How good is your workplace for bikes?

okgo

Was thinking about this earlier. I've had 3 different jobs in the time I have been cycling to work, and the facilities among all these companies were quite different, some good, some not so good.

Job one - A large company, big offices, suburbs, and a fair few cyclists. However facilities were poor, outdoor bike parking for probably 40 bikes. Secure enough as was guards on the gate 24/7. Poor showering facilities, 1 per floor.

Job two - Huge company massive offices, outer London, 100% secure, security pass needed to get into the compund, then again to get into the bike store, which was underground, also had lockers down there. 2 Showers per floor, not bad, but quite a walk when they were full and it was also a walk from the bikes to the building etc. I thought it couldn't get much better for being a biker though...

Job three - large offices, Central London - best yet, 100% secure, lifts big enough for bikes and cars from street level (require security pass) straight underground into parking for 250 bikes with racks, pump supplied too, 20 second walk to a changing area with 150 lockers, drying facilities and a block of 10 showers all in once place. Perfect, can't see how it could be much better tbh...

These have all been large companies with big offices, but amazing to see how they differed. The most recent two companies also have the newest offices, which might well be part of the reason

What is your place like?

iPete

We recently moved into a new office and as we are in sustainability its pretty easy to argue the case for facilities.

There are about 60 people here and we now have 2 basement showers, 2 drying cabinets and have converted an unused fire escape into secure bike parking.

rick_chasey

Small company (12 people). Showers on every other floor of our building accessible to all so all good from that side.

No covered bike storage. Only uncovered places to lock your bike.

I'd rather that than showers.

rjsterry

Small business - <20 people; just off Old Street Roundabout. Half a floor of a small rented '60s office block.
Hooks for 8 bikes inside the office - always sees to impress clients - but we could do with a couple more; single WC/showerroom with towels provided. ventilated wardrobe for storage of kit; basic office toolkit and track pump; office Brompton available for general use by staff.

Pretty good I reckon.

UndercoverElephant

Secure basement bike parking, requiring a pass to get into.
Shower for our office, also one for the office downstairs if ours is full.
Changing room just for the use of our office.
Footwear drier in changing room.

We're pretty much living the dream here.

t.m.h.n.e.t

Site security so sharp they didn't recognise me on my first commute this year. The open the main gate for us as bikes in turnstiles doesn't work :P
Bike parking for hundreds
Plenty of workshop space
Power showers/locker rooms everywhere
Special drying room for cycle gear

Experienced cyclists: One of them has climbed quite a few TDF mountains

Anonymous

I'm like okgo #3 except more lockers, and currently only the compound requires pass to access as our garage is now left open (not sure why) but usually needs a pass.

We have an office of 5-8K people and although we have c500 lockers, it just is not enough, worse still, barely anyone even uses theirs. I reckon probably 12 showers.

In all honesty, covered secure parking and a guaranteed hot power shower, I can hardly complain. It's just the job I want to change!

JamesFree

Small Company - Blackheath 50ish people

There are 3 of us that cycle and we all get to keep our bikes inside the office under the main staircase which only our company has access too which is handy. If I happen to have a heavy liquid lunch I can just stick my bike in the server room for extra security.

Only the one shower but not much of a problem with only 3 of us using it, I tend to get in and check a few things (server's, emails etc) then have a shower about 10ish and the other guys usually at 8 and 9.

Also have a nice large "walk in" boiler room with plenty of exposed pipes we use to dry all our wet kit

Also occasionaly bike maintainance in the meeting room is'nt frown upon either (as long as their isnt a meeting of course).

eyko

Small company (8 staff), in larger building full of other small companies (probably around 100 in building).
Outside bike storage in large cage like thing, coded door, but no other security. 5 Sheffield bike stands.
4 showers, no storage for clothes. Currently left in one of the shower rooms, with a wee note telling people to come to me to move it.

Office is soon to be moving to smaller building, sharing with only 2 other companies. But that will only have 1 shower, and street based Sheffield stands. Trying to convince my boss to let me keep my bike inside. No luck so far.

CiB

Current job - secure entrance to building and access within is limited via swipe cards, the bike lives in my office so no issues there, until someone decides it's a fire hazard probably. There are covered bike stands outside but insecure and open on two sides so no thanks, I'll pull rank on that and bring mine in. No showers despite repeated requests so washing is the disabled loo for 15 minutes. Not ideal but it'll do and I come out cleaner than some who work here. Reckon I go in cleaner than one or two.

Previous jobs have generally been ok; either v insecure parking (used to lock it to a tree in one prev job) but showers & ample drying & changing facilities, or the job prev to that had a token gesture area for bikes but a full gym for staff inside the building with top notch drying changing & general ponsing oneself up facilities.

And in a previous life I used to struggle up some insanely steep worn concrete steps or a metal fire escape with the bike, have a strip wash (torso only) at a sink in full view of our ladies-of-a-certain-age who we all worked with in the one big room, and then change in a cramped bog. That wasn't good.

bails87

Almost 4,000 staff on site.

One shower in the male changing rooms in a knackered old 'racquet sport' court.

One shower in the female changing rooms.

A few battered lockers, which I haven't got access to, so I have to fold my trousers up and put them in an office drawer, and hang my jacket on a hook on the door. I'm lucky because the shower (singular) and bike parking is right next to my office, so I don't have far to go to get to them.

Decent enough bike parking tbh, accessed through a keycode door, hidden away so any scrotes probably wouldn't know it was there. Only about 7-8 sheffield stands though, so room for up to 16 bikes....yes, a whopping 0.4% of the workforce could cycle in before we hit capacity.

Kieran_Burns

Good God.
I thought I was doing well with 2 showers in the building (one of which is crap) and a place to lock the bike.

What the hell is a drying cabinet?

marchant

In a word, rubbish. Uncovered parking for about 20 bikes, of the "wedge a wheel in here" type, which you need a daisy chain of locks to achieve anything approaching security, a changing room for cyclists which we apparently have to pay £25 for the key (I would hope thats refundable), and because it's NHS no Cycle to Work.

bompington

Residential school, showers plentiful (default staff shower is right next to my classroom), no covered parking though. Which isn't an issue for me as I usually commute one way only, so the bike stays in my car: if not, in my classroom - it's my domain and no-one gets to tell me what I can and can't keep there.

Other things that matter include C2W - we'll know how good ours is if I can persuade them to pay, within the next 2 weeks (Etape Cal is the deadline), £1K cash for the bike I want.

Also the harder to define "attitude" - things like whether anyone objects to me dripping on the floor on arrival, or helping myself to the kids' breakfast after a 2 hour training run on the way in to work. Definitely high score there.

nation

Big company, six floor modern office block in the centre of Brum.

Secure underground parking, with bike racks, which is nice. Only grumble is that the building manager restricts access (you need your electronic pass activated to access the car park) based on the cycle parking available. That's fair enough, but they resolutely refuse to check if anyone who had access in the past is still using it, meaning we have about three times as much cycle parking as is ever in use. I'm pretty certain that a lot of the spaces are allocated to people that were laid off in the last round of redundancies, and I know a couple of people that have been on the waiting list for spaces for months.

In terms of showers, there is one male and one female shower for the whole building. I don't need them, personally, but that isn't a lot of provision.

There are lockers but nobody has any idea how to go about getting a key for one.

Anonymous

We could do with drying space

bails87

marchant wrote:

In a word, rubbish. Uncovered parking for about 20 bikes, of the "wedge a wheel in here" type, which you need a daisy chain of locks to achieve anything approaching security, a changing room for cyclists which we apparently have to pay £25 for the key (I would hope thats refundable), and because it's NHS no Cycle to Work.

There's no reason why the NHS can't do a cycle to work scheme, either one of the generic outside-administered ones, or I'm sure there's a specific NHS cycle to work provider.
http://www.networks.nhs.uk/nhs-networks ... /266060866 <-might help.

UndercoverElephant

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Good God.
I thought I was doing well with 2 showers in the building (one of which is crap) and a place to lock the bike.

What the hell is a drying cabinet?

Drying cabinets are so last season, sweetie. The cool kids are rocking footwear driers now:

http://www.chillchaser.co.uk/hydra_foot ... ndard.html

Dry and warm shoes and gloves. Heaven.

mr_ribble

Concierge - Arrive, swap bike for a card and they go and lock your bike up. Not sure how many parking spots as never seen, dealt or worried about it. Face scanner cross references with rfid chip in bike so security not an issue.

Personal Lockers - Fresh towels, robes and slippers and Molton Brown products waiting for you.

Cleaners - On site, give them your dirty clothes at the end of the day and the wash and iron and put them in your locker.

Mechanic - One is on site full time, and will clean or fix anything on a first come first served basis. Parts can be replaced, they price match online retailers.

Canteen - Cyclists have their own canteen, provide low fat, high protein meals in very large portions. For those who commute >150 miles a week, if you show them your strava feed they will supersize your portion for free. There have a Soreen infinity store, and the guarantee that it will never run out so you can grab one for the way home.

Office - After an ePetiton, CNBC was replaced with Eursport HD, and commuters can have their office chair replaced by a Watt Bike for two hours a day to help loosen muscles.

Get Me Home - Dedicated hotline, so if you have a mechanical on the way home or the way in, they send a car to get you and your bike and make sure you arrive safely. On board mechanic to fix issues in transit to enure your ready to ride next day.

So.. maybe a 5 out of 10

clarkey cat

do we work at the same place?

DrLex

marchant wrote:

In a word, rubbish. Uncovered parking for about 20 bikes, of the "wedge a wheel in here" type, which you need a daisy chain of locks to achieve anything approaching security, a changing room for cyclists which we apparently have to pay £25 for the key (I would hope thats refundable), and because it's NHS no Cycle to Work.

Slightly worse here - 90 people, 4 wheel-benders. No showers, lockers, changing area. HR director with interest but zero traction to get C2W initiated, Only positive is the locked gate to access the bike area.

thistle_

Currently about 200 people, suburban business park. 1 shower, no separate changing/drying area. Building air conditioned so no radiators or openable windows. 6 wheelbender bike stands (but a load of metal railings as overflow), not particularly secure area.
Good thing is it's within sensible cycling distance from home.

Previous job - 13 people town centre office. No shower but had a reasonably sized toilet. Had radiators and opening windows but the boss didn't like having the heating on. No bike parking, however boss didn't mind bikes being kept under the stairs.
Somehow seems better for cycling than the current place despite it being so far that it was a park and ride job.

roger_merriman

Big company, but tiny offices.

persent workplace is fairly secure, locked high perimeter, 24/7 staff on duty.

Though nothing to lock them to, though could put the bike in the shed though it's unlocked, and the bike is a outside pet any how.

rjsterry

Mr_Ribble wrote:

Concierge - Arrive, swap bike for a card and they go and lock your bike up. Not sure how many parking spots as never seen, dealt or worried about it. Face scanner cross references with rfid chip in bike so security not an issue.

Personal Lockers - Fresh towels, robes and slippers and Molton Brown products waiting for you.

Cleaners - On site, give them your dirty clothes at the end of the day and the wash and iron and put them in your locker.

Mechanic - One is on site full time, and will clean or fix anything on a first come first served basis. Parts can be replaced, they price match online retailers.

Canteen - Cyclists have their own canteen, provide low fat, high protein meals in very large portions. For those who commute >150 miles a week, if you show them your strava feed they will supersize your portion for free. There have a Soreen infinity store, and the guarantee that it will never run out so you can grab one for the way home.

Office - After an ePetiton, CNBC was replaced with Eursport HD, and commuters can have their office chair replaced by a Watt Bike for two hours a day to help loosen muscles.

Get Me Home - Dedicated hotline, so if you have a mechanical on the way home or the way in, they send a car to get you and your bike and make sure you arrive safely. On board mechanic to fix issues in transit to enure your ready to ride next day.

So.. maybe a 5 out of 10

We can all dream. Particularly like the idea of a Soreen infinity store.

meanredspider

Mahoosive global company - 1200 on site. Wheelbender racks, some of which are covered, CTW scheme, modest showering facilities. Not sure local facilities team understand the needs.

MonkeyMonster

c 1200 on site, reasonably generous bike racks but in summer full with people grabbing space where they can - security gated in and out but uses cameras. 5 showers where the cubicle space is replicated for changing space - ie fecking small and one olympic pool sixed disabled where you go if you can. Half lockers have keys lost and other half taken. Bugger all drying facilties bar window sills.

SteppenHerring

Only one shower - there can be a queue even in winter. Some spaces in the underground carpark with restricted access. No lockers. You may sometimes encounter triathletes.

twist83

Not bad. On a secure Aerospace site and I am one of the few who even lock their bike up. Also the area I leave my bike is directly near a CCTV camera and the Main Gate with guards on. So in that respect very secure. There are a lot of places dotted about to lock up and never majorly busy.

Within spitting distance there are 4 showers/changing rooms. Takes about 1 minute to walk from the bike rack and be sat at my desk as well.

They do encourage cycling here, operate the C2W scheme and also hold Workshops every few months where they will tweak and fix your bike I believe for free.

aeon

Mr_Ribble wrote:

...

paradise

...

wot, no soigneur for post-ride rubdowns?

poor show.

bigmat

Can I lay claim to worst bike facilities? Last three firms I have worked for have had no bike parking, no shower, and I have no office so basically nowhere to dry kit.

walkingbootweather

My employer has no showers on site but we are next door to the town's main swimming pool and gym, so we have negotiated free use of showers and changing room, and discounted use of facilities.

A range of options for bike storage, some of which are rather better than others, is available. The keenest of us (and those in the know) have access to the 'executive cycle facilities' which amounts to a locked garage within a secure compound. This is fine for upto about a dozen bikes and in summer nears capacity. More occassional cyclists have to make do with Sheffield stands which are publicly accessible but are at least within sight of cctv.