Pay to park your bike in Birmingham

[Leapgate]

I was aghast to hear on local tv news that the Mailbox Shopping Centre in Birmingham is considering charging for cycle parking. When politicians should be encouraging people out of cars and onto sustainable forms of transport this will only deter the public.

[mike6]

Is charging really so bad?
When touring I would have been happy to pay a nominal sum to leave my bike loaded with tent, clothes etc etc in a secure and supervised cycle park. I have decided against visiting some shops and places of interest because I felt it unsafe to leave my locked bike and possessions unattended. In larger towns, two panniers full of groceries is worth protecting.
A lot would depend on the detail of the charging system.

[gar]

I always found on tour that if the bike were dirty enough nobody would look either at the bike or the belongings.
Shopping centres usually don't invite cyclists in
and there is such CCTv security inside one wondered whether the local criminals all congregated outside by the bike racks

[the_twin]

I can't think of any reason anyone on a bike would want to shop in the Mailbox. I mean, do Armani make bibshorts?

[mas051]

The one time I did cycle to the mailbox, I was meeting freinds for a meal, I was politely asked not to lock my bike to the available rails and directed into the basement parking where a large area was set assied for motor and push bikes. being in the basement it was dry and as part of the car parking area, monitored. If they want to start charging me I'll have to start using the railings available.

matthew

[CJ]

Paid for parking is normal in Dutch city centres, not compulsory of course, but a popular way of being sure your bike is safe from theft. It's also cheap. I believe the fees only help to pay for these bike parks, which are subisidised and also financed by associated activities such as cycle repairs and accessory sales.

So it all depends on the level of fee and what you get for it. In Holland (so far as I recall) it's typically about 1 Euro to leave your bike all day in a supervised and very secure indoor compound. You get a ticket and have to show it to recover the bike.

But as this is Britain it'll probably be more like £1 per hour for no more security than locking it to the railings outside!

[Elucasr]

In Cambridge, we have had a free, cctv and attendant monitored parking at Park Street Multistorey Car Park (out of the way in the basement), for about two years.

[Tony Smith]

If the price is reasonable it's not such a bad thing. My local station provides 5 cycle lockers. Free to use, just bring your own padlock. An excellent facility except that two have broken hasps, the door has fallen off one, another has had the same bike in it day and night for over a month now so probably abandoned and some idiot has started reserving the last one by locking it empty overnight. Arriva have no interest in repairing the lockers. Car parking here costs £1/day so for the space they take up I'd be happy to pay 25p/day if it'd encourage them to look after the facility.

[ChrisO]

I agree that if you are getting something for your money then it is not unreasonable.

Motorists pay to park their cars, why shouldn't we pay a rate commensurate with the convenience and security on offer. If we don't like it we can cruise around and find a free but less convenient parking spot nearby.

I hate having to carry two heavy (and they are heavy) duty locks if I'm leaving my bike outside, plus worrying about whether I take my saddle off or not. If I knew it was going into a bike cage or under CCTV security I would just use a light cable lock. 50p weighs a lot less than my chains and locks.

Also, security is one of those things that non-cyclists often mention as a reason against cycling. How many times have people asked you whether you've had bikes nicked, or said that they wouldn't want to leave their bikes out for fear of theft. I don't think it should be assumed that this would discourage cycling.

[Elucasr]

The Park Street Multi-storey at Cambridge also has lockers for regulars which can be rented at £10 a month (min. 3 months).

[gar]

a rate commensurate

Ten pounds a month is quite steep. £120/year for a bike?

Don't forget that locks only provide ten seconds more safety than leaving entirely unlocked becoz the experienced lockpicker/padlockbreaker only takes that long to deal with it.

Removing the saddle is also only to deal with casual theft by somebody who feels like a ride
and notices a free bike. It is hard to put your butt quickly on a piece of piping. Theft of the saddle is a lesser consideration.

At a venue where there is a "bike parts borrower" about, ie somebody who unscrews your bike until there is little left, removing the saddle is enough to make him wonder whether somebody else is on his "patch" doing the borrowing. It would put him off.

The locker situation described above " locked empty overnight" sounds as though there is
a regular parts borrower about.

I only had a bike "stolen" once at the station and that was from a man who had just served
15 years for murder, out the day before, and he had nothing to his name except what he stood up in. I was not going to give anything to a man like that but I did leave the key in a prominent place... he had lodged with me for the night.
In that case he really only borrowed the bike too and for all I know he has still got it.

[Tony Smith]

Gar, I don't think the locker is being locked by a parts borrower because it's only ever one at a time and the same lock is in place when a bike is in there. People do it because there is a shortage of good lockers so they selfishly prevent "theirs" being taken by people who get up earlier in the morning.

[gar]

parts borrowers are usually intelligent men interested in bike machinery and parts, but with light fingers. The bloke who stole/took/borrowed parts from my bike explained to me earlier that if I will leave things around unlocked ie on the bike stand at the station overnight then I had only myself to blame. My comment was that if I locked the whole bike I did not expect only half of it to be there when I got back. He said that was my lookout; he was not going to steal anything by
breaking open locks of any sort.....( but he did like the look of the brake blocks)

The bike locker locked but empty is his way of saying that anybody who leaves his bike in the open (but padlocked) has only got himself to blame if most of it has gone but not the lock by the time he get back to the stands.

His reasoning is that he has a right to lock an empty locker and you ave a right to lock what may well become an empty bike, and it won't be his fault because everybody knows you have got lockers to lock them in.

He is playing a mind game with you and if you have not lost part or all of your bike except the lock and the frame or whatever the lock does lock and surround by the time you get back
you will be merely lucky not careful.

Think about it..........think about the concepts of petty larceny it is the copper's worst crime....
petty larceny; nothing they enjoy more and done intelligently make a clean get away; no need to rush even; he has gone to work and left his bike outside the bike lockers! Golden opportunity!!
So difficult to pin down as a theft at all!

[gar]

because it's only ever one at a time and the same lock is in place when a bike is in there. People do it because th

You may be mistaken in your conclusion. Can you SEE the bike locked inside when it IS there? Though you may find somebody getting the very bike out of the locker in a few days time, so then you can have a word. He may be putting it in there when he is NOT going to work and taking it out when he is.

Worth thinking deeply about, like all bike matters. It may save you on insurance to do so!

What is "Only ever one at a time" above?
One bike? One owner? One padlock?

Wherever you see bike stand vandalism..... there is a parts borrower about; locking empty seems like a specialised form of vandalism.

[ChrisO]

Tony, is there room to fit another lock over the one "reserved" overnight ?

It would help get the message across I'm sure, or create a fascinating impasse.