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City centre bike festival this weekend

A special bike festival will be held in Aberdeen city centre this Saturday [17 Sept] as part of European Mobility Week.

Belmont Street will be closed to traffic from 10am–4.30pm to allow the Belmont Bike Festival to go ahead to mark ‘Car-free Day in Aberdeen’.

The festival, organised by the Getabout Partnership, will feature a host of events to promote sustainable travel and improved air quality. People of all ages can come along and enjoy:

• the Getabout Bike Road Show, with a collection of assorted bikes including recumbents, folding bikes, hand-pedalled bikes, a tandem and even a clown bike;

• the Adventure Aberdeen Mountain Bike Skills Course;

• the Getabout Tent with free goodies, maps and information on walking, cycling, bus and train travel and car-sharing;

• eco-driving lessons with the Energy Savings Trust;

• the Breathe Easy Tent, with freebies and information on car exhaust testing and the chance to win a bike in a poster design competition;

• street art;

• bike retailers, with all the latest models on the market and a demonstration area to try them out.

European Mobility Week, which runs 16–22 September, aims to encourage awareness of the need to take action to combat the pollution caused by the increase in urban traffic. ‘Car-free Day’ involves closing off a street which is normally open to traffic and using the space to highlight greener ways of travelling.

Getabout – a partnership which includes NESTRANS, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen and Robert Gordon Universities, and the Energy Savings Trust – was formed to promote sustainable transport in the North-east and offer travel planning advice to organisations. It holds events throughout the year and participates in European Mobility Week annually.

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