Under plans announced this week by new Transport Secretary Lord Andrew Adonis, the UK is to invest £5 million in encouraging rail passengers to cycle to and from the station.
Looking to the Netherlands for inspiration, the Government will spend the fund on creating bike facilities at 10 major commuter stations. The additions will include greater storage space, with accessibility outside ordinary commuting hours, which is not currently the case in some places, and specialist stores or repair shops on site.
A list of 10 recommended trial stations will be drawn up over the summer, with London expected to feature prominently.
Lord Adonis said: “I am asking my station champions Chris Green and Sir Peter Hall to recommend which stations would benefit most from this funding and the sorts of services that would be of most value, for example potentially including maintenance facilities as well as safe storage. I have asked them to report to me on scheme design before the end of the summer.”
He added: “By enabling people to make the choice to cycle as part of longer public transport journeys we can make a massive difference not only in tackling congestion, promoting rail and protecting the environment, but also in making Britain a much fitter, healthier country.”
In the Netherlands, around a third of all journeys to and from stations are made by bike, whereas the current figure in the UK is just two percent. Lord Adonis, who recently undertook an impromptu cycle tour of London’s stations, thinks the quantity and quality of the facilities available to cyclists is to blame for the low numbers.
Several stations in the capital, including Charing Cross, have no bike racks, and much existing storage is poorly signposted and unsupervised, or open at restricted hours.
“I want to see every major station also serve as a cycling hub, as is the case in Holland,” said Lord Adonis. “Cycling in Holland is not in the genes, it's in the facilities that are available.”
The Transport Secretary has also visited the Dutch city of Leiden, which has a population of 120,000 and secure storage for 4,500 bikes, with plans to increase the provision to 6,000. In contrast, King’s Cross, one of London’s busiest commuter stations, has racks for fewer than 100 cycles.
“It would make cycling much more accessible to rail travellers if there was more storage available,” Lord Adonis said. “I am sure that existing rail travellers would choose to keep a bike at the terminal and use that to get around rather than rely on overcrowded tube trains and buses.”
Post a comment