MORE than 100 new bike racks were unveiled outside of Bicester’s newest train station yesterday after frustrated commuters led a two year campaign for more docks to park up their wheels.

The new bike spaces, which were installed by Chiltern Railways, now means there are 182 spaces for bikes at Bicester Village Station – an increase of 102 per cent.

Bicester North station is now also home to 136 bike racks – an increase of 58 per cent.

It comes after locals said their calls for more spaces were being ignored.

In July, cyclists told the Oxford Mail the lack of places to leave bikes – with just 10 racks at the side of the station at the time – could be discouraging people from ditching their cars and swapping to the saddle.

Oxford Mail:

David Heathfield, the senior stakeholder manager at Chiltern Railways said, “At Chiltern Railways we’ve listened to the feedback from cyclists in Bicester who have been telling us that we need more cycle parking at both stations.

“There has been a lot of work in securing this funding from the Department for Transport and delivering the project at our stations.

“We hope that cyclists will enjoy using the new facilities and they will make it even easier to access the train services to London, Oxford and Birmingham.”

Railway bosses were joined by the local councillor Lynn Pratt to cut the ribbon of the new bikes racks at the station.

She said: “We were delighted to be able to provide £26,100 to help fund this project which supports the council’s ongoing commitment to developing cycling in the town. The facilities will benefit cyclists and rail users.”