How much would you pay?

phil_ss1 · April 2008

Hi,

If someone was to offer a secure bike park, showers, lockers and other services like washing/bike servicing in a city centre location what would you be prepared to pay:

a) per day (like-one off trips)
b) weekly
c) would you mind paying a one-off registration to cover the admin etc.?

This price above would be just for the bike parking and use of showers/lockers.

You would ride up, drop off the bike, shower & shave(gents!) then go!

On return whilst you are getting changed your bike would be retrieved and ready to go.

Other "extras" could include dry cleaning, bike service/washing, parts, clothing, drinks, internet access, chat area.....

Photo ID scheme for security.

Thanks in anticipation of feedback and ideas!

Phil

Kafka\'s Doll · April 2008

Is the locker mine all day? I use a local municipal pool to shower (they charge £1.50 for that), but one of the pains in the butt is that I can't store clothes there, meaning that I have to carry it all with me on the commute.

If someone was offering bike and clothes storage all day with that shower, I would probably pay £35 per month -- but it would have to be really quite close to where I worked. Less than 10 minutes walking, probably.

One other fairly crucial thing would be my wet kit. If I arrive on a February morning sopping wet, I can usually find a radiator at work for my clothes. But if all I had was a locker, would it dry? Probably not.

always_tyred · April 2008

About £1 a day at most for the long term rental option on the bike lock-up.

SPT in Glasgow are trialling this. As I understand it, you get a whole bike locker the whole time, with room for clothes.

http://www.spt.co.uk/rail/cycle_lockers.html

But for the shower - who knows. Good idea though.

For me, one of the big advantages of cycle commuting is that its door to door, making up for the faff of getting changed. For that reason, a city centre location would have to be very close indeed to where I worked to be worthwhile.

What about a one stop-shop for employers wishing to set up facilities? (i.e. a service to coordinate installations, set out the paperwork for tax breaks, outline H&S requirements for the shower, etc.) In a lot of cases, its the hassle and time to pull everything together and not the cost that puts employers off.

phil_ss1 · April 2008

Hi, some good ideas here guys, I too used to suffer from the wet stuff in the locker syndrome, now I just leave it out all day to air.

So a drying/airing service too then! - Just like the hanger locker cage things that swimming pools used to give you, then they could hang up and have air blown over them all day?

The lockers would be your for the day/period you rent for i.e week/month/year.

H&S for the showers a good point, floor material, cleaning, signage etc.... remembering my NEBOSH days now :O( 1:1:1 btw!

Phil

Swannie · April 2008

Muddock in Bristol are doing this too.
http://www.mud-dock.co.uk/bikeshed/31_philosophy.html

Looks good, but I'd much prefer an employer who provided showers. And my nearest servicing LBS's are 5min and 15min walks from my office.

thamacdaddy · April 2008

I am lucky I guess. My boss lets me bring my bike in the office as its our sole building and a small amount of employees. There is a shower there too but as I only do 5 miles I don't need to use it usually.

However we are swapping offices in the future and I would be more conscious of the commuting should we have a building we share with other businesses therefore the sort of thing you are suggesting up there should it be within a decent distance of where I would work in the city centre (manc based) I would probably pay tops around £40 a month though commuting was all about cutting my transport cost of £70 a month on public trans to £0 (even though I pay for parts on my bike quite often).

Belv · April 2008

In my current circumstances, the service would not interest me, however:
a) Probably wouldn't use
b) £10 a week
c) I would expect to pay a reasonable admin charge.

I'd definitely expect service parts to be available and if the attendant (would there be one?) knew how to fit them, there'd be a few quid to be made there too.

The drying locker would be essential for me.

alan_sherman · April 2008

If you are really serious about looking into this as a business you should call up cyclefit in london. They used to be called bikepark and offered this service in Covent garden. i don't know how much they charged, or why they stopped doing it, but if it wasn't a viable business in the cenrre of London i wonder if it would work anywhere else.

Shame as it is a nice concept. Although I wouldn't pay for it personally. Different people have differnt needs though.

Clever Pun · April 2008

if I was paying for a secure lock up I'd expect the owners of said lock up to be responsible for my bike and if it's not there when I come back, they pay for a new one.

otherwise what's the point?

cee · April 2008

Clever Pun wrote:

if I was paying for a secure lock up I'd expect the owners of said lock up to be responsible for my bike and if it's not there when I come back, they pay for a new one.

otherwise what's the point?

and after that, where do you draw the line if someone says the bike was damaged under the supervision of the company?

OK, snapped spokes you might notice, but who is liable, and what if the complaint is of the 'This scratch was not here when I left it....'

Interesting Idea....but for me, i agree with the above that it's the door to door thing. I am not likely to walk more than a couple of hundred yards to get to work after dropping off the bike, so unless you get an area dense with cycle commuters, who use the service, then as suggested, I wouldn't think the business was viable.

As always, I caveat all that I have said with the fact that these are first thoughts into my head!

jcrofts · April 2008

phil_ss1 wrote:

If someone was to offer a secure bike park, showers, lockers and other services like washing/bike servicing in a city centre location what would you be prepared to pay:

a) per day (like-one off trips)
b) weekly
c) would you mind paying a one-off registration to cover the admin etc.?

I've only been commuting for a few weeks and am lucky enough to work for a company with secure bike facilities and a grubby-but-oh-so-welcome shower. Home to office is seven miles so, given that I'm not all that fit, the shower is a must and having just spent all the money I have (and some I don't) on a bike I really appreciate that it's safe whilst I'm sitting in the office.

It has crossed my mind a couple of times that, already, these facilities are now on my 'should haves' list of things to look for if I'm ever moving job. I certainly would want to know that I could still cycle to work if I ever get around to looking elsewhere.

So yes, I probably would pay for something like this. As to how much:

a) If I take the car to the office (on the edge of Glasgow City Centre) I pay around £4.20 in parking plus I go through about a tank (£40) of petrol every two weeks. So I don't think I'd begrudge £5 for a one off trip.

b) If I'm paying weekly I'd expect to pay a little less. If I'm coughing up £15 for a 5-day week I'd still be spending less than it costs to park my car out on the street (where it has already had a wing mirror smashed and some ned has run a key down the length of the driver's side). As I'm getting a shower, secure parking for the bike and a locker for that I don't see it as unreasonable. For that, though, I think I'd like somewhere (secure) to dry my clothes and also my bike in a locker of some kind so that I know everything on it is safe. I don't think I'd want to have to strip it of everything removable every morning if I were leaving it somewhere 'secure'.

c) Depends how much the other charges are. If you go for the minimum cost (others have mentioned £1 a day) then I'd pay an admin fee. If you went for something a little dearer (£20 a week say) then I'd expect that to cover the admin fee. As to how much - work out how much your admin actually costs and I'd pay that. Seems fair.

phil_ss1 wrote:

Other "extras" could include dry cleaning, bike service/washing, parts, clothing, drinks, internet access, chat area.....

Have to say, this would be a bit of a selling point for me. I'm new to bikes (well, new as an adult) and don't really know how to clean mine yet (I'm working on it). It's been a bit dirty after some of the days I've commuted and I've given it a rinse with some water, convinced that I'm actually doing more harm than good and the thing's just going to go rusty. If I could just rock up at the end of my daily commute and, once a week, give you £5 to wash it I probably would (just for peace of mind). Likewise, I think that servicing my bike is likely to be a good idea. I could take it into the bike shop and pay them to do it, but that is a bit of a hassle for me. Just pulling in at the end of my commute in the morning and collecting the bike again at my usual time for the trip home would be far more convenient.

A - W · April 2008

As little as possible?

phil_ss1 · April 2008

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback and comments. :idea:

A-W, thanks! Dur! I could have come up with that answer myself!!

Talking this potential business over with my better half we drew the conclusion that unless the servicing/cafe/bike shop/cleaning extras really did well and were profitable then it would be a complete waste of time!!!

I'll expand....

So 50 people pay £15 a week to park and use, they would use it so 45 weeks a year, income would be 50 x 15 x 45 = £33,750.

It would cost in Nottingham somewhere around £26-30K/annum for a suitable premisies on the edge of town let alone the centre!

Unless the council/other interested parties chipped in with low rent/grants etc AND 150-200 people used the facility it would be a non-starter.

Phil

A - W · April 2008

If you could get companies that pay for car parking spaces to pay for bikes spaces instead that'd maybe work.

Milkie · April 2008

You've gotta really make it so the price is cheaper than a weeks bus pass imo.

jcrofts · April 2008

Milkie wrote:

You've gotta really make it so the price is cheaper than a weeks bus pass imo.

Not sure that's true... if you had the choice between paying £10 for a weekly bus pass or £15 for this would you go for the bus just because it's cheaper? I'd have thought most would still cycle (particularly given the price of some of the bikes people talk about here... waaaay more than the buses around Glasgow).

How much would you pay?

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