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Olympic chiefs ‘are only paying lip service’ to needs of cyclists
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor14 Jul 2009
Railway stations in London's five Olympic boroughs provide storage for little more than 200 bikes, the Evening Standard can reveal.
With 1,109 days to go until the opening ceremony, Stratford, the recently redeveloped main station for visitors arriving at the 2012 Games, still has no secure bike parking.
Campaigners said the shortage of facilities showed that the Olympic organisers were still only “paying lip service” to cycling in their plans for the Games and its legacy.
The 39 stations across the five Olympic boroughs — Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest — have a total of 212 parking spaces for the 132,512 passengers who use the stations daily, an average of one space for every 625 passengers.
In Hackney, where cycling is being taken up faster than in any local authority in Britain, only one out of its nine overground stations, Hackney Downs, has any storage for bikes.
The findings are the latest in the Standard's Make Cycling Simplercampaign, which has exposed the lack of secure bike spaces for commuters.
Click on the image to see the table
The shortage of cycle facilities at stations in the “Olympic quarter” is particularly embarrassing for London as the capital of one of the strongest competitive cycling nations.
Britain headed the cycling medals table at the Beijing Olympics. The Olympic Velodrome will be in Waltham Forest, where there are only 85 station bike parking spaces.
Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator of the Cyclists' Touring Club, said: “We know cycling is pretty much ignored in the Olympic boroughs and that is symptomatic of the problem.
“The Olympic Delivery Authority are paying lip-service to cycling but they are not giving any real commitment. They are only interested in the Javelin trains that can shift 1,000 people at a time during the two weeks of the Games, but will go back to services in Kent afterwards. Proper facilities at the stations would provide a real legacy in these boroughs.”
Tom Bogdanowicz of the London Cycling Campaign said: “If we want the Olympics to be watched by active spectators we have to provide proper cycling facilities or the whole thing becomes a joke. I think the Olympics ought to be a beacon of best practice and I'm disappointed that the Standard has found so little provision for cycle parking out there.”
Cycling will be banned in the Olympic Park to reduce congestion and the risk of accidents but the ODA has set a target of five per cent of journeys to and from the Games to be made on foot or by bike. An ODA spokeswoman said 15,000 temporary bike racks will be put up including 5,000 in Victoria Park.
However, she said: “A £100 million investment plan has just gone in to transforming Stratford station, but there just isn't any room to put in more bike racks at the station itself.”
Reader views (9)
I think these figures are inaccurate. Perhaps they only include spaces that Network Rail or a Train Operating Company are responsible for?
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. UK, 05/08/2009 22:06
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The only lip service that should be paid to cyclists is a fat one.
- Bj, London, 05/08/2009 21:06
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The reason everyone cycles in Hackney is that there aren't many stations, so maybe its not a huge problem that they don't have cycle parking.
At the mainline stations though, i think its hugely important to provide secure parking. That way people don't have to take their bike on the train.
I think Wembly as has the biggest lack of spaces - about 10 for the 100,000 capactiy stadium, despite being linked to London by the quiet and traffic free canal network.
- Cyclist, london, 05/08/2009 21:06
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We think this is unfair and that actually we’re on the right track.
The facts are Newham - where 60 per cent of the Olympics will take place - is seeing unparalleled investment in cycling infrastructure. This includes:
• A state-of-the art indoor velodrome, London's first
• A world-class BMX stadium
• New road and off-road racing circuits in the Olympic Park, after the Games
• A criss-cross of cycle paths and routes across the Park
• Investment in five feeder routes to the Park. This is part of the active spectator campaign.
In addition, we have:
• A ride and stride map, encouraging people to cycle around the Park
• An active cyclists group leading rides around the Park and 'new' Newham
• A cycle sport development programme tied in with a six-day cycling event in October
• We are working closely with the Jubilee Walkway Trust on the east london extension
• We offer cyclist training to all residents, schools, colleges and businesses in the borough.
The 2012 Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Newham and for London. We’re determined to make the most of it. Here in Newham we’re doing everything we can to get people fit, healthy and active.
- Sir Robin Wales, Mayor Of Newham, London, 05/08/2009 21:06
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Trains are crowded enough as it is, it is ridiculous to suggest accommodating bicycles on them more than they already are. I would prefer them not to be allowed at all, ever, at any time. I do not try to get my car onto the train so why should a cyclist get his wheels on? Plus they smell in their sweaty lycra - yuk!
- G Miegl, Hampstead, 05/08/2009 21:06
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madness.
Stick a compass in the middle of the Olympic Park and draw a circle with a 5 mile diameter. That's got to be well over two million people who live in a distance that can be comfortable cycled by anyone.
Banning cyclists for fear of accidents mnakes no sense either, the more cyclists there are the safer the roads become!
The University of New South Wales looked at 68 cities and 14 different countries and found that higher cycling rates mean safer roads. Drivers get used to cyclists and may well cycle themselves so avoid taking stupid risks.
Backward thinking from TFL.
- Colin Amyes, London SE3, 05/08/2009 21:06
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I am sorry but whatever people from the Mayor downwards say about wishing to encourage cycling in London, cyclists are detested by the public in general. Many cyclists only have themselves to blame for their arogant attitude to other road users and their contempt of the law - red lights in particular. I am a regular commuting cyclist and this week so far I have been sworn at twice by pedestrians crossing against a red light, driven at by a taxi and vans at road junctions, and run into from behind when I was stationary at an advanced stopline.
- Patrick, Dalston, 05/08/2009 21:06
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Why do you need cycle parking *at* Stratford for the Olympics? For commuting into town I can understand it, but surely it's outer London stations that can really benefit by making it easier to leave the car at home, not ones in urban areas where people don't drive anyway. As far as the Olympics are concerned, the idea is that you take the tube, train, DLR etc. and either leave the bike at home or park it at the station you got on the train at, not the one you get off the train at.
"cyclists are detested by the public in general"
Quite a lot of the public *are* cyclists, which makes this statement a classic example of the 'I'm going to pretend everyone thinks like me' school of commenting.
"Backward thinking from TFL."
TfL don't run most of the main line rail stations. They'd like to, but the current Mayor isn't interested in taking London's railways into public control, unlike his predecessor. That means London's government has little or no control over what they do, as with the Oyster PAYG debacle.
- Tom, London, UK, 05/08/2009 21:06
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Patrick, if cyclists are detested so much it's probably because we get around london so much quicker than drivers. I both drive and cycle within London and to be honest, I see as many drivers break red lights as I do cyclists, and in most cases cars actually speed up as light go from Amber to Red lights rather than slow down.
G Miegl, so a cyclist shouldn't get their wheels on a train, and what about prams or wheelchairs? they have wheels.
- Alan, East London, 05/08/2009 21:06
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