News

Queen's Campus get on their bikes!

(10 August 2004)

Staff and students at the University of Durham, Queen's Campus, Stockton can take advantage of free cycle hire as part of an initiative to encourage green travel.

A number of bikes have been purchased which are to be made available for staff and students to use. The initiative has been developed by the Green Travel Plan (GTP) working group, established at Queen's Campus to promote and improve green travel to and from the Campus.

The Bicycle Users Group have set up regular bike rides around Teesdale which staff are invited to join during their lunch hour, not only reducing pollution from the use of cars but also benefiting their health.

John Bancroft, Bursar at Queen's Campus and Chair of the GTP working group commented: "We wanted to give staff and students the opportunity to get back onto their bikes and encourage this as an alternative to using their car. The bikes can be used for a leisurely ride around Teesdale or to travel into Thornaby, Stockton or further a field."

The Green Travel Plan aims to encourage more staff and students to use green methods of travelling to and from Queen's Campus which is located on the busy Teesdale site in Thornaby. A number of measures have already been put into place for example a travel information web page is available, providing information about 'green' methods of travelling to and from Queen's Campus and a car share website has been set up to help staff and students find suitable car share partners. Also an inter-campus bus service has been set up between Queen's Campus and Durham in association with Arriva to improve travel between the University's two sites - staff and students can take advantage of a free bus service and also a reduced ticket price on public bus services during University term time and these services are heavily used.

For further information or to arrange photographs contact: Helen Swain, Public Relations Office, University of Durham, 0191 3340017