Totton and Gosport Bikeshare

Hampshire County Council remains committed to delivering the Totton and Gosport E Bikeshare scheme, following the earlier decision to appoint Voi as the operating partner.

The analysis of feedback received through the formal (Section 115E) consultation to install bays on the public highway has been completed and assessed in line with the requirements of the Highways Act 1980. Licences are currently being prepared for those proposed bay locations where consent was received. Once finalised, the updated list of approved sites will be published on this webpage. Any locations where frontager objections were received will not progress at this stage.

In response to the consultation feedback, and following briefings with Hampshire County Council Executive Members, Gosport Borough Council, New Forest District Council, and discussions with Voi, further work is underway to identify additional suitable locations. This includes exploring opportunities on private land to support a viable and well connected scheme.

Based on current progress, the scheme launch will be summer / autumn 2026.

Hampshire County Council is working with Voi to deliver approximately 100 e-bikes as part of a public bike hire scheme across Gosport and Totton within Hampshire. For full details of the proposed locations, see the link below.

Approval by the Director of Universal Services was given on 31 January 2025 to prepare the necessary notices and licences to enable the implementation of a bike hire scheme operated by Voi (‘the Operator’). For details on the officer decision record and decision report please click on the following link Decision Report. This includes consultation under the Highways Act 1980.

Scheme Background

The Operator has worked with the New Forest District Council and Gosport Borough Council to establish the most suitable locations for the parking bays. Site assessments have been undertaken by Hampshire County Council Road Safety and Highway Teams who have confirmed the feasibility and safety of the proposed bay locations, within the highway boundary extent.

Legal Process

The legal process of creating a bike parking bay for a public bike hire scheme within the public highway for persons other than councils is facilitated through section115E of the Highways Act 1980 (‘the Act’), where a licence may be granted by Hampshire County Council under the Act.
A minimum 28-day consultation period is required in accordance with section 115G(3) of the Highways Act 1980.
This involves displaying a notice at or near the proposed bike parking bay and by serving a copy to any owners or occupiers of premises that Hampshire County Council considers likely to be materially affected.
The consultation provides the opportunity for comments to be made on the proposed bike parking bays. Letters and notices have been sent to owner/occupiers of premises in accordance with the Act.
Hampshire County Council will now have to take into consideration all the representations made to them in connection with this proposal, provided they have been received within the period specified in the notice.
Following the consultation period and consideration of responses received, Hampshire County Council may proceed to grant a licence for the proposed locations. For those locations which are licensed, it is anticipated that the e-bike scheme could be operational by late Spring 2026.

Please refer to the tables below for the proposed e-Bike bay locations in Totton and Gosport, along with the potential number of bikes each bay can accommodate. These sites are located within the highway boundary extent.

For further information on the operation of the Operator’s e-bike hire schemes please visit the Voi webpage.

Totton - please view the table. Notices being displayed Monday 28 July to Monday 1 September 2025
Gosport - please view the table. Notices being displayed Wednesday 30 July to Wednesday 3 September 2025.

A photo example of what a bay could look like is here (please note that currently e-scooters are not being proposed).

Visual example of VOI bike bay

The aim of a Bike Share scheme is to offer easy and eco-friendly ways to get around by;

getting more people to ride bikes by making them easier to access
offering a fair alternative to using cars for short trips
helping reduce traffic and improve air quality
supporting using different types of transportation
encouraging people to get their own bike after trying the ones in the Hampshire Bikeshare (Totton & Gosport) scheme

These two areas were chosen because:

Totton and Gosport bikeshare will complement the bike schemes in Portsmouth and Southampton, allowing bikes to be used across different areas
both areas are relatively flat, making it easier to cycle
both areas have good or improved cycling paths and plans to make walking and cycling better with an adopted Local Cycling Walking Improvement Plan (LCWIP) in place
each area already has a good number of people who cycle and a high potential for more people to start cycling

The sites within these areas were chosen in discussion with the Operator, Totton and Gosport using site visits and local knowledge. The following key aspects used to select sites included.

all located within the highway boundary
avoidance of existing highway/ third party apparatus
good visibility, accessibility, and security for both the users and the public
a minimum of 2m clear space for pedestrians on certain footpaths

The average geo fenced parking areas footprint range is 3.6m x 2m.

Following a bid coordinated by Solent Transport, in March 2020 the Government announced the award of funding for a Solent Future Transport Zone (FTZ) . The proposed scheme will be funded through the Solent Future Transport Zone (FTZ). This funding usually has conditions that strictly control on how, where and when it can be spent. For the latest updates please see the link to the FTZ web page.

Visit Causeway One.Network which is where the planned works are published and is an independent platform that allows real-time monitoring of all the UK’s roadworks and diversions.

My Journey - travel information and travel advice choices in Hampshire.

Name Highways, Engineering and Transport
Email [email protected]
Phone 0300 555 1388

Address
Universal Services
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
SO23 8UD