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Adonis unveils 10,000 new parking spaces for bicycles at rail stations
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor28 Sep 2009
A £14million package to transform cycling facilities at railway stations was unveiled by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis today.
Nearly 10,000 extra cycle parking spaces will be created and 10 "cycle hubs" introduced under the plan to coax commuters to switch to bikes.
The funding, which follows an Evening Standard campaign to radically improve cycling facilities in London, will also pay for repair services, hire schemes and improved cycle access to and from tations.
The capital's stations will feature heavily in the campaign and St Pancras, Victoria, Waterloo will be the test-beds for the new cycle-friendly project as it rolls out over the next two years.
The cycle hubs will be one-stop shops, and as well as providing fully supervised parking will have experts on hand to offer advice and repairs.
Lord Adonis and Mayor Boris Johnson are convinced London can capitalise on the huge surge in demand for cycling that has emerged in recent yeas.
Many Londoners say they want to use a bike but those who commute over long distances are hindered by the lack of facilities at train stations.
The £14million fund is made up of £10million from the Department for Transport and Network Rail and £4million from Cycling England.
Of this cash, £5million will be spent on cycle hubs, £3million on extra cycle parking spaces at nearly 350 stations across the country and £2million to improve cycle access at stations. Lord Adonis told the Standard: "More and more people are turning to cycling as a healthy, green and convenient way to travel - I want to encourage this.
"Although half of us own a bike and 60 per cent live just 15 minutes from a train station, only 2 per cent of train passengers travel to the station by bike. This is in contrast to Holland where cycling accounts for a third of all trips to and from the station.
"The aim of the programme announced today is to boost the number of people cycling to catch their train. This will tackle congestion and promote rail travel."
Today's announcement follows the Government's commitment in June for £5million to be spent over the next two years to improve cycle storage facilities at up to 10 big rail stations nationwide, including in London. Due to demand, the funding has now been doubled.
Reader views (11)
Sigh. What is it with on-the-cheap solutions to our mess of a transport system?
We need more capacity on trains, better buses, upgrades to the tube, ideally more trams. Getting people to walk or cycle is all well and good, but for 90% of the population pretty impractical.
But it's cheap. And there, alas, is the rub.
- Liam, London, 03/11/2009 14:15
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It seems all of us are getting bored with these well meaning lame proclamations from our ministers as only 9 people before myself have commented? Don’t get me
wrong it’s very important I spend my time trying to get through the mad house bureaucratic jelly to increase bike use, seems from the nine previous comments most people have pointed out real issues that I can say categorically I could sort, things such as decent theft-
proof cycle parking kit at outlying stations. Designing, sorting, building, installing is like falling of a log! But just try to get to do it, it’s all tied up in vorlonic majesty!!
- Tim H-B, DEVIZES, 08/10/2009 11:18
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No mentioned of any improved security !! The very first time I left my bike at Harold Wood station I returned to find someone wonderful person had stolen just one of my pedals. Another time I assume someone had been disturbed trying to take the front wheel as the quick release lever had been undone and fell off as I was cycling home - luckily for me the wheel did not fall off! I reported this but no 'crime' had been committed. On the 8th occassion that I was fool enough to leave my bike at the station the locking chain was cut and my bike was stolen. BTP are still in the process of applying for the CCTV. So much time has been spent dealing with the paperwork that I don' think I'd bother reporting such a crime again - Not that I would EVER leave a bike at the station again. Station staff are aware and BTP have said to me that a theif operates at the station, but commuters are not made aware of this so that they may take an informed decision about leaving their property there. My experiences shall mean that I will continue to use my car for the commute to the station everyday!
- Jm Harold Wood, Romford, Essex, 28/09/2009 16:32
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Adonis clearly doesn't understand that bicycle thieves target bike racks at stations. Transport police claim they don't have time to look at CCTV and won't allow aggrieved cyclists to trawl through the CCTV to see who stole their bike because its against data protection laws. All these bicycle initiatives are completely pointless unless someone does something about bicycle theft.
- Desperate Dan, Soho, UK, 28/09/2009 14:35
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This is excellent news. I assume the idea is that you can keep your bike safely at a London station, commute in by train and continue your journey through town on your bike rather than tubes, buses etc. I agree all stations nationwide should have better provisions, but this is a good start, i for one am pleased that the government is taking cycling seriously at last.
As Nolan says, the more cyclists there are on the roads, the safer and healthier we will all be.
- Kate, London, 28/09/2009 11:49
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Hang on; £14 million for 10,000 bike racks? That drops out at £1,400 a pop. Who did the estimates - the House of Commons expenses department?
- Andrew, London, 28/09/2009 11:41
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What is the point of cycle racks in central London? Most passengers will be travelling in from outer/outside London so why not install the racks there instead? All this will do is encourage people to take up valuable space in trains with bikes - which will worsen overcrowding and block exits. Another mad cap scheme.
- H Morgan, London, 28/09/2009 11:02
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Excellent news. The more bikes there are on London's streets, the safer everybody is.
For all those who will (inevitably) complain about cyclists going through red lights - here's a deal: I'll stop going through red lights when cars and lorries keep out of the big green "advanced stop line" boxes. On my journey to work this morning I saw only 2 cyclists jump the lights, but EVERY single ASL was ignored by cars.
- Nolan, Londonist, 28/09/2009 10:57
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I suppose the next step is to install parking meters for bikes
- Mr S.Port, London, 28/09/2009 10:41
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Surely the sensible approach would be to have better cycle storage at stations OUTSIDE of London? Or is the idea that we all take our bikes on the train and leave them at the London terminal, because that ain't gonna work!
- Paul, London, 28/09/2009 10:33
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Yes, we will be seeing lot's more of these Lefty-Loonies pulling stunts like this in the run up to the election.
Might be fun to get these idiots to perform for us in their vain attempts to win our votes.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 28/09/2009 10:31
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