Hundreds of young people in Greater Manchester to get free 'bee bike' hire

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Hundreds of young people across Greater Manchester are to get free cycle hire, in a new promotion announced by Mayor Andy Burnham.

The first 1,000 Our Pass members to sign up for the offer will get 50 minutes free 'bee bike' hire in March, April and May. It's to mark the launch of a new app for the pass, which gives 16-18 year olds and care leavers aged 18-21 free bus travel and reduced tram travel across Greater Manchester.

To enter pass holders must activate their Our Pass Exclusives account and download the app. Mr Burnham said: "Young people need our support more than ever, especially during this ongoing period of increased cost of living crisis. READ MORE: Mapped: When snow is set to fall over Greater Manchester as cold blast hits "I'd encourage all schools and colleges in the city-region to encourage young people to sign up to the Our Pass scheme and make sure they have activated this invaluable part of their Our Pass membership and downloaded the app, so they can take advantage when new offers and discounts come on board." Dame Sarah Storey, Greater Manchester's active travel commissioner, said: "We know that the GM cycle hire scheme is popular with people aged 18 to 35, and this new offer for Our Pass holders provides a great opportunity to see how a slightly younger group of people use the bikes over the next few months - and to hear their feedback.

Finding out what they think about the bikes, and what changes they would like to see - to enable them to keep on using them in the future, will be crucial in helping shape the future roll-out of the scheme." Almost 50,000 young people, mainly college students and apprentices, use Our Pass.