Two partnership projects have been recognised in the 2026 Scottish Transport Awards.
Increasing access to bike parking and storage across Strathclyde
Research has found that a lack of suitable cycle storage is one of the most common barriers to cycling, and one third of Scottish households are likely to have no safe place to store a bike.
Cycling Scotland worked with seven social landlords across the Strathclyde region to deliver new and improved cycle storage for residents who previously had no secure place to store a bike. In 12 months, the programme delivered 30 new installations of secure cycle storage and cycle parking, with several existing facilities repaired and brought back into use.
The new storage removes a major structural barrier to cycling for people living in high-density housing, and is now benefitting more than 600 people, including families and people affected by ill health or disability.
Cycling Scotland worked with Registered Social Landlords across the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) region. The cycle storage programme is funded by Transport Scotland’s People and Place Programme and delivered through SPT.
Bike reuse pilot: reducing waste, upskilling inmates, getting bikes into communities
In this initiative, Glasgow City Council worked to establish pathways at its three household waste recycling centres to reclaim bikes that were previously destined for metal recycling. The bikes are taken to HMP Barlinnie, where they are repaired as part of the prison’s employability programme, providing opportunities for employment after custody. The final step of the journey is redistribution: bikes are given to children, families, schools and individuals who would otherwise face financial barriers to cycling.
At the time of submitting an entry to the awards, 294 bikes had already been diverted from the council’s waste centres and sent for refurbishment, and the project aimed to save and refurbish 500 bikes for reuse by March 2026, preventing a potential 6.2 tonnes of metal from going to scrap.
Ricky Baxter, Cycle Hub Coordinator at St Paul's Youth Forum explains: “When you’re dealing with families who don’t have a lot of money, or people who’ve got no bike, or a school with no bikes, and being able to give them that bike for free and just see the happiness: it’s tremendous.”
This is a partnership project between Glasgow City Council, St Paul's Youth Forum, HMP Barlinnie and Cycling Scotland. The pilot is funded by the Scottish Government’s People and Place Programme and delivered through Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.
