Cycle Access Fund
About the Cycle Access Fund
The Cycle Access Fund supports those least likely to have access to a bike and provides capital grants to organisations through five different funding strands.
It allows a wide range of organisations to apply and provides a variety of opportunities for individuals to benefit from the Fund.
Enabling individuals to access a bike in an affordable, easy, and convenient way is a vital contribution to reducing health and income inequality.
It makes our communities safer and more pleasant by reducing short car journeys. We know that many people in Scotland experience barriers to accessing a cycle and, by offering our funding across different strands, we aim to tackle different barriers and help more people cycle.
The five funding strands are:
- Individual Bike Ownership: Funding for organisations that work with people who are struggling financially. This funding is designed to support individuals who would not be able to afford to buy a bike themselves.
- Shared Use: Funding for organisations to purchase cycles and equipment that enable cycle sharing schemes such as bike libraries, pool cycles, bike subscription schemes, loan cycles and bike share schemes. Successful applications should demonstrate how you will meet a particular need in your community, promoting inclusivity and supporting those who are least likely to have access to a cycle of their own.
- Recycle: Funding for bike repair organisations, and bike recycling centres, to repair cycles for donation to people that are financially struggling.
- Repair: Funding for bike repair organisations, bike recycling centres, and bike shops to repair cycles belonging to people that are financially struggling.
- Cycle parking and storage: Funding to purchase facilities for storing or parking cycles, or improvements to existing facilities, such as shelves, hooks or racks.
Eligibility
The Cycle Access Fund is only available to organisations that successfully complete the application process. Individual people should not apply. In 2025-26, we have been funded by four Regional Transport Partnerships in Scotland, which means that the Cycle Access Fund is being provided only in specific regions of Scotland.
The Cycle Access Fund is available to organisations whose work takes place in SPT, Sestran, ZetTrans and Nestrans. Only the ‘repair’ strand is available in Nestrans region. Please refer to the map below to see which local authority areas are eligible.
Please refer to the map to see which local authority areas are eligible.
If you are unsure which strand to apply for, please see our application guidance, or contact the Cycle Access Fund Team to discuss suitability.
Funding strand 2: Shared Use
This funding is for organisations to purchase cycles and equipment that enable cycle-sharing schemes such as bike libraries, pool cycles, bike subscription schemes, loan cycles and bike share schemes. Successful applications should demonstrate how you will meet a particular need in your community, promoting inclusivity and supporting those who are least likely to have access to a cycle of their own.
Funding strand 5: Cycle parking and storage
This fund is for organisations that want to support and grow everyday cycling. It can be used to make your site more welcoming to visitors arriving by bike, or to help encourage staff, students or residents to choose active travel. It also supports organisations that run bike recycling or repair services but need more space to expand their work. Please note: this funding is only available to organisations, not individuals.
If you are unsure which strand to apply for, please see our application guidance or contact the project team to discuss suitability.
Support and Impact
Whether you're looking for guidance on buying bikes, storing them securely, or seeing how the fund is making a difference, the links below offer helpful tools and insights.
Funded by
