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The British Electric Bicycle Association (BEBA) has announced that, after two years of increasingly close collaboration, it will merge with the Bicycle Association. Members of BEBA will be invited to become full members of the Bicycle Association.
Ralph Coulson, acting chairman of BEBA, said: “We are pleased that we have been able to bring our two Associations together as one, and have no doubt that there will be substantial benefits and synergies for both groups working in unison”.
BA president Paul Stewart said: “Speaking with one voice as an industry strengthens our ability to influence government and to promote all types of cycling both to MPs and to our key stakeholders.
"We welcome BEBA members wholeheartedly into the Association and see this as another important step on the way to developing the BA as a truly representative, industry-wide leadership organisation.”
The BA is forming an Electric Bike Group as an addition to its established Technical Advisory Group. These groups will meet regularly, and all members of the BA with a particular interest in these areas will be invited to join those meetings.
Dave Luscombe, of Rowan Public Affairs – who works closely with the Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCIA) – will join the Electric Bike Group and act as liaison between the MCIA and BA, particularly with regard to industry standards, product testing and quality.
At a strategic level the BA’s executive director, Phillip Darnton, and the chief executive of MCIA, Steve Kenward, will work together on longer term issues and opportunities which bicycles and powered two wheelers offer in terms of the Government’s Integrated Transport Strategy, Door to Door Journeys as well as regulations, and Road Safety.
The BA and MCIA directorate will work principally with the DfT and the Office of Light Electrical Vehicles to encourage and promote the whole spectrum of two wheel travel.
