Cyclists benefit from £14m 'hubs'

[AdamBlade]

I wasn't sure where to put this but Commuting seems the most appropriate. Article on the BBC regarding new cycle hubs for a number of stations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8278320.stm

Seems like a good idea, and nice to see cyclists being recognised

 

[Cab]

£14million for cyclist hubs. Another £100million to extend the car scrappage scheme.

Small beans. Perhaps better than no beans, though.

 

[upsidedown]

It would be nice if they could manage to provide storage on the trains. Last night there were 5 coaches, 1 bike space (should have been 2 but the wheelchair ramp was stored in 1 of them).

 

[John the Monkey]

At the risk of seeming curmudgeonly, it's grand for people who have a cycle length journey at one end of a train journey.

It's a bit cack for those of us needing to travel a distance at both ends of a train journey, for whom the only realistic solution is the government standing up to the train operators and demanding more cycle carriage on trains. Given the pattern of commuting in the UK, I'd go further and say that this is probably the better way to get people to ditch their cars. Hopefully we'll see that pressure at some point.

I get the feeling that the hubs are an idea lifted from places like the Netherlands, where the pattern of commuting is different, and where there are so many cyclists that carriage on trains would be completely unrealistic.

 

[AdamBlade]

I agree with your point about travelling on the train and I think they should roll it out to further than stations. Maybe including them in city cetres.

I do think it's a start though, and the first time I've known so much money being allocated to cyclists.

 

[Davidc]

Don't knock it - during the late 1970s and 1980s cycle facilities were reducing - less parking etc. not more. The car was truly king, roadbuilding was sacrosanct (a town in the way? just demolish it then) and towns seemed to be being redesigned to make cycling and walking well neigh impossible.

Get this phase done, more people cycling, and then put the pressure on for better train design, with more and better facilities for bikes, wheelchairs, prams, and everything else that makes abandoning the motor car practial.

There's much to do after that to make the country clean, safe and car free, but at least this is small steps in the right direction.

 

[Cab]

Realistically we've already got more bikes at some stations than could be carried on trains (Cambridge is a good example). The problem is fast becoming one of having two bike locking locations required, one at each station.

But £14million? Its better than a kick in the teeth, but consider thats something less than two miles of motorway (costing something like £8million per mile) and its still clear that this is tokenism.

 

[Davidc]

Realistically we've already got more bikes at some stations than could be carried on trains (Cambridge is a good example). The problem is fast becoming one of having two bike locking locations required, one at each station.

But £14million? Its better than a kick in the teeth, but consider thats something less than two miles of motorway (costing something like £8million per mile) and its still clear that this is tokenism.

It is, but if the facilities are well used and popular perhaps the next scheme will be bigger?

If it were up to me, or a good few others on this forum, the whole roads budget would be moved to cycle facilities and public transport provision, but it ain't gonna happen in the real world!

 

[Cab]

It is, but if the facilities are well used and popular perhaps the next scheme will be bigger?

If it were up to me, or a good few others on this forum, the whole roads budget would be moved to cycle facilities and public transport provision, but it ain't gonna happen in the real world!

And in the real world £14million is better than nothing, but insufficient.

I don't seek to take all spending on roads and put it into a cycling pot, but I also don't see any point in heaping praise on this scheme. Ain't enough by a long way.

So by all means welcome this, but when you next talk to your MP impress upon him that this is a disproportionately small sum to be spending.

 

[Crankarm]

I wasn't sure where to put this but Commuting seems the most appropriate. Article on the BBC regarding new cycle hubs for a number of stations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8278320.stm

Seems like a good idea, and nice to see cyclists being recognised

All these "hubs" are in North........?

Is that because proportionately fewer people in North cycle than in the South because lethargy and obesity are far BIGGER problems up their due to all the pies and chips northerners eat ?

However another £3m will go to 9 stations of which Stevenage, Cambridge and Exeter are the only stations in the South/SW.

 

[jonny jeez]

Shower's, they need showers!

One of the main drawbacks for city Commuters (imo) and I am being specific abolut "City" here. is that most city dwellers/workers are all suited and booted and need to look and feel smart and sharp to perform well (take a look in the front door of any london Lawyers or traders and you will see what i mean).

To entice a city exec out of his first class carriage or taxi, we need facilities that look and feel like private gym's with well kept, clean and warm shower and change facilities plus clothes storage and drying(perhaps saunas, and jaccuzzi's even) that dont make you feel like you are washing in some blokes garage.

Bike storage and rental is all brill but they need to accomodate the physical needs of commuters not just the practical.

I've seen sites for such schemes in other cities and they look fantastic!, I would personally pay as much each month as my gym membership to have the same facilities offered at a cycle hub near my office (if i didnt have them in my office).

Perhaps we should start our own!

 

[Cab]

All these "hubs" are in North........?

Not the three in London

 

[Lurker]

.... Article on the BBC regarding new cycle hubs for a number of stations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8278320.stm

Surely the website headline:

Cyclists benefit from £14m 'hubs'

should read:

Everyone benefits from £14m cycling 'hubs'

 

[Tim Bennet.]

"£14m hubs" ! ! !

And I thought Mrs TB's Tune hubs were expensive enough.

 

[srw]

One of the main drawbacks for city Commuters (imo) and I am being specific abolut "City" here. is that most city dwellers/workers are all suited and booted and need to look and feel smart and sharp to perform well (take a look in the front door of any london Lawyers or traders and you will see what i mean).

You don't cycle through the City. I work here. The number of people on bikes is truly staggering. I happened to pass the garage door of a small office this morning (perhaps 100 people?). There were about 15 bikes in the garage.