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This is the revolutionary “cycle warehouse” for up to 1,000 bikes that could be installed at Paddington station.
If the £750,000 scheme goes ahead it will become Britain's biggest station cycle park, more than double the size of the facility that opened near London Bridge last month.
The concept has been developed by Dutch operator NedRailways, which is building a similar park for up to 500 bikes at Leeds and has 40 in
Holland.
The striking glass structure is provisionally known as Cyclepoint — a translation of the Dutch name Fietspoint.
It would be manned until late into the evening and would include a cycle hire, sale and repair shop. A spokesman for NedRailways said it would be secure, accessible only with a swipe card, and
would cost about 75p a day with discounts for season ticket holders.
Sleek: the design for what would be Britain's biggest station bike shelter
There is talk of linking the park to Oyster, so the cost would be deducted from an Oyster card. Users would have to go through the shop to get to the cycle racks, adding to security.
Talks with Transport for London and Network Rail have met a warm reception, said a NedRailways spokesman.
If it goes ahead it will mark a huge breakthrough for cyclists.
The dismal state of facilities has been highlighted this week by the Standard, revealing there is an average of only one cycle parking space per 700 commuters.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “There has been discussion about this scheme and it looks like all parties are keen to move it forward.”
A TfL spokesman added: “We are investing £3.5 million this year in new cycle parking facilities in the capital and will be installing facilities at 60 Tube stations during the next few years. We are always looking for innovative
ways of providing more cycle parking.
“We believe these proposals would be an excellent addition and would be an ideal candidate for funding from the Government.”
Last week, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said £5 million would be made available to fund imaginative cycle parking schemes at stations.
He made the pledge after visiting Leiden station in Holland. It has a park for 9,000 cycles — of which 4,500 are secure — which has also been developed by NedRailways.
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Reader views (4)
Let's hope the upper tier of racks in that first picture isn't like the ones at Guildford station: very awkward to use unless you're over 6'!
- Liz, London, UK
The pricing sounds about right -a bike in london is worth around £500 per year (what you then don't need to spend on a London Central Zones supplement) and with a year's parking at £0.75 per day, this makes it a very attractive £274 to keep a bike at Paddington. There will be a need to culturally fine tune this, as many of the bikes parked at Paddington could be swapped for hire bikes, to keep the number of spaces required down.
The cost should be more than justified by a Cost-Benefit review (when will these be done for cycling and public transport like they are for private motoring!) as a typical London Commuter will cut between 15 and 30 minutes from the journeys they make by tube or bus to their offices, and how much is each minute of business-related time saved worth?
Note that typically a cycle-rail-cycle trips saves at least 30 minutes each way each day for a typical London commuter and at Surbiton the delivery of a secure bike park highlights the switch to cycling that has reduced demand for car park space, and removed the costly need to build a bigger car park swapping a £15,000 car parking space for a deluxe £300 ofr so worth of secure cycle parking - or £100 for a basic bike stand.
- Dave Holladay, Glasgow, Guildford and formerly Hounslow
Revolutionary? Really? These things are all over the continent. How about some lockers at train stations too? Again, on the continent stations seem to be able to deal with the 'terror' risk...
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
A bike thief's paradise!
- Ed, London
