Commuting in Manchester

Dipak

Hi folks,

I would like to get the opinions of commuting cyclists into Manchester City. We will be opening a cycle park in the city very soon and we would like to know how important a shower is. We do not have a shower nor do we have room for one. Do most people shower at work or the gym?

Cheers.

Dipak

shouldbeinbed

Bizarre question based on your last couple of statements. Do you have clothes lockers, drying room/space for changes of clothing /towels etc. Have a count of bikes parked about the place, how many are you catering for? They're pretty spread out too, where will you be based & do you think people will walk from your facilities rather than lock their bike up directly by their place of work.
1 shower? How long do you think people would want to wait? Are you after commuter contracts or enticing passing traffic, will you be working weekends & after the shoppers too? What is your security and pricing set up? How much would you charge extra for shower facilities?

You've given very very scant info to comment on & what you have said doesn't really inspire confidence in your research to date. Sorry.

Wallace1492

Most people would prefer to park at their place of work and use facilities there.
Locker, shower being the two major benefits if they are available.

Why ask about a shower if you do not have one and cannot provide one?

Dipak

Apologies,

In hindsight, it was a poorly put question. I will do my best to answer yours.....

We currently do not have lockers as the bikes will be in a secure area which cannot be entered by anyone but staff and so we would put your belongings into a cloth bag and hook that over your handlebars.
We have a spacious toilet in which we will provide an area for users to get changed in with towels, soap etc. We will be based on Corporation Street under one of the arches (M4 4DG). We thought people would walk from our facility as you do not need to lock your bike with us, you can leave all your cycling stuff with your bike, it is secure, dry (we are in Manchester after all), we can also service your bike on site.
We will initially be able to store 120 bikes going up to 200+ once we have filled 120 spaces regularly.

In terms of security we are staffed and open from 07:30 until 19:30 Monday to Saturday, we will have cctv installed inside as and extra security measure.
We would like commuters to join and subscribe on a monthly basis paying £20.00 per month but we have daily and weekly rates available too, though the most cost efficient is a monthly subscription.

The reason i asked about the shower was that we currently do not have a provision for a shower but we a resourceful people, should a shower be absolutely necessary for our customers we will find a way to have one
We would not charge extra to use lockers and showers.

Apologies for the scant information - My intention was to use this forum to ask for advice and not advertise my business.

I hope this answers your questions and should you get time in March please do visit us if only to have a coffee and see how we're doing.

We will be based at:

Arch No. 5
Corporation Street
Manchester
M4 4DG.

We have also toyed with the idea of getting together with a local gym to provide shower facilities but felt that our customers would then have to go TWO places before they went to work!

Cheers

Dipak.