Does your office cater for cyclists?

rjsterry

Inspired (?) by the "A Tip for You" thread, I thought I'd ask what facilities people's employers provide for those arriving by bike? My office is pretty good I think: for 15 staff, 7 of whom cycle to a greater or lesser degree, we have a nice single shower room/WC, towels provided, space for 8 bikes to hang on one wall in the office (so no locking to a lamp post), ventilated hanging space for sweaty kit, and an office track pump and a few basic tools.

I was trying to think of some kind of poll for this, but I think there are too many options for it to give any meaningful data.

Stuey01

My office is good. Secure parking, shower facilities, wardrobes (supposed to be for coats but my kit and suits go in there).
Office of several hundred, maybe 20 or 30 cycle regularly, facilities are more than adequate at present.

Yours sounds very good.

rjsterry

I think it helps that the boss is quite a keen cyclist, although I have yet to tempt him down to the Embankment for some SCR.

Porgy

We have a basement area with 30 or so parking spaces - all of them completely used up by the time I get in so I have to use a pillar.

Two showers but nowhere to put damp gear while at work. I tried hanging damp T shirt up in shower room for a couple of hours last week but when I went back found it in the bin and someone else had hung his towel there. what made it worse was that there are 3 hooks, and the other 2 weren't being used. Go figure :?

shouldbeinbed

our whole site's approach to cyclists rhymes with ducking trap.

Porgy

Sucking Flap? :?: :?

g00se

We've got some decent facilities:

Underground parking for about 80 bikes. Secure changing rooms with lockers and rails. 6 shower rooms (3 male and 3 female), washrooms etc. A few tools and pumps scattered about but they may be from other cyclists.

gbsahne001

nothing provided for me; dreading the Summer / warmer weather.... might even have to come in on the train

AndyManc

Whats an office :?


.

Mickey Eye

There is about 350-400 people at our group of buildings. Under the main building where I work there is parking for maybe 60 or so bikes, more parking under the other buildings. We have showers and lockers with towels provided too (we also have a reasonably well equipped gym and a get a discount sports physio once a week if we want) . We are also encouraged to ride through taking part in "sykkeltilljobben" which is where companies sign up teams and register all their commuting time and try and win prizes. We also have company cycling clothes (discounted heavily, not free) and a company discount at two bike shops in Oslo.

I feel reasonably well catered for. We don't have tools (or a pump) but I'm a mechanical engineer, I have a whole workshop to myself.

guttertrash

3/4 cyclists out of about 16 staff.

Bikes go in the offices, no showers, change in the gents loo, nowhere to dry clothes. Two desk drawers for my storage, clothes in one and foos in the other.

Could be better. Maybe some kind of a tax break to provide facilities would encourage businesses to do more

jimmypippa

Mickey Eye wrote:

There is about 350-400 people at our group of buildings. Under the main building where I work there is parking for maybe 60 or so bikes, more parking under the other buildings. We have showers and lockers with towels provided too (we also have a reasonably well equipped gym and a get a discount sports physio once a week if we want) . We are also encouraged to ride through taking part in "sykkeltilljobben" which is where companies sign up teams and register all their commuting time and try and win prizes. We also have company cycling clothes (discounted heavily, not free) and a company discount at two bike shops in Oslo.

I feel reasonably well catered for. We don't have tools (or a pump) but I'm a mechanical engineer, I have a whole workshop to myself.

We are also encouraged to ride through taking part in "sykkeltilljobben" which is where companies sign up teams and register all their commuting time and try and win prizes.

Institutionalised SCS?

I like Europe.

Has anyone seen UKIP's policies on dealing with the problem of cycling?

Probably what you would expect, assuming they are toward the nuttier end of the Daily Mail readership.

Eau Rouge

My place of work is pretty good, both directly and indirectly.
There is a see-through covered shelter with enough room for about 100 bikes with a couple of other places on site too, though they aren't near the showers.
Two sets of changing rooms/showers/lockers (male and female), one by the gym the other in the building on the other side of the bike shed. A heated storage room to hang wet gear and leave towels. There is even a track pump in the bike shed. They run a bike2work scheme through cyclescheme

Indirectly, the site is in the countryside though near enough to the nearby towns and cities to make cycling possible, which also helps with the security aspects. There are no would-be bike thiefs about. The office runs a very relaxed flexi-time system (no clocking in/out) which lets people cycle in without needed to stress about timing and also to avoid the rush-hour traffic if the want. It even allows for lunch-time rides in the surrounding country lanes if the weather is nice.

It's a wonder more people don't cycle there really.

jamesco

Same as guttertrash, but parking is in the courtyard (one bike nicked in 4 years, so not too bad). Overall, it's a pretty good setup. The attitude of my 5 workmates (all non-cyclists) is great, all are relaxed seeing gear clothes drying on the shelf and putting up with a bit of mess.

pastryboy

1600 staff, 3 showers, about a dozen lockers. Disabled toilet used for hanging clothes in. Bikes go in underground car park with card entry.

Fortunately I get in early so rarely queue for the showers.

Grateful for what we have rather than wishing for more though a locker would be nice.

Porgy

shouldbeinbed wrote:

our whole site's approach to cyclists rhymes with ducking trap.

trucking strap?

Eau Rouge

jimmypippa wrote:

Institutionalised SCS?

I knew I forgot something. They have divided everyone up based in the three top-brass management teams and have various little games and challenges throughout the year. One is on-going with results every quarter where the cyclists record their journeys. The most commutes per "team" win. I got to collect the trophy this quarter on behalf of my team.

hells

I dont work in an office and the ambulance service dosnt provide any cycling specific facilities. I have nothing to lock the bike to but ambulance stations are quite secure with security coded gates. The only sation I have been to that has a bike rack is Islington. All ambulance stations provide atleast one male and one female shower and changing room. I do not have a locker yet. There has been a petition at one of the main stations I work out of to provide the people who run or cycling in one of those machines you sometimes get at swimming pools that drys out your swimming costume after a minuite spinning about in the machine. This has been fully supported by all members of staff as they are glad that the runners and cyclists free up a car parking space as there is very limited parking (ambos obviously have to take priority for spaces!). This is adequate in the winter and wet weather days however when the fiar weather cyclists come out it can be hard to find a space to put your bike. Ideally I'd like to see some bike locking points put up but can't see this happening as my main station is too small for purpose as it is.

rf6

Not too bad, bike shelter with rails to lock your bike. Showers, lockers, drying room - great in winter, big old changing room, cycle to work scheme.

I'm happy.

Zombie_donkey

Nothing, Nada , Bugger all.

They even stopped doing the cycle to work scheme.

coopster_the_1st

Above average facilities at the building I work in with about 500 employees over 3 companies.

Underground parking which is security controls although no CCTV on the bike racks.

Space for 22 bike underground on the bike racks with another 10 or so in an adjacent multi-story car park which is not as secure. Most of the 8 bike racks have padding around them to stop the bike getting scratched :idea:

4 shower rooms and 20 small shoe size lockers available.

That is the good stuff.

Need an imagination to dry clothes so my desk and draws get used for this as well as storing my food and what I need to work. Will have use of a wardrobe soon when I move to a desk with less space :? Otherwise we have those Dyson hand dryers in the toilets and they work well at removing the excess wet from clothes.

In the last 18 months the building has added 2 shower rooms, the lockers and 3 bike racks to get to where we are now. Space for more bike racks if we need them due to non square design of car park. These are likely to be needed with the amount of people that seem to be buying bikes on the ride2work scheme.

Overall good, but I will struggle if I get rained on cycling to work.

MadammeMarie

Shower rooms w/lockers and 3 cycle parking bays. I can dry clothes in shower rooms. Can't complain, really.

roger_merriman

I work in a house so has shower and bathrooms etc, but can't say I use them as it's not far enough to get hot/sweaty.

bike is safe in the garden.

dubnut71

In fairness they are pretty good, great single shower and WC for the 3 or 4 people that cycle regularly but rarely all on the same day!

Drying facilities and hanging space for suits and a very relaxed attitude to having pants on the radiators......

Also my bike gets locked up in the downstairs store with all the construction materials so is very secure. The boss is a roadie so he gets the idea!!

Mickey Eye

jimmypippa wrote:

Institutionalised SCS?

pretty much, comes with its own cool websites where you can track your progress and rankings with graphs and stuff. I fractured my arm in the middle of last years one and was out of it for 4 weeks but still managed to get an average of 40 minutes a day. Was well chuffed.

jimmypippa wrote:

I like Europe.

Sadly however we don't get a cycle to work scheme. So all my bikes were bought by me with a huge "You live in Norway" style mark up.

rolf_f

Not too bad here. We have the bike 2 work scheme annually though it is run in spring through to summer when all the bikes are unavailable!

Racks for about a dozen bikes I guess in a key code access underground car park that serves our office only; locks seem to be optional! Two shower rooms - one on the ground floor and one on the second (this one is slightly bigger than the ground floor one so everyone on the first floor seems to favour it as a result of which I now often start having to queue or tramp down 3 floors and hope the ground floor one is empty).

The disappointing thing (given I work for a well known environmental regulator) is the ratio of bikes that are used to ones that are decorating the racks. There aren't many spaces in the racks but there aren't many who actually commute. Maybe four of us in winter out of over a hundred in the office.

iPete

Central London, off street parking behind a security guard out of sight of the public.

1 shower for an office of 40 or so and as I sit here in my cycle gear, half the others I can see are doing the same, so yup

prawny

Our bulding used to be a bank so we can put out bikes in the old vault

about 200 people in the building, me and 1 other bloke ride in no showers changing etc.

Cycle to work scheme is with halfords :?

UndercoverElephant

Ace here. Self-administered C2W scheme, meaning I could buy BeOne off Chain reaction at sale prices and still get to save everything (even VAT). The basement of the building has been converted to a cycle park and we have a few showers dotted around the building too.

No lockers, but we have an area of the office set aside for hanging space.

rjsterry

Wow. Very impressed with the response everyone. And good to see that generally, things are pretty good. Sounds like a few extra lockers and showers wouldn't go a miss, and unsurprisingly, larger companies seem to find it easier to provide facilities.

I would guess that no-one wants to name and shame those companies that really could do more - not good for promotion prospects - but something I pointed out to my boss a while back was that the regular cyclists in the office took a lot fewer days off sick than those who used public transport. He seemed keen to encourage bike use on that basis alone.

Robstar24

currently working in quite a small office, with inside space to leave bikes, a shower and i have a radiator next to my desk to dry my kit on. also have general office cupboard to hang work clothes on, which means only carrying in a shirt every day, and leave shoes under desk.
pretty good all in all.

moving to a different job soon which has the whole shebang of showers, towels, lockers etc... and cyclescheme, needless to say i shall use that to get a new bike!