Bikes for the NHS scheme

[mangaman]

Sorry - bit of a long post:-

Our hospital has sent this to all employees this month.

http://www.nhsbikes.co.uk/employee.html

Basically you get a brand new bike for a year and they take some of the money for it from your salary each month then after 12 months you can choose to pay the difference and buy the bike or give it up.

I'm not sure what to make of it really.
It's essentially an interest-free loan for a year and will save you money on tax.

The trust doesn't have to pay anything as it's a national scheme

But surely someone, somewhere (ie the taxpayer) must be paying.

My problem is the choice of bikes. You choose from a set range. The cheapest is £197 and quite a few are nearly £1000! The scheme is funded on the average price for a bike being £500

To me (who cycles to work anyway) there's no way I'd leave a £1000 bike at the hospital. They're always getting stolen / vandalised. The costs if this happens falls on the employee.

Instead of trying to get people spending £1000 on a bike to commute, encourage them to buy a cheap / second hand one like I did, and leave the decent bikes at home.

Part of me thinks great - more people will cycle, but looking into it I think the NHS should encourage cycling by more (and more secure) bike storage and shower / changing facilities at work.
My hospital has neither and isn't planning to.

Anyone had any experience of this?

 

[mr_cellophane]

Standard Cycle to Work scheme

http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/

 

[HLaB]

I think Magnatom bought his bike through an nhs scheme, a v nice kinesis; you could try pm him.

 

[magnatom]

That's how I got my go faster (TM) bike.

It's a good scheme (although yours does seem a bit different from ours, as we can go to certain local bike shops) and means you can make good savings on a bike. I'm in the NHS as well and the downside of that is that you can't save VAT, but I still got 30% off my bike.

P.S. My (just under £1000) bike is kept in my office!

 

[magnatom]

I think Magnatom bought his bike through an nhs scheme, a v nice kinesis; you could try pm him.

Ah, you just beat me to it!

Actually our scheme was with the company Mr Cellophane linked to. Which company your health board uses is up to them.

 

[Woz!]

Sounds like the standard Cycle To Work scheme that all companies can take advantage of.
Yes, the taxpayer is losing revenue on it but it's trivial compared to our expenditure on the banking sector!

 

[Downward]

Sounds like another company making profit from the scheme and the bikes too.

Most NHS run Cycleshceme so you can choose anything from any participating bike shops.

Disposal fee is high too.
It's 5% through Cyclescheme + Vat.

I take it the company offering the bikes offer the same service as your LBS ?

 

[eldudino]

Has anyone ever had to actually buy the bike at the end of the year? I run cyclescheme in my office I know that payment for it will never be asked for.

 

[mangaman]

I'm sure it's a great deal - but does anyone really need a Specialised FSR XC MTB retailing at £975 in 2008 prices to commute to work?

By the way the hospital's in a completely flat area of the country - not halfway up Snowdon or somewhere

I think the statement that the average commuter bike is £500 is also just going to put people off

Sounds like a good scheme in principle that the NHS as usual manages to arse up.

Incidentally there are 20 Sheffield stands in total for bike storage in the hospital and just over 2400 people work on the site, so I hope the pick-up rate isn't too high!

 

[Ivan Ardon]

Our scheme is through the same people. They were very easy to deal with once it got past our HR dept.

They published an approved list of bikes, but it was simple enough to get a different bike from them (I did). The bikes I know about were all shipped from Tredz, which is different this year as they'll deal with LBS' now.

I'd venture that a large proportion of the bikes bought through the scheme will never be used for commuting. Almost all of the regular cycists at work have bought a 'nice' bike through the scheme, not many of them are actually better commuting bikes than what they were already riding. I've seen two new bikes belonging to the non-regular cyclists in the racks over the last six months, but each has been used less than a handful of times.

Most here seem to treat it as a perk, rather than as a serious way of commuting hence the inclusion of some eye candy.

I think you're winding yourself up over nothing.

 

[magnatom]

True. You don't need a £1000 bike to commute, but you can use one to commute.

I have two bikes at the moment, my first is my bad weather bike, and was £275 when I bought it back in 2005 (spent plenty on it since!). My new bike was £900. I use this to commute on good weather days. I also use it to go on longer rides as well. So it is dual purpose, and this is certainly allowed on the scheme.

I think the average price for a commuter reflects the fact that people want a bike for more than just commuting, and some people just like to buy bling!

 

[mangaman]

They published an approved list of bikes, but it was simple enough to get a different bike from them (I did). The bikes I know about were all shipped from Tredz, which is different this year as they'll deal with LBS' now.

That sounds good - in fact I'm getting tempted now

Most here seem to treat it as a perk, rather than as a serious way of commuting hence the inclusion of some eye candy.

I think you're winding yourself up over nothing..

You're probably right

 

[bonj2]

To me (who cycles to work anyway) there's no way I'd leave a £1000 bike at the hospital. They're always getting stolen / vandalised. The costs if this happens falls on the employee.

Instead of trying to get people spending £1000 on a bike to commute, encourage them to buy a cheap / second hand one like I did, and leave the decent bikes at home.

There's nothing to say you can't do exactly that.

Get a £1,000 bike on the scheme, leave it at home for weekend riding, and get a cheap/second hand one to ride to work on.

There's no rule that states that you you must ride to work on the actual bike that you get through the scheme. Even if there was, it would be completely unpoliceable.

 

[magnatom]

There's nothing to say you can't do exactly that.

Get a £1,000 bike on the scheme, leave it at home for weekend riding, and get a cheap/second hand one to ride to work on.

There's no rule that states that you you must ride to work on the actual bike that you get through the scheme. Even if there was, it would be completely unpoliceable.

Actually, you are supposed to use the bike for commuting 50% of the time according to cyclescheme. However, as you say, it isn't something that can be policed!

 

[JamesM]

Actually, you are supposed to use the bike for commuting 50% of the time according to cyclescheme. However, as you say, it isn't something that can be policed!

I'm sure I saw someone with a clipboard watching me with interest the other day. I was cycling to work though so it's OK.

I've actually used mine almost exclusively for commuting so far. With the little 'un at home, I haven't really found time for any other cycling just yet.

I do plan on playing on some of the local hills soon - my commute is all flat. I have worked up 200 miles credit in the last month or so, so I don't fancy my chances of getting the wrong side of the ratio this weekend...