Cycling UK Forum

It would be great to see more secure parking for bikes and e bikes in our cities.
A few cities have taken the lead, Bristol's mud dock, comes to mind, and I believe there are schemes in Edinburgh and London and probably elsewhere.
With city centres needing to re-invent themselves, cycling 'hubs' would seem a good start in re-energising our city centres, creating places to visit, use, socialise and go to work.
The parking hubs could link to,for example, coffee shops, bike sports and book shops, and space for start ups... encouraging people to use their bikes, secure in the knowledge that the bike will still be there when they return...
It would be good to share any thoughts on this topic.

A haven for bike thieves?

The idea is it's manned and locked up...

Derby has four.
A subscription unmanned cage at the railway station, I think the entry is via a fob and the cage is covered by CCTV (I haven't used it so I'm not 100% sure how it works) this is fairly popular with commuters.
Bikeworks, originally part of a larger project, shop, cafe... that failed. The bike parking has remained along with a repair shop, it's free, not in the best location for me though OK, the opening hours are restrictive, it's mostly of use if you work office hours in the city, it is popular, often looks full, I use it occasionally. Staffed, but the security seems to be based on trust! You hand your bike over at the door, and point out (Often to someone else) the one you're collecting.
A subscription cage within the staffed ParkSafe multi story carpark, I used this for a few months, it's OK but not in the best area for a lot of people. Entry is by swipe card, £15 a month for the standard subscription, the car park has toilets, and some bike tools, open 24/7. You don't get a locker unless you have the premium subscription for £30.
https://www.derby.gov.uk/transport-and- ... 0available.
A spokesafe code entry unstaffed facility, right in the centre of the city, PAYG or subscription, bike tools, locker, dedicated space, no toilets or changing space, open 24/7. I subscribed to this when it first opened (£10 a month) and I was spending more time in the city, I'm now using it PAYG once or twice a week.
https://www.spokesafe.com/derbion-cycle-hub
The two paid options I've used haven't proved popular, I've never been in one that had more than a couple of other bikes in it. When this subject has come up before, there's an expectation that such things should be free, I don't get that, I don't feel any entitlement to have such a service without contributing, I'm assuming they're already subsidised.

Thanks for the information re Derby, very interesting.
This idea is clearly not without its teething problems.
I hope other folk might join in with their experience of other places.
Some of the European cities have really got behind supporting cyclists, lets hope...
thanks for the links too..
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i've used the spokesafe facility in Derby mentioned by PH on the odd time i pop into town for an evening meal/drink with friends when i wouldn't fancy leaving it locked on the street amongst weekend revellers. I like it as you get a secure locker also so i can dump my helmet and any other cycling paraphernalia for the evening. I don't mind paying as its only £1 for the day so still significantly cheaper than me catching the bus - which i probably would do otherwise. So for me having a reasonably priced "pay as you go" option, and access out of office hours makes it attractive.

Cambridge has a two part hub under the grand arcade, with a daytime staffed parking run by the Rutland cycles branch in there and an unstaffed longer (24h maybe?) hours area that is CCTV'd up the wazoo. There is a multi storey bike park at the main rail station but I think it has no guarded area and I'm not sure if its bike shop is still running. I think it might share the building with a bar but I might be misremembering. The bar doesn't have direct access to the parking.

Norwich has a subscription cage and some open spaces in a central multistorey car park at the junction of Duke St and Charing Cross. No shop or cafe near it. There was an online-bookable cage with keypad locking stands in the shopping centre on Coburg St, but I think the operator has closed down. Twice, at least. Again, just parking.

Cycle hubs are regarded with suspicion in King's Lynn. At least five are planned with details known of two so far. One is central, but on the back of a toilet block in a surface car park, off a cycle route not yet developed (missing an essential "except cycles" on a no entry) and further from shops than the 40-space street racks it was announced to replace. We're not sure who's the intended audience for that. The other is in the middle of an industrial area, poorly connected to a minor cycle route and its 50 cycle spaces are accompanied by 150 car spaces so it looks like a Trojan horse to divert cycle funding to building an overflow car park for the controversial King's Lynn Innovation Centre (KLIC).

Nottingham has a number of Cycle Hubs at various locations around the city:

https://www.transportnottingham.com/cyc ... your-bike/

You pay an annual fee of £12, which gives you a smart card that can be used to access the hubs. They are mostly locked cages with CCTV, so not totally secure but better than leaving your bike on the street. I used to use the one in the old Broadmarsh car park, but I don’t currently belong to the scheme and haven’t used a hub recently.

Thank you so much for these examples of schemes with secure parking.
I live near Bath and am interested to see if a scheme might be viable here.
The city centre is being emptied of a lot of shops and as a result there is no shortage of space.
Although the whole issue of city centre regeneration is still unclear.
Because the city and surrounding area is hilly e bikes are also popular here and i see that these too are part of the mix.
We have several bike shops, and I find the idea of a hub combining facilities very compelling.
I hope to put together a case to present to our transport and environmental officers, in the hope that the council will get behind a start up scheme.
thanks again, please keep it coming..
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alan dun wrote: ↑6 May 2023, 6:28am I hope to put together a case to present to our transport and environmental officers, in the hope that the council will get behind a start up scheme.

Please get in touch with the Bath cycling campaign and/or Adam Reynolds. I expect they know some useful background and contacts and would welcome help.

Great, will do thanks
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Sheffield railway station has a huge indoor secure bike parking area accessed by electronic fob 24/7. There is a bike workshop attached (where you can get a fob - I think mine was a one off £10-20, no subscription), track pump, ticket collection machine and toilet/changing rooms upstairs with disabled lift access. Pretty good really.

Barnsley interchange has the same on a much smaller scale, and more restricted hours. I think the one off fob sign-up fee is still a tenner, and no subscription.

Leeds railway station has a lot of stands on the platforms, so you have to go through the ticket barriers to get to them. I figure that these are probably fairly secure, at least against any determined attack. As they are on the platforms, there are a lot of passengers, staff, and most importantly, British Transport Police, around. I'm assuming that anybody using an angle grinder to cut through a lock, for instance, is going to get jumped on pretty soon. And of course they're going to have to get through the barriers too. Lots of people seem to leave their helmets, panniers etc. on the bikes. I leave my helmet, but take my lights with me.

I have access to a cage, with stands, in an underground car park at one of my workplaces in Leeds City Centre. Though disappointingly I noticed a sawn through U lock on the floor last time I was in, and obvious signs that the door had been attacked.

Hi
Thanks for your Leeds info.
And a useful reminder that sadly theft is real even with a decent lock.
I am forming a picture that different authorities are very different in their commitment to cyclists...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDLQ6dGj0U
This is my favourite,so far..but it is Japan...

Also Trinity shopping centre in Leeds has this:

https://nearer.com/listing/trinity-bike-park-leeds/

I've never used it, and it seems to have been a bit open/closed/open again. The opening hours aren't massively worker helpful - there must be a fair few people who start/finish work before/after those times. But as it's at a shopping centre, I guess one idea is to encourage shoppers into town. Which is fine.