A few "Parking your bike in Stations" questions..

bAzTNM · 2 Aug 2011

Right, we might as well get down to it..

1. Does anybody know Bridgeton Railway Station in Glasgow? I see that it has three cycle parking things right next to an always staffed ticket kiosk. Has anybody ever used it? Is it safe to put a bike there for a few hours?

2. How long can you park a cycle in a station? Is there a set time? Do you even need to pay to park your bike?

3. Any bad experiences with cycle parking in stations?

ADDED: 4. See if your bike gets knicked in a staffed station? Would the station be to blame and would you get compensation?

Thanks very much for reading my poor grammar!

RailUK Forums

MCR247 · 2 Aug 2011

2. You don't have to pay AFAIK
3. Never done it
4. No, you leave it at you're own responsibility

Yew · 2 Aug 2011

Its probably reasonably safe, Near a staffed kiosk. However It takes a matter of seconds to steal most bikes with a cable lock. (I know, I locked my bike to a lampost and then the lock died on me. Some bolt cutters went through it like it wasnt there. This was a cable lock)

EM2 · 2 Aug 2011

bAzTNM said:
3. Any bad experiences with cycle parking in stations?

Just make sure it *is* locked into one of the racks and not just a handy lampost/railing. If it's not in a place designated for bike parking, they may well remove it and you'll have to pay to get it back.

bAzTNM · 2 Aug 2011

Yeah, forgot to show you a picture of the parking facilities. Sorry for the big image. Taken from the National Rail site..

Mojo · 2 Aug 2011

I'd say it all depends on local knowledge. If you use the station regularly and there are rarely bikes parked there then you may want to avoid it.

Ticket Man · 2 Aug 2011

I remember last year that there was a gang who used to target bikes along the kings x/st panc/euston strip.

When they were finally apprehended, bike theft in the area fell something stupid like 98% in the first week.

ATW Alex 101 · 2 Aug 2011

bAzTNM said:
Right, we might as well get down to it..

1. Does anybody know Bridgeton Railway Station in Glasgow? I see that it has three cycle parking things right next to an always staffed ticket kiosk. Has anybody ever used it? Is it safe to put a bike there for a few hours?

2. How long can you park a cycle in a station? Is there a set time? Do you even need to pay to park your bike?

3. Any bad experiences with cycle parking in stations?

ADDED: 4. See if your bike gets knicked in a staffed station? Would the station be to blame and would you get compensation?

Thanks very much for reading my poor grammar!

1.I dont know the station but you shouldnt have to pay and is probably safe
2.No set time but if its something silly like a month it will get removed
3.I rode down to capenhurst the first day the new cycle parking facilities opened and I locked my bike with a cast iron "u" lock to the frame and to the thingy and I put a cable lock to the front wheel and the "thingy"(dont know the name of it sorry) and it was resting on the floor. I got back and someone drove a spade through it and cut it in half but they couldent get the u lock off so they let my tyres down.

90019 · 3 Aug 2011

MCR247 said:
4. No, you leave it at you're own responsibility

IIRC, they still have a duty of care whe you leave it on their property.

Yew said:
However It takes a matter of seconds to steal most bikes with a cable lock.

If you want to lock your bike securely, use a D lock. No cable locks, regardless of how good they claim to be, are secure to the same standard as a good D lock.

spacehopper · 3 Aug 2011

^^^^^^

Tut tut.

Hmm left with panniers and a bag on the front.

LexyBoy · 3 Aug 2011

I can't imagine a few hours in view of the ticket office would be a problem at all.

It's not Glasgow by any stretch, but I've been leaving my bike overnight at Didcot station for 2 years and it's not been nicked. At one point it had been chained up for 8 months straight without moving (I think I removed an 'abandoned bicycle' note from it once, but that was all). The cycle parking facilities at Didcot are quite secluded and not overlooked at all (except from part of platform 1). There are notices stating that "The British Railways board do not undertake to provide secure cycle parking facilities" so it's at your own risk.

I did have my back light nicked once, but then I did leave it on overnight so can't really complain

Of course, it does depend on how knackered your bike is

brianthegiant · 3 Aug 2011

90019 said:
If you want to lock your bike securely, use a D lock. No cable locks, regardless of how good they claim to be, are secure to the same standard as a good D lock.

as a rough rule of thumb maybe, but there are some lousy D-Locks out there and some good cable locks, both types have specific vulnerabilities, (which I'm not going into on a public forum)...

As a rule of thumb I would buy a lock for 10-20% the value of the cycle, (for my (pride & glory) touring bike thats an Oxford motorbike lock for some trips...)

But yes choice of parking spot is also important, I always look for somewhere well lit, plenty of people passing by & ideally in range of CCTV.

Also a specific tip for bazTM - If facilities could be improved, I would recommend joining your local cycle campaign :
Go Bike! Strathclyde Cycle Campaign http://gobike.org/
the more people join the campaign the bigger the voice,

Hope this helps, Brian

90019 · 3 Aug 2011

brianthegiant said:
as a rough rule of thumb maybe, but there are some lousy D-Locks out there and some good cable locks, both types have specific vulnerabilities, (which I'm not going into on a public forum)...

Yes, a lousy D lock will not be as good as a decent cable lock, but a good cable lock will still not be as good as a decent D lock.

185 · 3 Aug 2011

An example of the disgrace of Network Rail Major (Fail) Stations.....

TOC staff from 4 companies were leaving bikes in the secure area of a major station.

Were'nt obstructing anything, was next to some waste bins in a fenced off area, where they'd been left for 6 years.

Network Rail stated there was now a security risk of a bomb being placed inside the frames.

Staff cyclists were ushered outside onto a public cycle lockup area. 21 cycles were pinched from staff in 18 months.

Numerous trains cancelled while staff were dealing with thefts.

In the meantime, while concentrating on these exploding cycles, they managed to overlook a major fault in which all the automated door locks underneath the station had failed, locking numerous members of catering staff inside for hours.

Seacook · 3 Aug 2011

Not entirely on topic, but am I alone in seeing the title of this thread and thinking it must be a euphemism of some sort?

tripleseis · 3 Aug 2011

If only we had properly manned cycle parking like they have in the low countries. You should see the multi-story one they have in Amsterdam and the huge one underneath Brugge station!

OuterDistant · 3 Aug 2011

Seacook said:
Not entirely on topic, but am I alone in seeing the title of this thread and thinking it must be a euphemism of some sort?

brompton rail · 3 Aug 2011

tripleseis said:
If only we had properly manned cycle parking like they have in the low countries. You should see the multi-story one they have in Amsterdam and the huge one underneath Brugge station!

Ah!, but we do! Leeds Cycle Point at the very front of the station offers secure cycle parking, inside a purpose built building. Evans Cycles run the concession and there is a small fee for parking. Cycle Hire and Cycle Repars are available as well as a cycle shop. A joint venture involving Northern, Network Rail, Metro, Leeds CC and others, but the scheme originated with NedRail (now Abellio) ... Which is probably why it is so good!

Mojo · 4 Aug 2011

There are also similar facilities by Finsbury Park and London Bridge stations.

Can anyone advise on the availability and security of facilities at Manchester Piccadilly station? The NR website says the area, but I'm not sure where this is. Is it secure and is there anywhere better nearby?

MidnightFlyer · 4 Aug 2011

Mojo said:
There are also similar facilities by Finsbury Park and London Bridge stations.

Can anyone advise on the availability and security of facilities at Manchester Piccadilly station? The NR website says the area, but I'm not sure where this is. Is it secure and is there anywhere better nearby?

See here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/MAN/images/photos/800/o2459-0000481.jpg

It's outside the main entrance (in front of where WH Smith is). I'll let you judge its safety.

Mojo · 4 Aug 2011

Cripes. That looks appalling. Can anyone advise anywhere better in the city centre?

MidnightFlyer · 4 Aug 2011

Mojo said:
Cripes. That looks appalling. Can anyone advise anywhere better in the city centre?

AFAIK that is the Fairfield St entrance. NRE says that they are also available on the station approach and at the entrance from the lomg-stay car prak. Where they are, I don't know, it's quite poor when the text and pictures don't corralate.

Lawman · 4 Aug 2011

Good luck in leaving your cycle at Bridgeton.You could have the best padlock known to mankind,an electric fence round it,a guard dog present and lazer beams..........the would be bike thief would simply steal the actual rack that holds the cycle.................2 days later......in local paper....cycle for sale

nedchester · 4 Aug 2011

156414 said:
3.I rode down to capenhurst the first day the new cycle parking facilities opened and I locked my bike with a cast iron "u" lock to the frame and to the thingy and I put a cable lock to the front wheel and the "thingy"(dont know the name of it sorry) and it was resting on the floor. I got back and someone drove a spade through it and cut it in half but they couldent get the u lock off so they let my tyres down.

Capenhurst is my local station and I always take my bike on the train (got a 4 mile ride at the other end!). However, it does seem that quite a few do use the bike facilities there. Just make sure that you use the ones visible by the CCTV.

185 · 4 Aug 2011

MattE2010 said:
See here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/MAN/images/photos/800/o2459-0000481.jpg

It's outside the main entrance (in front of where WH Smith is). I'll let you judge its safety.

Network Rail Major Screwups are a disgrace at Piccadilly. There are three facilities on the station, but many TOC staff had their bikes nicked from that actual rack.

Most disturbingly, those are the doors to BT Police's nick, just at the rear of the photographs. Many of the remains of stolen or vandalised bikes are still attached to those racks.

rosscbrown · 5 Aug 2011

On point 4 - check your bicycle insurance. I think mine limits the time I can leave my bike at mainline stations to 24 or 48 hours.

thelem · 5 Aug 2011

OK, I'll feed the troll.

185 said:
TOC staff were leaving bikes in the secure area of a major station, where they'd been left for 6 years. Network Rail stated there was now a security risk, Staff cyclists were ushered outside onto a public cycle lockup area. 21 cycles were pinched from staff in 18 months.

Surely the problem there is security for the public cycle lockup area, rather than that there is no longer a staff cycle park? Did it have good lighting and CCTV?

Numerous trains cancelled while staff were dealing with thefts.

Why? A stolen bike would not be a good enough reason for one of my staff members to miss work if it was going to have an impact on customers, so I doubt absence was causing the issue, and if it is on duty station staff being distracted then surely the TOC should be correcting their priorities?

In the meantime, while concentrating on these exploding cycles, they managed to overlook a major fault in which all the automated door locks underneath the station had failed, locking numerous members of catering staff inside for hours.

Are you trying to say that this problem would have been spotted and avoided if there was still a staff cycle park? I very much doubt that! Seems a totally irrelevant comment to the issue being discussed.

DaveNewcastle · 5 Aug 2011

Sorry, but I'm going to fail to fuel any of this anxiety about bike theft.

I have never had my stolen from a railway station or anywhere nearby.
I've been cycling for decades.
I deliberately don't worry about such things - anxieties like that won't take me anywhere useful.
My bike is cheap and I guess thieves don't find it appealing (though it seems to go faster than the majority of bikes and I'm probs less fit than the average person. My bike simply doesn't go slow enough to remain behind a 'Boris Bike').
I lock it up at lots of stations and on cycle racks in arbitrary locations (and failing that, to lamposts or railings).
There's a grotty little bit of old plastic bag draped behind the saddle. This a) keeps rear-wheel rain-spray off my back when the road is wet, and b) makes the bike look very very cheap. (It really isn't that bad!).
I really don't care about anyone thieving the bike. It hasn't happened to me in almost half a century and I could suggest more serious matters which we should be getting ourselves worried about. Bike theft just isn't an issue for me - though I take it on most train journeys.

But I do have one (maybe two) cautions about bicycle parking in stations. If you use the 'two tiered' or 'double decker' racks which (so far) I've only used in Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley, then there is a very real risk that while you grapple with your lock or whatever on your bike, if its on the lower level, then, when you're finished doing whatever it was, you might stand up. In fact I'm sure you will.
Your head will now have hit the upper level at some speed and the back of your head will be in pain.
The second gripe applies only if a kind forum member lets you share thier combination lock with their own bike and, having given you the key code number while they reman in a comfy restaurant, you find that the slight 'jiggle' required to release it takes you so long that you reach the point where you are tempted to abandon the bike and catch your train home without it.
(That member knows who he is! BTW. Thank you!)

185 · 5 Aug 2011

thelem said:
OK, I'll feed the troll.

You'll feed yourself?

Being £1000 out of pocket thanks to NR and knowing many, many others who were in the same boat, isn't nice. Fair to point out that one member of staff had to be taxied to & from his home address, resulting in a lot of disruption. When a weeks wages are effectively pinched from a member of staff, he/she is in no hurry to return to work. I was late for a night shift once, after being told by the cleaners that mine had been nicked.

The new designated staff cycle 'lock-up' was in the poorly lit undercroft beneath plat 1&2, seriously flooded, covered in rats and was subject to a multiple theft where five bikes went (in one theft), after the main door lock was smashed off.

All this is a result of people that have'nt got a clue about how a working railway should be run, and providing something as simple as a room with a lock is beyond them.

The point at the end, which user:thelem misses completely, highlights how NR spent all their time fixated on 'illegally parked' (potentially exploding) bicycles, citing security, when something as serious as members staff trapped inside a fire risk area was ovelooked.

brianthegiant · 6 Aug 2011

DaveNewcastle said:
Sorry, but I'm going to fail to fuel any of this anxiety about bike theft.

Dave does have a point here, I too have never had a bike nicked from a station or anywhere else in the past 20 years, & dont tend to worry too much,
I put my luck down to a combination of good lock & having oldish looking road bikes that dont look appealling to steal...

Nonetheless with cycle space on trains being over subscribed on many services, I think it would be in TOCs best interest to provide better cycle parking facilities at stations to encourage more cyclists to leave bikes at stations. obviously with lighting/cctv, but also covered bikes racks so bikes dont go rusty.

A few "Parking your bike in Stations" questions..

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