Commute into London? The Bike Shed wants your opinion please

BikeShed

Hello all

My first post here, and from browsing the forum I'm really impressed at how dedicated some of you are to biking to work.

I’m putting together a new social enterprise called the Bike Shed with a view to providing secure, covered bike parking and convenient shower facilities for London commuters, to encourage greater use of cycling (and running, walking, skating etc), as environmentally-friendly ways to get into central London.

I'm posting today to ask anyone who cycles into central London if you could spend five minutes on this brief survey to tell us more about your cycling habits and what kind of services you'd find useful, and where (central London only at this stage): http://bit.ly/BRBikeShedSurvey

Thanks very much for your input, it's appreciated.


Elizabeth

prj45

Good luck!

(What happend to the facility they were planning for Holbourn?)

BikeShed

Thanks!

I'm trying to get to the bottom of what happened with the Holborn one as things went very quiet last year.

redvee

There is something similar set-up in Brizzle. The costs to the commuters can be found here. As I'm out of town can't justify completing the survey.

BikeShed

Hi redvee, yeah the Bristol one looks great - have you used it? It'd be good to see them all around the country to encourage more cycle commuting.

redvee

No need as my commute takes me the other way and 2 miles isn't enough to get worked up over.

lost_in_thought

Isn't there already one of these in London Bridge? Or have I got that wrong?

BikeShed

There is one opening there but when I spoke to them they weren't able to give me a date as yet as the opening's been put back a few times and it's still not open. As far as I know they won't have showers though, just bike parking.

shoulder_of_orion

Filled in the survey. It's not appropriate for me as my employer provides secure parking and showers, but it would be a godsend for peopl who work in small companies. I used to run my own small company and this would have been great.

One major disadvantage I can think of is that for people to use it, it would have to be very close to the workplace (ie less than 5mins walk). You would therefore need A LOT of startup capital to be able to do it in enough locations to make it a viable choice for the vast majority of commuters. But great if you work next door to London Bridge.

lost_in_thought

The one in London bridge is at that bike shop on the same street as the tube, all about bikes or something and is definitely open already.

Edit: and no, it doesn't have showers, I don't think... does have a bike workshop though!

Cafewanda

I completed the survey but, at the moment, it's not relevant to me as my employer has secure parking facilities off-site (On Your Bike, Tooley Street) and internal showers.

lost_in_thought

Oh and I was another one who did the survey and wasn't applicable, have covered parking and showers available.

il_principe

Good luck with this! I spent a lot of time looking into exactly the same thing for London (along with a friend who is a chartered surveyor based in the West End) - we concluded that it simply wasn't financially viable given rental & setup costs and the sheer volume of easily accessible space required.

owenlars

Good luck but I agree with Jash, central London costs will make this really hard to make work financially.

BikeShed

Thanks for all the input everyone. We're looking at various areas around London and gauging which will be most popular with local commuters.

Hmm, it was On Your Bike in London Bridge that I called as they mentioned it on their website and they told me their facility wasn't yet open.

Cafewanda

My employer must be special then cos that's where I park my trusty steed

Edit: To be fair we've been in there for almost two years. They do have a fair amount of space and are currently rejigging it.

BikeShed

Perhaps they're not accepting more/casual bikes other than their corp arrangements until after their rejig, hence them telling me it wasn't open yet? Either way, sounds like it'll be a good space when it's done.

lost_in_thought

BikeShed wrote:

Perhaps they're not accepting more/casual bikes other than their corp arrangements until after their rejig, hence them telling me it wasn't open yet? Either way, sounds like it'll be a good space when it's done.

It was On your Bike, yes... and they told me they were open for new users! Strange...

Aidy

Had a bit of a look at this survey, and it feels a bit limiting in terms of answers I can give.

I've only made it to the second page and I'd already like to be answer that I've only recently started, so I can't reasonably state which months I typically bike in.

And then the next question - right now I'm biking in 5 days/week, but that's liable to be reduced in winter months.

I kinda like the idea of having such facilities, but I'd always rather that employers provide them. I'd rather have my bike stored closer to me, both for convenience and peace of mind, and if showers are occupied (atlhough I don't have them at my current place of work) it's a better use of my time to get on with something whilst waiting for one.

snooks

Filled in the questionnaire, I'm lucky I have great facilities (showers, secure parking, lockers etc) at work, but lots of people don't

I'd use the secure parking at the weekend as I'd use my bike more, the reason I don't at the moment as there is no way of making sure your bike will be there (and in the state you left it) when you get back.

Just something like a cloakroom system, drop your bike of, pay a couple of quid, get a tag, do what you have to do, return with your tag, get your bike back...simple

the_hundredth_idiot

I filled in the survey.

I think it's a good idea but I'm not sure how much demand there will be in practice. I'm lucky enough to have secure parking at work and showers/lockers. But, if I didn't, I'd be more inclined to solve the secure parking problem by buying a cheap bike than by paying for secure parking.

I cycle for a number of reasons: health, more pleasant than public transport, takes about the same time but is more reliable, ... . And it's cheaper - saves me £60 per month compared with the cost of a season ticket.

If I had to pay, say, £2 per day parking fees then the economics don't look so good. £2 per day is about £500 per annum so a good chunk of the way towards a season ticket particularly once you take maintenance costs (new tyres, chains, etc) into account as well. So I'd probably be more inclined to invest in a second-hand bike instead. Say spend £100 on an old racer which is less likely to get nicked than my current bike and, even if did get nicked a couple of times a year so I had to buy a replacement bike, I'd still be better off (even after taking into account the cost of buying a new lock).

So your idea might work for those with very expensive bikes who were determined to use them for their commute. But I suspect those with cheaper bikes would just chance it by using free on-street parking.

BikeShed

Thanks everyone, it's great to see everyone's opinions and find out more about what you'd need.

Snooks, yes the idea is it will be flexible in terms of only having to use/pay for what you need, and we want to make it all as simple and speedy as possible.

Aidy, it's the limitations of survey-style research unfortunately, I know it won't have exactly everyone's individual experiences listed to choose, but we're trying to get a general idea of needs.

Thanks so much to everyone who's completed the survey, please do forward it to anyone else you think it would be relevant to. If you have a cycling-related blog/site and want to post something about it, that would be very welcome & I'll create you a unique link, so get in touch.



E

Porgy

I might use the parking if there was an overnight option - as leaving my bike anywhere in London overnight is a no-no.

The shower option would be useful for me in the West End - and despite what I said int he survey I realise that storage facilities would be very useful for evenings out in London when I don;t wanto to lug two panniers around with me.

greasygrinder

I think membership would be attractive for me: it'd be difficult to use if I couldn't be sure there was a place for my bike. If you got crowded, you'd start alienating the regulars.