Streets Ahead

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Refurbishing bikes, rebuilding lives

Season 1, Ep. 51

In this episode, we have a special feature in which Ned travels to his spiritual home in Lewisham Shopping Centre to meet the folks at XO Bikes. Founder, Stef Jones, was mentoring in prison and noticed the same people kept coming back - not that they wanted to. These people were lacking opportunities; prison is 'full of entrepreneurs, shifting the wrong product,' he says.


Stef left his ad agency to set up XO bikes, to train, employ and inspire people and support them to change their lives, become bike mechanics, and it’s a gateway to the cycling industry. They take donated bikes, and donations. Police give thousands of bikes, which they refurbish and sell.


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Episode edited by Clare Mansell


More Episodes

12/2/2022

When is a Bike Lane Not a Bike Lane?

Season 1, Ep. 48
In this special episode Laura goes to the seaside. It may be pouring with rain but Brighton and Shoreham-by-Sea offer a warm welcome, showing us the good stuff happening for cycling in Brighton, and the latest (largely bad stuff) on the short-lived cycle lane on Upper Shoreham road. This ill-fated cycle lane in West Sussex was removed after a few short weeks, despite huge support and a tripling of cycle trips during its existence. What's next for the frankly terrifying road it once sat on, and for the many children and their families that navigate it every day? And what's the least likely transport combination you can think of? All this and more, in this special episode of Streets Ahead.Thanks to Adam Bronkhorst at campaign group Shoreham-by-Cycle, and to Mark Strong, of transport consultancy Transport Initiatives, for taking the time to show Laura round and sharing their considerable expertise. Here's some background to the Upper Shoreham Road story, which road.cc covered from the start: https://road.cc/show/tags/upper-shoreham-road/189511And more recently, the Argus:https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/19877352.council-acted-illegally-removing-upper-shoreham-road-cycle-lane/https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20293658.upper-shoreham-road-cycle-lane-not-ruled-out/We’re on Twitter and welcome your feedback on our episode: http://www.twitter.com/podstreetsaheadIf you're reading this, please can you take 1 minute to give us a rating and write a review? It helps us more than you probably think.Episode edited by Clare Mansell