Grants from the Cycle Share Fund will enable organisations to purchase cycles and equipment for schemes that provide people with access to a bike that they don’t own.
The fund is open to organisations who run or wish to run any form of cycle share scheme. Eligible organisations include third sector and community organisations, charities, schools and other workplaces. We cannot fund individuals and we will only consider granting funds to profit-making organisations if they apply in partnership with a not-for-profit organisation.
Any cycles suitable for short everyday journeys and leisure cycling are eligible, including non-standard cycles, e-cycles and children’s cycles. We will not fund full-suspension mountain bikes, BMX or other bikes that are not practical for everyday journeys.
No, match funding is not required.
Equipment that may be used and loaned alongside the cycles (for example, helmets, lights, locks and bags) may be purchased with the fund.
Yes, Cycling UK has a Bike Rental Manager (BRM) platform and we can provide organisations with a licence to use it.
We will not fund any new docked cycle hire schemes – the timescale of the available funding does not permit it – but we can fund purchases relating to existing docked schemes.
If you need to purchase storage to enable you to own and use the cycles, then you may include that cost in your application. You may not use the fund to solely pay for storage.
This is a capital fund and, as such, applications should be focused on the procurement of capital assets. However, proposals for complementary activities may be considered where there is a direct link to capital elements, such as bike maintenance costs in conjunction with procurement of bikes.
Yes, but profits should be used to support the running of the scheme.
It lasts for 12 months and after that time, there is a selection of different plans that you can purchase to continue using it if you wish. If you require more information about this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The fund will close either when the funds have all been allocated or on 31 March 2024, whichever occurs soonest.
Yes, it is the responsibility of the grant applicant to provide insurance and Cycling UK may check that organisations have public liability insurance policies in place before awarding funding.
No, there are no upper or lower limits. However, we expect you to demonstrate feasibility in your application. You should be able to show the need in your community and that you have considered the logistics of storing and maintaining the cycles you are applying to the fund to purchase, as well as providing a convincing plan for managing and monitoring their use.
Yes, you may buy more than one type of cycle.
Yes, you may purchase recycled or secondhand cycles from a reputable retailer. They cannot be bought from Gumtree, eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
Yes, we have a bike buying guide which provides this information. It is important that you demonstrate in your application that you have an understanding of why particular cycles will meet your needs and that you have, or will have, measures in place to effectively manage a fleet and a cycle share scheme.
We require you to provide us with email addresses and postcodes for everyone who uses the cycles bought through this fund. We will only email them a one-off survey to support the monitoring and evaluation of the Cycle Share Fund; we will not add them to any mailing lists or share their details further.
Successful grant applicants will be the sole owners of any cycles purchased using this fund.
