community Interest Company which works to connect communities to people, places and opportunities on railway lines. It is an accredited rail partnership with the Department for Transport and has 10 Community Rail lines.

Southeast CRP works with five train operating companies across East and West Sussex as well as parts of Surrey, Kent, Berkshire and south-west London.

The partnership works with train operators, Network Rail, local authorities, community representatives and dedicated volunteers at 130 stations on its lines. It also has specialist education officers who teach youngsters about rail safety, healthy and sustainable travel as well as taking people on ‘Try a Train’ trips.

More information at: www.southeastcrp.org