Bike hangars 'almost fully booked in 90 minutes'

New bike storage hangars installed across Bristol were almost fully booked within 90 minutes.

Bristol City Council data showed five out of six spaces in each of the 40 new hangers were reserved after the roll-out saw "incredible demand".

Each hangar provides six rentable spaces for bicycles and are becoming an increasingly common sight on the city's residential roads.

Councillor James Crawford said there was "a lot of untapped demand" for more hangars.

The hangars are especially popular with people living in small flats or shared houses meaning they have somewhere safe to leave a bike outdoors, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

During a council meeting last week, Mr Crawford said: "Bishopston is receiving two new bike hangars, however from conversations from residents there is a lot of untapped demand for more. It's great to see such incredible demand for these hangars.

"But there were a lot of suggested sites that were unsuccessful in this round."

The BBC has previously reported on bike thefts across the city and how cyclists are having to retrieve their stolen bikes themselves.

In the latest roll-out by the West of England Combined Authority, 40 new hangars were installed in areas such as Bishopston and Brislington - providing spaces for 240 bicycles which could be accessibly with a key or via an app.

Council data showed 200 spaces were booked within 90 minutes of going live.

Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport policy committee, said there was no timeline for installing more new hangars.

No decisions will be made until after the upcoming election for a new West of England mayor on 1 May.

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