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Over 3,000 cyclists waiting for bike hangar space, as council aims to deliver parking infrastructure "suitable for larger bikes and cargo bikes"

Currently, more than 2,300 people are on the waitlist while 1,000 more have requested for a cycle hangar in their area, meaning the City of Edinburgh Council would need to install around 560 hangars to meet the demands

There are more than 3,300 Edinburgh cyclists waiting to acquire a parking space for their bikes in the form of a cycle hangar, with the council being urged to deliver hangars that are suitable to store non-standard cycles such as cargo bikes and tricycles, to enable people to keep their cycles safe from the weather and thieves.

As of now, there are more than 2,300 people who are on the waiting list for a bicycle hangar in the city, while an additional 1,066 residents have requested a bike hangar to be installed in their area, reports Edinburgh Live, based on a research from Edward Tissiman.

The hangars were first trialled in 2014 as part of the Council’s Secure On-street Cycle Parking project, which began installing 180 hangars in 2020. Each hangar has storage space for six bikes, meaning at least an additional 560 hangars would need to be installed to meet the demand between the waitlist and the requests.

Cyclists are calling for the bike hangars to deal with the scourge of bike theft in the city, with 4,022 bikes reported stolen between January 2020 and December 2022.

There are also signs that the 180 hangars are scattered all over the city, with some more populated residential areas having just one, or even none at all. For instance, there are 130 people on the waitlist for the hangars on St Stephen Street in Stockbridge - which can house just 12 bikes despite the road hosting hundreds of residential flat units. Other hotspots like Dudley Avenue in Leith see 73 residents queueing for their chance at a hangar space.

> NIMBY… Unless I can paint it a nice colour: Petition launched to let locals decorate controversial “giant ugly” bike hangars outside their homes, after storage units branded “a monstrosity”

West End community councillor Paul Hancock pointed out that the neighbourhood lacks this supporting infrastructure despite the massive CCWEL project introducing a two-mile segregated cycle path that travels through the West End.

He said: “You would’ve thought CCWEL bisecting the community would have provided storage for residents, but it didn't. It seems counterintuitive. We have a need for cycle storage because we’re effectively tenement flats. There is no place to store bikes securely.”

In 2022, the West End community council requested the installation of 22 hangars in 17 different West End locations, but Paul claims that hangars were installed in just the one location on Morrison Circus.

Hancock continued: “You can put bikes in the stairs, but they are vulnerable. Hangars are secure. There is an increased move for people to use electric bikes, but they can’t always be carried up the stairs to a flat because they’re too heavy. And if you want to reduce car use, there needs to be more hangars.”

Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: "We are committed to increasing secure on-street cycle parking that is accessible and in convenient locations for our residents.

"Bike storage can be a real issue for Edinburgh residents living in accommodation with little space, such as tenements. Providing secure, well-located cycle parking is essential to encourage more people across the capital to cycle around the city for everyday journeys and exercise.

"We are rolling out cycle hangars as part of our Secure On-street Cycle Parking project, and the next stage of the project will also include non-standard hangars suitable for larger bikes and cargo bikes.

"The scheme is being extended across the city, providing even more support for the increasing numbers of residents we’re seeing who choose to cycle and helping us meet our longer-term goal of being a carbon-neutral city.

"We completed Phase 1 in 2023 which saw 180 hangars installed across the city. Phase 2 is currently underway, which will see another 200 hangars installed. These are being installed in two stages: the first began in summer this year, and the second in 2025. Upon completion, Edinburgh will have the largest network of on-street cycle sheds in the UK outside of London.

"We look forward to seeing this scheme rolled out across the city, making it easier and safer for more people to store their bikes and start cycling in the future. Residents wishing their street to be considered for future phases of the project can email cycle.hangars [at] edinburgh.gov.uk

> Disabled cyclist says she’s being targeted by thieves after having two trikes stolen due to being unable to store them at city’s bike hangars

Just yesterday, it was reported that a disabled cyclist from Edinburgh had two of her adapted tricycles stolen and that now she’s even being targeted by thieves — because her cycles are too big to fit at the city’s bike hangars.

Caroline Barr, who's had a physical disability since she was 13 which limits her mobility, said that she felt like she was "being discounted and that she was not important enough", and urged the City of Edinburgh Council to install accessible bike hangars after having two of her trikes, each costing aroun £2,000 stolen.

Last year, an Edinburgh councillor expressed her disappointment at the city's cycle parking infrastructure, specifically, the "extremely light" bicycle racks that can be "easily unscrewed" and hoisted up in the air, joining other cyclists to warn that these newly installed racks will see an increase in bike thefts in the area and demanded better infrastructure to provide safe parking, however, the council had told road.cc that the parking space "meets design requirements".

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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7 comments

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The_Ewan | 1 week ago
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I wonder whether there's any easy way to find out how many on-street car parking spaces Edinburgh has in total, and if so how that would compare.

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chrisonabike | 2 weeks ago
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Like lots of cities Edinburgh has a massive storage "retrofit" issue if we want more cycling. Luckily (as in almost everything) there are solutions we can reuse which may be better than on- street bike hangars:

https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/home-side-bicycle-parking/

I believe Edinburgh does have some policies now on adding storage to new builds but there are still flats going in (eg. West Craigs) which don't seem to have this. In general how about some national regulations like this:

https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/parking-your-bike-at-home/

(Not holding my breath when we've been - well England has - struggling with the idea of building flats that don't catastrophically catch fire).

Not specifically for longer-term storage but we could usefully be making some large central "cycle-stables" in urban centres:

https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2021/10/20/why-did-utrecht-open-yet-a...

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HLaB replied to chrisonabike | 2 weeks ago
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My old Edinburgh flat (new build 2007) had what I thought was reasonable(vertical so not ideal for all) cycle parking and that was fine for about 6months and my neighbour who worked in a lbs kept a reasonable road bike in it.  I put my Kinesis in it for brief periods of time but it mostly stayed in my 2nd floor flat.  Although it was a pain carting it up stairs I was glad I made the effort when lbs guy's bike 'walked' and there was then a spate of break ins in the other sheds.  I wonder if they've done anything to beef up security  7

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chrisonabike replied to HLaB | 2 weeks ago
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After one of mine (the best one was always in the flat) and several others were nicked nothing happened after we reported this (factoring was done by some large company based elsewhere; mostly there just to collect the money - Edinburgh standard).

Not long after that someone came back and robbed all the sheds in the vicinity.  The factors sprung into action ... and went round and further ripped apart the doors on the sheds, presumably so it was crystal clear that these only provided a way to put your bike somewhere it wouldn't offend people to look at and was in no way secure.

I've been living with all my bikes since (I was very lucky, the stolen one found its way back to me).

As usual with city-wide "initiatives" it's not at all clear that in the plan to build (lots) more houses much if any thought has been given to "providing the amenities for all the extra people" e.g. adding sufficient new cycling access, improving existing cycle tracks (if we have 4 x the people perhaps we need more than a shared use path?), providing easy access to those routes, adding cycle parking (including at destinations for when all the "new" people arrive at e.g. a station) etc.

In defense of the council (possibly) some of this does actually happen.  But there does seem to be a disconnect in general between "strategic" things (e.g. expensive shiny projects that we take around saying "look at us!") and ... walking and cycling (cheaper, smaller, humdrum stuff - but we need lots of it, everywhere).

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bensynnock replied to chrisonabike | 1 week ago
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If it's any help plans to build new houses for over 1000 people near Fareham in Hampshire have prompted a rebuild of the nearby junction of the M27. No reports of extra cycle infrastructure though, but I expect the council has some paint and some small blue signs knocking around.

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Tom_77 replied to bensynnock | 1 week ago
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bensynnock wrote:

If it's any help plans to build new houses for over 1000 people near Fareham in Hampshire have prompted a rebuild of the nearby junction of the M27. No reports of extra cycle infrastructure though, but I expect the council has some paint and some small blue signs knocking around.

The infrastructure inside Welborne Garden Village looks to be good, on paper anyway. There's some mention of upgrading a few of the surrounding footpaths and bridleways, but I'm not convinced it's really sufficient. Last time I tried cycling from Botley to Fareham I got lost on a golf course outside Whiteley, so any improvement would be very welcome.

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Eabhal347 | 2 weeks ago
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Hello road.cc - be aware that much of the original research used in the Edinburgh Live article was conducted by Edward Tissiman, who published his own article here: https://medium.com/p/f12c7adfc08b

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