Train operator First Capital Connect has announced that has teamed up with Hertfordshire County Council to invest more than £200,000 in new cycle parking facilities at 14 stations throughout the county.
Since last autumn, new cycle racks have been installed Hitchin, Hatfield, Knebworth, Welham Green, and Brookmans Park stations, and the programme is due for completion by Easter 2011, as part of the Quality Rail Partnership that the train operator and county council signed last November.
Larry Heyman, FCC’s Integration and Partnership Manager, commented: “More and more people are choosing to cycle rather than drive and, since our franchise started, we have continuously improved our cycle parking facilities to meet demand.
“Cycling is a sustainable, healthy and low cost way of travelling to and from the station. I would like to thank Hertfordshire County Council for their support in funding this major project.”
Councillor Stuart Pile. Hertfordshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highways and Transport, added: "With large volumes of traffic on the roads and pressure on parking facilities across the county, Hertfordshire County Council is keen to see improvements to cycle parking in order to encourage residents to use alternative travel options to get to the stations.
“We are grateful to First Capital Connect for managing the design and implementation of the new cycle parking facilities at so many of their stations across Hertfordshire and hope that it encourages more people to leave their cars at home and cycle."
3 thoughts on “New bike parking facilities installed at stations in Hertfordshire”
Great. There should be
Great. There should be parking like this at every station in the country.
Before anyone gets a positive
Before anyone gets a positive impression of FCC I live in Herts and despite hundreds cycling the facilities fall way short and force many to find railings etc.
And as for running trains they’ve just had the lowest customer satisfaction ratings in the country.
I changed my job and took a pay cut just so I wouldn’t have to use FCC trains and now happily commute by bike.
Leaving a bike in a shelter
Leaving a bike in a shelter like the one in the photograph, at a commuter halt with little or no staff presence, giving the thieves a full day to saw through your lock, is asking for trouble. Building shelters is no substitute for decent provision for taking your bike on the train with you – in other words, proper guards vans. But seeing as guards have been replaced by “revenue protection officers”, and any space on trains not crammed with seats isn’t going to add to what profit the operating company is able to extract for the duration of its brief franchise, I wouldn’t hold my breath.