£830k Council Investment Approved For Worthing & Adur Bicycle Hire Scheme

Plans have been approved for a large-scale pedal cycle and electric bike rental scheme covering Worthing and Adur.

The councils said this week that work had already started to develop a map of potential locations, where users could collect or drop off one of the 322 proposed bikes.

During a meeting of the joint strategic committee, members agreed that both councils could now start looking for an operator.

It was planned as, essentially, an extension of Brighton’s "BTN Bikeshare", which members claimed has been one of the most successful bike rental schemes in the UK outside London.

The councils expect to appoint an operator late this year, ahead of a two-phase launch.

In the first, 38 hubs will open, followed by another 13 in phase two.

Half of the bikes available will be e-bikes.

The figures for the investment, as given in a report to the councillors, are costs of £830,350 to buy the bikes and the infrastructure, followed by an estimated annual operating cost of £233,419 for the first phase.

But the local authorities claim that the benefits would include the opening-up of cycling to more people, with the aim of improving air quality and reducing traffic congestion.

The scheme received unanimous support from the committee, but Worthing leader Daniel Humphreys brought concerns about the state of West Sussex's roads, and the law regarding the use of e-scooters.

Brighton & Hove City Council is considering including e-scooters in the scheme in the future and Adur and Worthing councils are likely to do the same.

But at the moment the only e-scooters that can be used on public roads are those rented as part of government-backed trials.

Mr Humphreys told the meeting:

“The legislation does need to catch up.”

“The other thing that needs to catch up if we’re going to make cycling a lot safer and a lot more available – and not just safe for the users of the bicycles but also pedestrians and other vehicle users – is the infrastructure.

“We do need to see that infrastructure catch up across Adur and Worthing.

“We are not where many other parts of the country are with regards to the design of our highway infrastructure.

“It’s not perilously dangerous out there but equally it could be an awful lot better.”

He called on West Sussex County Council to work with Worthing and Adur on improving the roads ‘to make all of this as good as it possibly can be, to deliver all the benefits it possibly can’.

Where could the hubs go?

During Phase One, large hubs, with space for 30 bikes, have been short-listed for:

• Worthing Pier/ Montague Place
• Worthing Station
• Shoreham Town Centre by La Patisserie

Medium hubs, with space for 20 bikes at:

• Splashpoint Leisure Centre, Worthing
• West Worthing Station
• The Burlington, Worthing
• Worthing Town Centre/ Royal Arcade Shopping Mall
• Shoreham-By-Sea Station
• Shoreham Football Club
• Lancing Station
• Southwick Square
• Old Shoreham Toll Bridge
• Buckingham Park and Playground, Adur

And small hubs, with space for ten bikes, at:

• Sea Lane Café, Worthing
• George V Avenue, Worthing
• Chapel Road (KFC), Worthing
• Poulters Lane Car Park, Worthing
• Worthing Hospital
• Brooklands Pleasure Park, Worthing
• Ham Road, Worthing
• Sussex Yeoman, Palatine Road, Worthing
• Goring Road Post Office, Worthing
• Goring-By-Sea Station
• Dominion Road Post Office, Worthing
• Grand Avenue, Worthing
• Goring Beach Front
• Strand Parade, Worthing
• Lancing Beach Car Park
• Broadwater Cricketer’s Parade, Adur
• Monks Recreation Ground, Adur
• Cokeham Road, Adur
• Southlands Hospital, Adur
• Londis, Old Shoreham Road
• Southwick Station
• Ferry Road, Adur
• South Lancing (The Broadway)
• Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham
• Co-op, Upper Shoreham Road

All hubs short-listed for phase two will be small:

• Pond Lane Recreation Ground, Worthing
• Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, Arundel Road
• Worthing Findon Road Express
• West Durrington Development
• Brighton City Airport
• Fishersgate Station
• Ricardo, Old Shoreham Road
• Manor Road, North Lancing
• Lidl, Shoreham
• Retail development at New Monks Farm, Lancing (formerly IKEA)
• New Monks Park
• Sompting development
• Holmbush Retail Park