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ATOC surveys rail passengers for cycle hire demand throughout UKHire Bikes at Reading Railway Station © Simon MacMichael.jpg

ATOC surveys rail passengers for cycle hire demand throughout UK

Train operators want to know your views through online survey
by Simon_MacMichael
Fri, Aug 06, 2010 10:59
1

With attention focused on bike hire schemes following London’s launch of its fleet of ‘Boris Bikes’, ATOC, the Association of Train Operating Companies, is conducting a nationwide survey to gauge the levels of interest in hiring bicycles at railway stations throughout the UK.

The survey, which can be found here, requires no registration and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. Questions are focused around how often and for what purpose you use the train, and in particular, how you reach your eventual destination after the end of the train journey, and how much you would be prepared to pay to hire a bike to complete it.

In recent months, ATOC has been compiling case studies and talking to stakeholders about railway station-linked cycle hire schemes, and the survey will allow it to get the views of as many cyclists and rail passengers as possible.
 

Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme
bike hire scheme
Railway Stations
Railway
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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handlebarcam | 13 years ago
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I'd rather they brought back proper guards vans that could take a dozen bikes. Instead, on modern British trains, we get small, badly designed cycle spaces, at best capable of taking three bikes, but are usually full of either luggage or refreshments trolleys. There is a huge potential market for mixed-mode cycling and train commuting. In some places it is worth dedicating entire carriages to bicycles. They could start by giving us the ability to book space for your bicycle online, at the same time as buying a ticket. But with short operating contracts, and shareholder dividends to pay, I'm sure a few token bike hire stations are a better bet for the train operating companies. They could even use them as an excuse to ban bikes from trains all together, and have more space for selling dry sandwiches and instant coffee at hugely inflated prices.

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