Commute into London? The Bike Shed wants your opinion please...

[bikeshed]

Hello all

My first post here, I'm pleased to see so many enthusiastic cycle commuters.

I’m putting together a new social enterprise called the Bike Shed with a view to providing secure, covered bike parking and convenient shower facilities for London commuters, to encourage greater use of cycling (and running, walking, skating etc), as environmentally-friendly ways to get into central London.

I'm posting today to ask anyone who cycles into central London if you could spend five minutes on this brief survey to tell us more about your cycling habits and what kind of services you'd find useful, and where (central London only at this stage): http://bit.ly/CCBikeShedSurvey

Thanks very much for your input, it's appreciated.


Elizabeth

 

[Lozatron]

Please set one up in Liverpool Street right away! Then I can stop paying my gym £60 / month for the privelige of showering and not being smiled at in the mornings!

 

[hackbike 666]

So where is this gym?

 

[mickle]

Didn't Bike Park already do this 15 years ago?

 

[hackbike 666]

Ooops I misread that (on my phone)

 

[mickle]

Forgive my cynicism, I wish you all the best with your project but wonder if it's possible to make it work without the financial support of the local authority.

Simon O'Brien's Liverpool venture didn't survive, there are doubts about the York one working and it hasn't even opened yet. The MD of the bike shop I used to work for in Bristol looked into it and came to the conclusion that even with the support of Bristol City Council it wasn't viable.

One of the wonderful things about cycling as a mode of transport is the ability to go door to door. Why would anyone ride to the Bike Shed and then walk the rest of the way to work? What are you going to charge? £1 a day? For a month of parking fees at that rate you could buy a pretty substantial lock. How many bikes would you need to park to cover your costs? £1 wont do it. £2? You're only making £200 per hundred bikes. Have you ever seen a hundred bikes? It's a huge pile. The processing time per bike, taking the cash, issuing a ticket, wheeling it to it's place in the store. Two people minumum, one to do the processing and one to do the running. £3? £15 per week, £60 per month per bike for a hundred bikes and you've just about covered the wages of two people but nowhere near covering overheads. Add a repair service as they've done in Bristol, maybe bolt it on to the side of a bike shop and it starts to make sense but it's still a bloody hard way to make a living.

 

[Sittingduck]

I have filled in the survey Liz. Hope that helps.
Don't personally need facilities because I am lucky enough to have secure bike storage and showers at work. If I was considering commutiong via bike and had no such facilities at my company, I'm not sure I would fancy parking up somewhere and then getting on a tube / bus or walking the rest of the way. This would kind of defeat one of the main objects of commuting via bike (avoiding public transport). That's the case for me anyway and I guess plenty of potential punters would work a short stroll away from the proposed location of the shed.

Good luck with it, in any case.
SD

 

[bikeshed]

Thanks to those of you who've taken the time to complete the survey, and to leave your thoughts about the project here, much appreciated.


E

 

[u9ge]

Have filled it in, but went back to add more comments but I realised your survey cut short the abilty to comment fully or fill in questions that are relevant if you say you already have facilities.

It is worth changing that as you'll miss a number of good suggestions from current commuters who might want to pass on helpful advice!?

 

[ruskibeats]

its a good idea. I only need an overnight secure storage with some weekends as I travel in on the train during non bike friendly hours. I would train to Euston, bike from Euston to Brixton and back, then lock the bike up overnight - repeating 5 days a week

 

[garrilla]

Forgive my cynicism, I wish you all the best with your project but wonder if it's possible to make it work without the financial support of the local authority.

Simon O'Brien's Liverpool venture didn't survive, there are doubts about the York one working and it hasn't even opened yet. The MD of the bike shop I used to work for in Bristol looked into it and came to the conclusion that even with the support of Bristol City Council it wasn't viable.

One of the wonderful things about cycling as a mode of transport is the ability to go door to door. Why would anyone ride to the Bike Shed and then walk the rest of the way to work? What are you going to charge? £1 a day? For a month of parking fees at that rate you could buy a pretty substantial lock. How many bikes would you need to park to cover your costs? £1 wont do it. £2? You're only making £200 per hundred bikes. Have you ever seen a hundred bikes? It's a huge pile. The processing time per bike, taking the cash, issuing a ticket, wheeling it to it's place in the store. Two people minumum, one to do the processing and one to do the running. £3? £15 per week, £60 per month per bike for a hundred bikes and you've just about covered the wages of two people but nowhere near covering overheads. Add a repair service as they've done in Bristol, maybe bolt it on to the side of a bike shop and it starts to make sense but it's still a bloody hard way to make a living.

+1

 

[theboytaylor]

There's one opening in London Bridge tomorrow:
http://www.onyourbike.com/stylesheet.asp?file=7_1_1_cycle_park

So, why the survey now?