We are delighted to announce that Bike4Health will be running a Bike Train for 5 days – Monday 17 to Friday 21 July – from the Bike Garden in Nuns Moor Park Fenham to Quorum Business Park via Spital Tongues, Jesmond and Gosforth.
Killingworth Road Metro Bridge
A Bike Train is a group ride on quiet roads and traffic-free paths. We have been working with Bike4Health to arrange this as Killingworth Road will close on 20 July 2017 for the replacement of the Metro Bridge and the widening of Killingworth Road.
You can see a map of the Bike Train route here.
The Bike Train in action
The Bike Train should help people avoid the likely disruption during the first few weeks of the Killingworth Road closure. Each ride will be led by a Bike4Health Guide so no one gets lost, and will be ideal for commuters travelling from near Fenham and Gosforth who want to try cycling but are maybe not so confident on the road or are not sure of what routes to take.
You can see a Bike Train in action on Bike4Health’s promotional film.
Councillor Robin Ashby of Parklands Ward has tried out our route, and you can read about his experiences here. Cllr Ashby cycled the route as an “Easy Rider” and found that the entire route took 35 minutes, which compares very favourably with driving through Fenham, Jesmond and Gosforth, especially during the rush hour.
The Bike Train Guide heading for Quorum!
Bike4Health are a community interest company developed to enable local communities, businesses and children to incorporate cycling into their lives. They have received funding to run this Bike Train, so it’s free for anyone wishing to try it out.
Arrival at Quorum!
Some of our members have previously taken part in an earlier Bike4Health Bike Train that ran from Kingston Park to Quorum – you can read about their experience here.
We also know that Bike Trains have been run in London to help commuters deal with the effects of strikes on the London Underground.
To book please click on the links below for the day or days you want, or copy and paste the links into your browser.
- Monday 17th July : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bike4health-bike-train-beat-the-killingworth-closure-chaos-tickets-35923992629?aff=es2
- Tuesday 18th July : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bike4health-bike-train-beat-the-killingworth-closure-chaos-tickets-35966896957?aff=es2
- Wednesday 19th July : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bike4health-bike-train-beat-the-killingworth-closure-chaos-tickets-35966931059?aff=es2
- Thursday 20th July : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bike4health-bike-train-beat-the-killingworth-closure-chaos-tickets-35966965161?aff=es2
- Friday 21st July : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bike4health-bike-train-beat-the-killingworth-closure-chaos-tickets-35967009293?aff=es2
Bike park at Quorum
If you do catch the Bike Train, please leave a comment on this blog to tell us about your experiences. SPACE for Gosforth hopes that the Killi Road Bike Train will encourage local employers to run regular Bike Trains as part of their initiatives to promote sustainable travel to work.
We would like to thank Cllr Ashby for championing and testing our Bike Train. The closure of Killingworth Road risks increasing air pollution in the South Gosforth Air Quality Management Area if the mitigation measures for the roadworks are not effective. This is a real threat to the health of our community and we hope other councillors will follow his example in actively encouraging residents to consider alternative means of travel.