A Hampshire County Council scheme, which enables young people to hire mopeds at an affordable rate so that they can get to work or vocational training, is going green with the addition of five electric mopeds to its fleet of conventionally powered bikes

The electric mopeds are now available to hirers through Wheels to Work – a scheme which helps young people aged 16 to 25 years old in some rural areas of Hampshire by loaning them their own form of transport. Public transport options may be limited where they live, and they generally have no transport of their own because they don’t have the money to fund this yet.

The County Council’s Executive Member for Highways Operations, Councillor Russell Oppenheimer said:

“Providing these electric mopeds as part of the Wheels to Work scheme is a double win for us – not only are we providing young people in rural areas a vital and reliable form of transport so they can get to work, training and interviews; but with these new mopeds we are being more environmentally friendly and helping Hampshire reduce emissions and reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. And, we have plans to purchase more over the coming months.”

One hirer of an electric moped is Tom Davies, 19, who works as a greenkeeper at the Royal Winchester Golf Course and uses one to travel to and from Kings Worthy.

Tom said: “It has made a huge difference because before this I had to rely on a lift from my mum at 8am. But having this means I can do much earlier starts and I can be more flexible with my hours. I would definitely recommend this scheme to other younger people like me.”

Tom was also given support for equipment, in the form of a helmet and a jacket and gloves at a generously discounted rate.