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100,000 new bike spaces needed to cope with cycle boom
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard11.08.08
Central London needs 100,000 extra cycle parking spaces to keep pace with soaring bike use, campaigners said today.
An Evening Standard survey found dramatic differences in provision for bikes between city centre boroughs. Some of the busiest railway stations had no parking facilities at all.
The lack of secure cycle facilities has been highlighted by the Evening Standard's Safer Cycling campaign, and by Conservative leader David Cameron when his bike was stolen after he locked it to a 2ft bollard in Portobello Road.
The Standard survey found there were more than 25,000 official cycle spaces in central London.
At the major rail terminals, run by Network Rail, there were 1,211 spaces for bikes. But some stations, including Cannon Street and Charing Cross, had none. Spaces at stations are either railings similar to those used by councils, which can be used to lock two bikes to, or mounts that hold one.
Network Rail plans to add 500 spaces at King's Cross that will also benefit St Pancras commuters.
Councils have put in about 3,000 spaces in the past year and have plans for more than 2,000 this year.
Official estimates say 500,000 bike journeys are made in London every day - an increase of 91 per cent since 2000. The vast majority take place in central boroughs.
Campaigners say this is why cyclists struggle to find suitable secure parking.
Tom Bogdanowicz, spokesman for London Cycling Campaign, said: "I know that councils are installing more racks but there aren't enough and they're not keeping up with the growth of cycling in the capital. We need another 100,000.
"All too often you will see a cyclist trying to squeeze their bike on a stand meant to keep two bikes secure when it has already got three on it.
"It's not just the councils that need to take responsibility, employers need to provide cycle facilities.
"A car parking space is very expensive in central London but if an employer can provide a secure space for a bike and install showers then they benefit too."
Councils apply to Transport for London for funding to install cycle stands on their streets. TfL installs its own on red routes. Many local authorities demand bike stands are included in major planning applications. Tower Hamlets insists on one bike stand per 125 square metres of retail space and one for each new flat.
A TfL spokeswoman said: "Cycle journeys in the capital have nearly doubled in the last eight years, which has led to greater demand for cycle parking. "Since 2000, we've installed more than 53,000 new cycle parking spaces across London - on-street and in schools and workplaces. We are working with councils, businesses, schools and train operating companies on installing new spaces. Boris Johnson has asked us to install an additional 13,000. He is committed to delivering the new cycling spaces as well as a bike hire scheme and is working with London Councils to ensure these initiatives are delivered."
Reader views (8)
Marylebone station deserves the prize for best London station for cyclists. The station manager has worked hard to ensure that cycles can be parked at Sheffield type stands on the platforms, allowing passengers to deposit bikes close to the train they want to catch. Recent improvements at the station have resulted in a wide area for bike parking--which is clearly very popular.
There are abandoned bicycles parked there, and they are a nuisance (if you're going to abandon your bike, please just leave it unlocked, lots of bike recycling people would love to have them!). Staff at the station seem pretty diligent at identifying those bikes, labelling them and eventually removing them.
If only other stations would follow this example. Would a cycle parking award encourage this? If so, please put Marylebone Station forward as my nominee!
- Richard Lewis, Hackney, London
I fail to see what is so hard, I live in a city full of bikes, and cannot even begin to fathom the number of bike journeys per day - I am sure it far exceeds 500,000. Yet I can always park my bike somewhere, it's simple provide the space (councils), get yourselves decent locks and the cost benefit of reduced traffic, fitter staff, reduced commuting times etc will pay for itself. Oh, and put some proper bike lanes in!
- Julian, Amsterdam
I agree that bike parking is dire, especially in central London, but it eases through autumn and winter when all the fair weather cyclists go back to trains, cars and buses.
If the government/TFL/local councils see cycling as a way of getting people off the road and off the burgeoning public transport system, they need to make some investment.
Gene Genie - £10 per day to strap your bike to a post! You must be kidding, that's way more that self financing, that's mass profit making! I'll just stick mine on a lampost on the footpath then....
- H, London
I park my bike at Paddington on Friday night for the weekend. I agree it is getting increasingly difficult to find a space. The big problem is that a large number of the bikes left there seem to have been forgotten - one group of 5 or 6 has been there for at least 3 months without moving. They seem to have been there since the last period of industrial action on the tube.
- Patrick Griffin, Dalston, London
Maybe convert car parking bays into cycle parking and kill 2 birds with one stone? Or follow the Japanese example and have multi-storey bike parks next to stations. Most people would pay a pound or two for a properly staffed place to safely park.
- Mark, London, UK
Fine, just so long as cyclists have to pay to use them, say £10 a day, so that the scheme is self-financing. Drivers are taxed and fined at every turn, so why should cyclists have spaces provided at public expense? And any bike left chained to street furniture should be removed and destroyed.
- The Gene Genie, Croydon
If I cycle to my fitness centre in Great Russell Street, most of the time the few cycle racks out the front are chockers. I hate having to lock the bike up against a post or fence, but what else can you do? A bike will not last ten minutes if not secured in Camden. Any relief is greatly appreciated.
- David, London
Just as long as they don't take up any footpath space.
- Tony, london
