A massive cycle hire scheme is rolling out at railway stations nationwide – and it’s the Dutch national railway which is behind it.

Bike & Go provides racks of bright red bikes at rail stations. Hiring one for the day costs £3.80, plus a £10 annual subscription for the ‘Bike & Go’ card. Handing in your card at the ticket office gets you the key to the bike; you then simply unlock it and go.

The scheme is already in operation around Liverpool on the Merseyrail network, at stations from Ellesmere Port to Ormskirk. It’s also ventured out into East Anglia, at locations including Colchester and Southend. This autumn, the bikes are coming to more Eastern stations, including Ely, Ipswich, Broxbourne and Great Yarmouth; the scheme is then set to expand into Northern England, including Manchester, Blackpool, Bradford and Leeds. (See the full list of locations.)

The Dutch masterminds

What isn’t widely publicised, however, is the organisation behind this – Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the Dutch national railway.

Under its trading name ‘Abellio’, the Dutch railway runs the three British railway franchises where this is being rolled out: Merseyrail, Greater Anglia, and Northern. The Bike & Go scheme is formally a subsidiary of Merseyrail. Greater Anglia recently won three categories at the annual Cycle-Rail Awards, but has been widely criticised for seeking to ban bikes from its trains altogether.

Bike & Go is based on the similar OV-Fiets hire scheme in Holland, and Blue Bike in Belgium. Its manager Andrew Bristow told the Ely News: “We’ve tried to use their templates and use their best practices, the knowledge and expertise they’ve used, to bring it to the British market.”

The project is partly funded by the Department for Transport and local councils. Train companies believe that hire operations like this reduce the need to take bikes on trains, thereby reducing overcrowding and giving more room for (paid-for) seating instead of (free) bike spaces.