Brompton Dock openings this month in Oxford, Peterborough and at London's Whittington Hospital

Oxford and Peterborough will in the coming days become the latest railway station to join the Brompton Dock scheme. The facility will be launched at Oxford station tomorrow, Friday 15 March, with Peterborough following next Wednesday 20 March. The following week will see a Brompton Dock unveiled at the Whittington Hospital in North London.

Under the scheme, 40 Brompton bikes will be made available in Oxford and 20 each in Peterborough and at the Whittington Hospital.

At all three new locations, as with the existing sites covered by the scheme, two levels of tariff will apply to people signing up through the Brompton Dock website - Frequent and Leisure.

Those cost £45 or £10 respectively for membership, with hire costs for Frequent Members standing at £2.50 a day, and £5 for Leisure Members.

Mark Antwis, managing director of Brompton Dock, said of the Oxford location: “With two tariffs available, Brompton Dock will suit both regular commuters and tourists in Oxford. Located at the station, the dock is ideally situated to cater for those wanting to commute, perhaps into London, as well as for anyone who comes to visit the many places of historic and cultural interest the city has to offer by train”.

Dave Martin, First Great Western Station Manager for Oxford, added: “It's getting people out of cars and onto bikes. It will hopefully also encourage people to use fold-up bikes which are a massive advantage for us for travelling on the train itself.

“Passengers can get a bike and actually take it with them to their destination - say that be from Oxford to Banbury for example - go to work and come back later that day, or even the next day, returning the bike to its dock.”

In Peterborough, Councillor Peter Hiller, Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “This is a really exciting scheme for Peterborough and something we welcome to the city.

“We want more people to think about using environmentally friendly forms of transport such as bikes for their everyday trips and this scheme makes it easy for people to do so.”

The Whittington Hospital launch takes place on Thursday 28 March and coincides with the NHS Sustainability Day 2013. It will be the first Brompton Dock at a hospital, and Mr Antwis said: “We are thrilled to be launching in partnership with an NHS trust.

“We expect the dock to do very well in this hospital location as it is perfectly situated at the heart of the community. Staff at the hospital will be able to use it to get to work while local residents and visitors will also be able to take advantage of this prominent location, only minutes from Archway tube station.

“Working with partners such as Whittington Health is very beneficial for Brompton Dock. Organisations such as this know the importance of encouraging sustainable and healthy travel alternatives for their staff and local communities and are ideally positioned to help promote the scheme”.

Whittington Health’s Director of Estates & Facilities, Phil Ient commented: “Whittington Health is highlighting the link between healthy lifestyles and sustainable living for NHS Sustainability Day.

“We are delighted that Brompton Dock will be launched as part of the celebrations, providing our staff and local community with a healthy and sustainable means of transport.”

Currently, there are Brompton Docks at Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent stations, as well as in the London Borough of Ealing and the campus of the University of Greenwich. Besides Peterborough, Guildford and Oxford are also scheduled to receive a Brompton Dock soon.

Future openings are planned at railway stations and other locations including, in London, North Acton, the Whittington Hospital and the boroughs of Hounslow and Southwark, and away from the capital at Ashford International, Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill, Canterbury West, Maidstone East, Reading, Southampton, Stratford Parkway, Tonbridge, Warrington and Woking.