Boris Bike Parking?

deptfordmarmoset

How many of you have cycled up to town, searched for a safe-looking place to leave your bike (Has that bike wheel been kicked in recently? Has the owner removed the saddle from that bike or has it been nicked? Is the missing front wheel on that bike safely sitting beside the owner's desk?) and then spent the rest of the day wandering around town with helmet, gloves, tools, lights, pump, spare tube - the whole caboodle?

If you've got secure bike locking facilities where you work this won't be a concern but to judge by the number of bikes locked higgledy-piggledly around the streets, not everyone is so lucky.

I keep coming back to the idea of campaigning for bike cages to be installed by the Boris Bike bays. It wouldn't matter to me whether the cage was all bright Barclay's blue, i.e, doubling up as an advertising hoarding, just as long as I could securely park my bike and leave all the bike paraphernalia behind. If there were secure locking facilities you might never have to cycle into town carrying a chain or D-lock. So, would you pay a nominal charge for a key (as the BB scheme) for peace of mind and a load off your back?

Bike parking facilities could be extended to ''Park and Ride'' interchanges and, because there are no logistical challenges to do with redistributing bikes, would be much easier to run.

I think that there might be some good advantages to such a scheme and, while I've only looked at it from a London perspective, it would not have to be limited to London - it could be any commuting centre where a sponsor could be found to part-fund along with maybe the councils.

Sorry if that was a bit long but I'd like to hear others' thoughts about the idea...

ooermissus

I would pay more than a nominal fee - as security is a huge hassle and the major reason why I use Boris Bikes for most short hops when I am in London.

hatbeard

I'd like to see manned secure parking garages for bikes. all it would take is a large space with rows of racks with those vertical wheel hooks and a secured fixing point for a lock/chain, I bet with some lateral thinking you could store tons of bikes in a not very big space.

cyclists could turn up. pay couple of quid/show their membership/id card. chain up their bike, rest easily knowing bike is safe and sound and under watch.

they could even provide a few secure rails for people to leave their locks fixed to on the premises so they don't have to carry them about with them.

i'd pay a monthly fee for something like that, especially if it covered multiple locations.

edit: this is what all these students asking us to do their market research for them should be looking into...

MonkeyMonster

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/g ... -bike-shed

I think we had a thread about it all a few months back.

CXXC

they do exist, there is one at london bridge for example

http://www.onyourbike.com/stylesheet.as ... cycle_park

Alphabet

CXXC wrote:

they do exist, there is one at london bridge for example

http://www.onyourbike.com/stylesheet.as ... cycle_park

yep, on your bike has ace facilities - secure parking, decent workshop, showers - need a hell of a lot more like them though

W1

Alphabet wrote:

CXXC wrote:

they do exist, there is one at london bridge for example

http://www.onyourbike.com/stylesheet.as ... cycle_park

yep, on your bike has ace facilities - secure parking, decent workshop, showers - need a hell of a lot more like them though

Although 7:30pm closing time is far too early.

deptfordmarmoset

I'll have to check On Your Bike's facilities. But I was thinking along the lines of incorporating bike cages with some weather protection in with the wider Boris Bike scheme using the same keys. It wouldn't be too difficult to integrate it.

Headhuunter

At one point when Ken Livingstone was still in power there was talk of a big underground cycle parking facility at Holborn somewhere, with showers and lockers for you and your kit. I should think that Bozo has let the idea quietly slip away though seeing as he has reduced income for public transport projects like this considerably since coming to power...

nich

£200 a year :shock:

It's an awful lot cheaper than my train fair, but I'd rather insure my bike for £70 a year and risk having it nicked.

cjcp

Secure bike parking would be excellent. Would pavement space be an issue?

ooermissus

cjcp wrote:

Secure bike parking would be excellent. Would pavement space be an issue?

Many (most?) of the Boris docking stations have been built at the expense of parking spaces not pavements - so maybe not if (big if) bike spaces were given greater priority.

deptfordmarmoset

cjcp wrote:

Secure bike parking would be excellent. Would pavement space be an issue?

My purely off-the-top-of-my-head answer to that would be that people will have already asked that about the Bike hire scheme when it was first proposed, ''But where would you put 300-odd bike bays on London's crowded streets?'' And the answer to that seems to be ''where there's a will, there's a bay...''* Similarly....



*apologies

Neil Holland

Any Boris Bike users here?

On days where I've been out on the lash and leave my commuter bike at work, I'll often use a Boris Bike the next morning to get from train station to office...

I'd love to know if there is a way of reporting on failed docks e.g. I was looking to dock at Docking Station A but it was full and I had to use Docking Station B; such info should help them dimension stations accordingly...

sketchley

I'm surprised the big chain Gyms have not started doing this. They have showers / lockers already, put a few bike racks in a secure area charge a monthly fee on top of normal gym membership, job done.

davmaggs

I think it would be better for new office buildings to have some kind of planning permission based on bike usage and keep the state out of funding potential white elephant projects around different locations when the numbers of bikes have been increasing without this.

My against motion is based on there being a lack of business case (e.g a square metre of building space in central London costs a mint), bicycles are used because they are flexible and can be parked anywhere so how many people would really park up at a central depot and then walk more than a few minutes, street furniture is already clogging up the pavements and lockable bins would be huge.

davmaggs

Sketchley wrote:

I'm surprised the big chain Gyms have not started doing this. They have showers / lockers already, put a few bike racks in a secure area charge a monthly fee on top of normal gym membership, job done.

I agreed to a travel review a couple of months ago by the local council. They used an expensive consultancy to ask obvious questions and to then provide one option (have a bike rack), with the choice of the same option.

My suggestion to do a deal with local gyms to charge a £1 a shower or some kind of cyclists membership was treated as amazing insight. This wizzardry would solve the problem of the other respondents who also didn't have office facilities.

Needless to say I received an expensive folder full of obvious non-advice and more calls to have a bike rack (end of financial year push), and no follow-up on whether they even spoke to the gyms. I look forward to the next initiative to ask silly questions about what businesses need to enable cycling.

iPete

Sketchley wrote:

I'm surprised the big chain Gyms have not started doing this. They have showers / lockers already, put a few bike racks in a secure area charge a monthly fee on top of normal gym membership, job done.

Like this? http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=2188

I'm fortunate enough to have decent off street bike parking and will soon have indoor bike parking in my new office.

If I didn't it'd be cheaper to get insurance than an annual bike parking fee, failing that, I'd buy a Brompton or a hack.

sketchley

iPete wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

I'm surprised the big chain Gyms have not started doing this. They have showers / lockers already, put a few bike racks in a secure area charge a monthly fee on top of normal gym membership, job done.

Like this? http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=2188

Yes just like that. I'm surprised still that the big chain gyms, Esporta, Nuffields, Virgin Active, & GymBox etc have not cottoned on to this yet.

Sailorchick

I already have this. The Uni I work at has bike sheds scattered around campus. £10 a year gets me access to one of these sheds. There is also £500 insurance covered on this - ie if my bike gets nicked from the shed (has to be locked up within it) then the Uni will pay to replace up to a max of £500.

t4tomo

I think it would be better for new office buildings to have some kind of planning permission based on bike usage and keep the state out of funding potential white elephant projects around different locations when the numbers of bikes have been increasing without this.

That is now mandatory on all London new office builds and redevelopments. Not sure if its teh case outside of ondon but probably is.

posh_pedaller

Surely in London, you could just walk up to one of these individual bike sheds, swipe your Oyster card to open a free shed and put your bike inside (with an additional lock of your own if you so wished). Then only your Oyster would be able to unlock it.
You either pay-as-you-go (ie by the hour) or would have to have some kind of subscription associated with your account.
The city that I currently call home is planning an integrated travel smartcard similar to an Oyster, for other areas a credit card/fob/PIN entry should do the trick, for either payment or ID of users.

il_principe

hatbeard wrote:

I'd like to see manned secure parking garages for bikes. all it would take is a large space with rows of racks with those vertical wheel hooks and a secured fixing point for a lock/chain, I bet with some lateral thinking you could store tons of bikes in a not very big space.

cyclists could turn up. pay couple of quid/show their membership/id card. chain up their bike, rest easily knowing bike is safe and sound and under watch.

they could even provide a few secure rails for people to leave their locks fixed to on the premises so they don't have to carry them about with them.

i'd pay a monthly fee for something like that, especially if it covered multiple locations.

edit: this is what all these students asking us to do their market research for them should be looking into...

I looked into this very very seriously with a friend of mine who happens to be a chartered surveyor. We eventually concluded (rather sadly) that to run a business providing secure parking for cyclists wasn't really feasible. Problem is finding suitable venues with easy access yet low rent was next to impossible. The locations would have to be central and large, in London that means £££. Ultimately the monthly cost we'd have to charge would've been too high. It remains a dream though, parking, lockers, fettling & repair, coffee, dry cleaning etc could all be offered and I'm sure there's a market for it. As others have pointed out, the big gym chains should really go for it. I used to work for Virgin active and I'd be pushing for this big time if I still did. They have the locations and could probably find the space and the money required to get this working. Ultimately though, how much will people pay per month for parking?

Headhuunter

Il Principe wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

I'd like to see manned secure parking garages for bikes. all it would take is a large space with rows of racks with those vertical wheel hooks and a secured fixing point for a lock/chain, I bet with some lateral thinking you could store tons of bikes in a not very big space.

cyclists could turn up. pay couple of quid/show their membership/id card. chain up their bike, rest easily knowing bike is safe and sound and under watch.

they could even provide a few secure rails for people to leave their locks fixed to on the premises so they don't have to carry them about with them.

i'd pay a monthly fee for something like that, especially if it covered multiple locations.

edit: this is what all these students asking us to do their market research for them should be looking into...

I looked into this very very seriously with a friend of mine who happens to be a chartered surveyor. We eventually concluded (rather sadly) that to run a business providing secure parking for cyclists wasn't really feasible. Problem is finding suitable venues with easy access yet low rent was next to impossible. The locations would have to be central and large, in London that means £££. Ultimately the monthly cost we'd have to charge would've been too high. It remains a dream though, parking, lockers, fettling & repair, coffee, dry cleaning etc could all be offered and I'm sure there's a market for it. As others have pointed out, the big gym chains should really go for it. I used to work for Virgin active and I'd be pushing for this big time if I still did. They have the locations and could probably find the space and the money required to get this working. Ultimately though, how much will people pay per month for parking?

I'm sure Ken Livingstone said that he was going to set up an underground parking, shower and locker station for cyclists near Holborn somewhere... That was when he was Mayor but then nothing. I assume Boris kyboshed it...

il_principe

Headhuunter wrote:

I'm sure Ken Livingstone said that he was going to set up an underground parking, shower and locker station for cyclists near Holborn somewhere... That was when he was Mayor but then nothing. I assume Boris kyboshed it...

I don't think it ever got off the ground, even pre-Boris.

http://www.cyclechat.net/topic/33475-cy ... n-holborn/

deptfordmarmoset

posh_pedaller wrote:

Surely in London, you could just walk up to one of these individual bike sheds, swipe your Oyster card to open a free shed and put your bike inside (with an additional lock of your own if you so wished). Then only your Oyster would be able to unlock it.
You either pay-as-you-go (ie by the hour) or would have to have some kind of subscription associated with your account.
The city that I currently call home is planning an integrated travel smartcard similar to an Oyster, for other areas a credit card/fob/PIN entry should do the trick, for either payment or ID of users.

I was thinking along those lines but incorporated into the bike scheme so you could use the same access key. But of course I quickly realised that the idea of enclosing bikes on London streets would run straight into this non-negotiable word: security.