secure city bike parking

[ANTONISH]

In 1955 I cycled to Brighton with two friends.
On the front there was a cycle storage facility with one person in charge.
He took your bike and gave you a ticket - which you gave in exchange for your bike when needed.
There seem to be complex and expensive solutions for secure bike storage - are any savings made by eliminating the human ?

[PH]

There seem to be complex and expensive solutions for secure bike storage - are any savings made by eliminating the human ?

Yes, we're expensive, as a rough estimate, I'd say at minimum wage around £75,000 a year to provide cover for it to be open 16 hours a day. A lot cheaper if the staff are occupied in a way that's profitable whilst not parking bikes.

[mattheus]

There seem to be complex and expensive solutions for secure bike storage - are any savings made by eliminating the human ?

Yes, we're expensive, as a rough estimate, I'd say at minimum wage around £75,000 a year to provide cover for it to be open 16 hours a day. A lot cheaper if the staff are occupied in a way that's profitable whilst not parking bikes.

It's a non-trivial sum; but I'd like to see a comparison with car-parking overall costs.

[Vorpal]

Most transport hubs in cities and many rail/bus stations elsewhere in Norway have subscription secure bike parking indoors. In addition, universities, large offices, and some shopping centres have similar installations. There isn't usually a fee for private secure bike parking, but the security arrangements are little more variable. For example, where I work has indoor cycle parking in a location that is theoretically secure. It is in an indoor car parking area with secure (code) access, which in theory is only used by people who have parking permits. The problem is that the various office buildings with parking there, deal very differently with how they assign parking spots, and give out the access codes. In addition, people sometimes leave the pedestrian door ajar. So, in practice it's a few cameras more secure than parking on the street.

The easiest to use in my experience are the rail station ones. You download the BaneNor (Network Rail equivalent) parking app, select from approximately 50 bike parking facilities and pay 50 kr (about £5), which gives you secure access for 30 days to a 'bike hotel'. The security uses scanner linked to your phone number & the door closes automatically after 30 seconds. They are not normally manned, but they have security cameras, and at manned stations, they are checked periodically.

https://www.asker.kommune.no/vei-trafik ... t-i-asker/ is one such example, which includes a video of opening day. The video is in Norwegian, but you can see what it looks like inside. They've since taken out a few of the double-decker parking spots & put in cargo bike parking.

The 'bike hotel' in the video was built in 3 months.

[rareposter]

There seem to be complex and expensive solutions for secure bike storage - are any savings made by eliminating the human ?

Yes, we're expensive, as a rough estimate, I'd say at minimum wage around £75,000 a year to provide cover for it to be open 16 hours a day. A lot cheaper if the staff are occupied in a way that's profitable whilst not parking bikes.

Pre-Covid, I always thought there'd be a market in a big city for a series of bike parking "shops" - essentially normal bike shops with a range of basic commuter necessities, a cafe and a workshop and then a large bike parking area including facilities like e-bike charging and services such as showers, lockers etc. In London, I could see that being viable where someone rides in, leaves their bike in the "parking shop" then continues their journey to their workplace by public transport, hire bike or on foot.

I've used Manchester Cycle Hubs a few times and what annoyed me was the tiered subscription levels - my workplace provided free access (via a smartcard) to the hub but to use lockers, showers etc, there was (not unreasonably) a charge. So it meant riding to the Hub, leaving the bike and then walking, in my cycle kit, the 500m to the office where I could use the showers there. It was just far enough away to be an annoying distance.

I'm not sure anyone has yet sorted a truly secure system that is easy to use. So many companies seem to put in wildly OTT parking facilities that look good on paper or sound good in marketing speak but then you can't park fat-tyred bikes or adapted bikes or recumbents etc. Bit like the "bike cupboards" on certain trains where no-one has bothered to think about bikes with mudguards and panniers or mountain bikes or tandems...

As a rule, the fewer people required to run such a facility the better and it's a lot more secure to use technology to access the bikes - not having one bloke in a booth who can be beaten up, have his keys nicked and all the bikes go walkies. Ideally some sort of QR code, barcode etc or an app - much as I hate the ongoing rollout of apps for absolutely bloody everything. Even my local coffee shop has an app now.

But it would allow pretty much 24/7 access with minimal maintenance and staffing. Car parks operate on much the same principle, they can be almost entirely unstaffed except for maybe a maintenance team that does rounds of all the local car parks. Easier to charge with ANPR and number plates though - car drives in and a timestamp is recorded / car drives out and the time and fee is calculated on exit.

Japan have a good system, as you'd expect from a country that knows how to do technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZSU40RBrg

[PH]

There seem to be complex and expensive solutions for secure bike storage - are any savings made by eliminating the human ?

Yes, we're expensive, as a rough estimate, I'd say at minimum wage around £75,000 a year to provide cover for it to be open 16 hours a day. A lot cheaper if the staff are occupied in a way that's profitable whilst not parking bikes.

It's a non-trivial sum; but I'd like to see a comparison with car-parking overall costs.

I'm not sure what the comparison would be. If I had 10% of the income and the same occupancy rate as the 2,000 space car park next to the bike park I use, I'd not only offer to staff it, I'd give the bikes a free wash while they were parked

[alan dun]

So many anecdotes, links and examples since I posed the question, thanks,... where to start...!
Clearly our mainland European neighbours invest far more in cycling infrastructure than we do here. Cycling as an activity is embedded there as an integral part of transport, as well as recreation, the same is not (yet) true here.
However, there do seem to be many initiatives here in different cities trying out schemes with varying degrees of success.

My city, Bath, could I think be persuaded to try a small scale secure parking area but not sure,at this moment what would work.
It seems very difficult to prevent all thefts, but other issues as highlighted by your contributions are all significant... location, free or paying,
security, access and so on.
Cycling comes in so many shapes and sizes,sport, e bike, commuter, shopper, families,cargo etc.who to cater for ?
feel sure this conversation will continue.
Thanks

[rareposter]

My city, Bath, could I think be persuaded to try a small scale secure parking area but not sure,at this moment what would work.

Talk to them.
It would help by the way if you were part of some local cycling campaign group, not just an individual but Bath is doing good things with its Clean Air Zone, they've got an e-cargo bike trial scheme just being set up and there are plans for various Low Traffic Neighbourhoods etc.

The recent council elections saw good gains for the (pro Active Travel) Lib Dems/Labour and amusing losses for the (anti-cycling) Tories so they'll be keen to push on with their plans and the CAZ means they've got decent funding behind them for it as well.

Find & join the local cycling group in Bath - chances are they're already lobbying the council for more/better bike parking and infrastructure.

[mattheus]

My city, Bath, could I think be persuaded to try a small scale secure parking area but not sure,at this moment what would work.

Talk to them.
It would help by the way if you were part of some local cycling campaign group, not just an individual but Bath is doing good things with its Clean Air Zone, they've got an e-cargo bike trial scheme just being set up and there are plans for various Low Traffic Neighbourhoods etc.

The recent council elections saw good gains for the (pro Active Travel) Lib Dems/Labour and amusing losses for the (anti-cycling) Tories so they'll be keen to push on with their plans and the CAZ means they've got decent funding behind them for it as well.

Find & join the local cycling group in Bath - chances are they're already lobbying the council for more/better bike parking and infrastructure.

In Bath you could pitch the tourism aspect.

Several times I've cycled to Bath - then turned straight round and stopped at the first eaterie - with secure bike parking - on the way OUT of town to eat. There's a really nice pub on the canal with a garden big enough to park bikes Spent litle time - and no money - in the city centre.

(Being a dense historic centre, it's also not a nice place to wheel bikes around as a tourist).

[alan dun]

yes more good points.
I do know some of the cycling groups here and certainly the recent election result, we returned 3 green councillors in BaNES and Lib Dem's are strong, should help.
In the past, initiatives by Transition Bath, have been kicked into the grass, but think there may be change in the air. Bath has improved in some regards e.g Clean Air, and some cycle paths.
I have a friend in Road cc who are based here, and I will see if they would add their voice.
Cyclists are very good at lobbying, but it needs to be clear what for.
In asking the question on this site, for me,it was to find what other places have achieved to broaden my appreciation of what might work..
My intention is to contact other people and groups to see what are their thoughts and ideas...
keep it coming..
thanks

[JohnMorgan]

The local council put up an enclosed bike parking facility for staff, and issued cards to open the door. I used it at first, but stopped after I found the door unlocked twice in a fortnight.

The local bike project offered parking facilities for only a £10 yearly fee, but fell down in my opinion by only offering it Tuesday to Saturday, 10-5pm. Which, in fairness, were the opening hours.

If you are looking at ‘dual use’ facilities, further education premises might be an idea - they often offer evening classes.

[st599_uk]

London has a few secure cycle parks which cost around £6 per day for non members.

The big bike shop behind King's Cross also does bike parking.

There's a famous station in W London that has a nice secure bike park for Annual SWR Travelcard holders - it's in the Oyster zone so you can't get an SWR Travelcard for that station.

[mattheus]

London has a few secure cycle parks which cost around £6 per day for non members.

I used a place for about that price - somewhere near Portland St? - during the India Test Match at Lords, August 2021 maybe?

Anyway, it was very good, but the company went bust a few months later. I wasn't surprised, as it was very quiet and they were paying nicely-dressed people to sit around all day in quite a high-rent part of town.

[mattheus]

Given the progress of web-based p2p tech, we should be able to get some sort of AirBnB-style Bike Parking service going!

[Gizzmo]

I wish they would do more bike parking in towns I live in a town with 58,000+ people and the town centre has the basic bike parking for 12 bikes, or at the train station on the non townside there's 200 indoor parking and a cycle repair station but no cctv, paid entry costs alot more if you don't have a train ticket and from what I have been told the repair station hasnt worked in years or there 50 first come first serve out door spots and commuters grab them really early, then if you not using the train and want to go to town you have to walk up a hill cross 2-3 main roads to get to the town centre and if your going food shopping your choice is to ride around town 5mins but you will be going up hill on the way back and it's steap and hope the asda security is in a good mood and won't tell you off for locking your bike up on railings next to emergency exits or walk 5-10mins from one of the town parking spots.

The other day I just wanted to pop in tesco in town before I came home on my bike and had to wait 15mins for a bike park to come free becuse the other place to chain my bike up was to a bench all I wanted was a bottle of water