Dutch bicycle boxes – Fietshangars
Camden Council is proposing to install secure covered cycle parking (Dutch bicycle boxes – Fietshangars as shown in the photo on the right from Rotterdam) at two locations:
– South Hill Park
– College Place
The management of the unit will be undertaken by the manufacturer. The box holds 5 bicycles and has a secure lock.
On carriageway cycle parking
Camden Council is proposing to install on carriageway cycle parking at the following locations:
– Arlington Road (12 cycles) east side, north of Inverness Street
– Pratt Street (16 cycles) north side close to Camden High Street
– Tavistock Square (16 cycles) east side opposite Connaught Hall
– Kentish Town Road (18 cycles) east side, just south of Patshull Road, outside Job Centre
For each of these sites, the proposal is to install a protecting island at each end of the row of cycle stands
CCC’s response – Fietshangars
I am writing on behalf of Camden Cycling Campaign, the local borough group of London Cycling Campaign (LCC). We have over 600 members and represent the interests of cyclists living or working in the borough of Camden. We consulted our members by email on this issue and this response reflects the views of the membership.
CCC is very pleased to see these two consultations which follow about two years of hard campaigning by Stephen Taylor in South Hill Park and Ursula Collignon in College Place.
When people live in accommodation like that in the northern end of College Place, there really is nowhere for them to store their bikes securely. The front gardens are too small and there is nowhere except in the road. The only alternative being to store the bike inside the flat. The provision of secure storage units instead of a car parking space is an excellent solution. Although this isn’t the first installation in London, it is still a pioneering step and we hope will be followed by more when/where needed.
We have a concern about the cost to the users. We understand that a user will pay more to store a single bike than they would for parking a car. Considering that 6 bikes can fit in a storage unit that occupies less space than a single car, this seems unfair. We all know that the expenses related to CPZs are covered by the fines collected; surely this source of funding should be extended to users of the bike storage units.
CCC’s response – on carriageway parking
I am writing on behalf of Camden Cycling Campaign, the local borough group of London Cycling Campaign (LCC). We have over 600 members and represent the interests of cyclists living or working in the borough of Camden. We consulted our members by email on this issue and this response reflects the views of the membership.
We refer to the proposal to install on carriageway cycle parking at the following locations:
– Arlington Road (12 cycles) east side, north of Inverness Street
– Pratt Street (16 cycles) north side close to Camden High Street
– Tavistock Square (16 cycles) east side opposite Connaught Hall
– Kentish Town Road (18 cycles) east side, just south of Patshull Road, outside Job Centre
We are very supportive of these proposal for the following reasons:
⁃ we believe that road space should be reallocated from motor vehicles to more sustainable modes of transport and that less car parking implies less traffic
⁃ we know that in some locations there is a shortage of footway space and would not like to penalise pedestrians by cluttering the footway in order to obtain cycle parking
⁃ the fact that 5 stands enabling 10 cycles to park is a better use of space than a single car
We note that in the four sites under consideration the line of cycles is closed at both end by a protecting island to reduce the risk of cycles being hit by passing vehicles. This is an essential measure in such schemes.
