There’s a new lease of life in store for 100 used Belfast Bikes, thanks to 15 Belfast based social enterprises, co-operatives and charities.

Belfast City Council recently upgraded its popular public bike share fleet, leaving a surplus of used bikes. The opportunity to re-use these bikes for community benefit was promoted to the city’s social enterprises, co-operatives and charities in January and generated a fantastic response.

Several of the organisations that have benefitted spoke of how grateful they were to give the bikes a good home:

Reverend Adrian Green from Mount Merrion Parish Church said: “These bikes will provide transport for our youth and children’s team as they work in the local area and several bikes will be used as part of our community fitness hub as we seek to promote physical wellbeing in all ages.”

Ciaran McNeill, Ligoniel Improvement Association commented: “The Belfast Bikes will be a huge asset to the Ligoniel community not just for health and recreation purposes, but for their overall wellbeing.”

And Jennifer from charity Tools for Solidarity added: “It’s encouraging to see local authorities getting involved in green development. Rather than throw them away, they offered the bikes to charities and organisations. For me, that means a lot, because at Tools for Solidarity, we’re doing the same - only with high quality refurbished tools and sewing machines.”

For more information, go to www.belfastcity.gov.uk/belfastbikes