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Fiasco warning over Cambridge station CyclePoint

Users of temporary bike park have little time in which to collect their bikes

Cambridge Cycling Campaign has warned that the opening of the new £2.5m, 3,000-space CyclePoint bike park at Cambridge railway station could end up being a "fiasco" due to the way the closure of the temporary bike park is being handled. They also fear that CyclePoint's new bike racks will be incompatible with standard UK frames.

CyclePoint will open at 6am on February 15. However, people only have until 10pm the same day to collect any bikes left in the old, temporary bike park. After that time, bikes will be removed by Abellio Greater Anglia and stored for a week, awaiting collection, ‘before disposal through the OWL charity’.

Cambridge Cycling Campaign's Roxanne De Beaux told Cambridge News:

"The railway company is proposing to give merely 18 hours for users of the over 1,000 bikes in the current cycle parking to move their bikes.

"What should have been a major cause for celebration, and the result of 15 years of campaigning, looks like it could be a fiasco, if urgent changes are not made to the opening arrangements."

When one local resident pointed out that it was half-term at this time and he would be away for a number of days, Abellio Greater Anglia’s advice was simply to leave the bike at home.

 

 

Martin Lucas-Smith, liaison officer for Cambridge Cycling Campaign, added: "The removal of bikes from the temporary racks with such short notice seems not far short of criminal theft. It certainly doesn't comply with the local bye-laws requiring a notice for 14 days."

Peter Meades of Abellio said notice would be given before bikes were taken away. He also defended the new bike racks, which Cambridge Cycling Campaign say will not allow most users to lock through the frame: "From our point of view, we believe the racks will meet people's expectations and will be secure and fit for purpose. We had some issues with the type of rack we have in the existing facility, which were not as robust or hard-wearing as we would want them to be."

De Beaux remains unimpressed.

"We have real concerns that the new racks proposed for the cycle park are of a poor design that appear not to enable the frame of the bike to be locked.

"The last two years have seen a trial of different types of racks, but these new types haven't been tried here, and were not presented as options at any stage of consultation. The racks are designed for Dutch bikes which have built-in locks, unlike most cycles in the UK.

"We hope that these two issues can be resolved urgently, and that the opening of the new cycle park, Britain's largest, can be a source of celebration, not marred by problems."

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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9 comments

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Jes | 8 years ago
1 like

All, I am the MD of the company that manufactures the cycle racks, Falco. Although I cannot comment on behalf of the railway company, we have worked in partnership for many years with over 15 of the Train Operating Companies (TOC's) accross the UK and I can confirm that they have a vast amount of red tape, from numerous bodies (often with differing focus), covering all manner of issues from technical restrictions to funding restrictions, which they need to fulfill just to install a few cycle stands, hence to me this facility (and many others) is an absolutely enormous acheivement. Regarding the racks themselves, we in the UK do not have a 'standard' for the design of the racks which they do in Holland, hence the best technology currently comes out of the Netherlands and with a Falco product these are then adapted to meet the needs of multiple locking required for the UK market. Additionally the FalcoLevel Premium+ model used here has an integral gas strut to aid the lifting of the bike in the upper tier. Cynicism is easy to throw around and I understand everyone's hesitation, but can I suggest everyone withholds judgement until they have tried them, one of our staff will be on hand on Monday to help people get used to the new racks, so why not pop down there on Monday and make contact with Lionel O'Hara, or alternatively I am always available for feedback via the Falco office (details on the website), thanks Jeremy Green.

Avatar
earth | 8 years ago
0 likes

Do people purposely design these things badly so someone else can say it was a waste of money and not to spend anymore?

Avatar
awjr replied to earth | 8 years ago
0 likes
earth wrote:

Do people purposely design these things badly so someone else can say it was a waste of money and not to spend anymore?

I actually think this comes down to pride. The right way to do a lot of this is to involve the "amateur" cycle campaigning group and to take their advice as gospel. However the council officer/network rail people do not have the experience and do not want to admit they don't. So they just do what they think will work. Which then fails.

Avatar
Zebedee replied to awjr | 8 years ago
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awjr wrote:
earth wrote:

Do people purposely design these things badly so someone else can say it was a waste of money and not to spend anymore?

I actually think this comes down to pride. The right way to do a lot of this is to involve the "amateur" cycle campaigning group and to take their advice as gospel. However the council officer/network rail people do not have the experience and do not want to admit they don't. So they just do what they think will work. Which then fails.

Yeah, that

Avatar
Bob's Bikes | 8 years ago
0 likes

I can't comment on these racks not being able to see a good picture or drawing (with measurements) but as with Wycombewheeler I think racks should only be used on a daily basis and not as long time storage.

I have tried to use the racks at Paddington but could not find any free space, did see an awful lot of bikes that looked as if they'd been there a year or more some without chains, brakes etc etc.

Avatar
pakennedy | 8 years ago
1 like

Has anyone got a link to a photo of the new racks?

Avatar
wycombewheeler replied to pakennedy | 8 years ago
0 likes
pakennedy wrote:

Has anyone got a link to a photo of the new racks?

There are some images on the cambridge news website. Not very clear.

Avatar
wycombewheeler | 8 years ago
5 likes

it seems to me that cycle parking, (as the station car park) is intended for people using the trains for day trips, not for long term storage. If I were a person with the intent of leaving my bike clogging up the bike parking (potentially depriving other users of a space) for a long time, I wouldn't be so quick to bleat about it.

Also I wouldn't be comfortable with the security of leaving my bike there over several nights.

as to the racks not being suitable for securing frames - a photo of the racks in question would be helpful. There is guidance for bike racks which makes it quite clear that they should allow for locking the frame to the rack, and not just the wheel.

"Meeting people's expectations" is a poor defence, because we are all so used to infrastructure which is poor, how about meeting peoples needs for a change?

Avatar
Zebedee | 8 years ago
1 like

Sounds like it could be another cock-up British style. These people in positions of power and influence just will not listen to anyone else, they've got their clipboard and form, and it says what they want it to say. And sod anyone else.

And then when the brown sticky stuff hits the fan, these faceless people have moved on and someone else is left to pick up the pieces, saying lessons have been learnt and we won't make the same mistakes again. And so on and so on etc etc

 

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