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I'm trying to get my employer to provide extra cycle parking at work and need to put forward a good argument. This is what I've come up with so far. If you've got any helpful comments / suggestions etc, I'd appreciate your help.
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Cycle parking spaces
There are currently 22 cycling spaces (10 in the shelter near to the smoking area, 8 in the shelter near to the post room and 6 on posts without shelter protection near to the post room). During the summer months / early autumn 2012, this has been at maximum capacity and occasionally exceeded, causing staff to secure their cycles away from the designated cycle areas.
TFL, who have a workplace cycle parking guide that is highlighted by a number of organisations as being the industry standard / best practice guide, states "A rough guide would be to provide parking for everyone who already cycles to work plus another 50 per cent (over-provision seems to attract cyclists so be prepared to keep an eye on the levels that result). After that, a good rule of thumb is to add another 20 per cent every time occupancy levels reach 80 per cent."
Based upon the TFL guide and the summer time / early autumn 2012 usage, this will mean that 33 spaces are required based upon providing an extra 50 per cent capacity.
Stand spacing
The current stand spacing in the cycle shelters, which was done to maximise capacity, is too tight (between 0.6m and 0.8m). This is not best practice and not recommended by organisations such as TFL, Sustrans, the CTC etc.
TFL state "It is strongly recommended that stands are spaced at least 1,000mm apart and preferably at 1,200mm intervals. Placing them closer together to increase capacity may not always be a sound investment as this makes using them more difficult, especially when the racks are nearly full and a bike has to be threaded into a tight space. Even though stands might often appear to be full with narrower spacing, on closer inspection it will probably be clear that, in many instances, only one side of each stand is used. This may mean that cyclists are unhappy and have gone somewhere else (or don't want to cycle at all because life's too difficult) resulting in much of the investment going to waste. It is suggested that manufacturers of toast-racks who say that they 'always make them like that' (ie closer together) should be ignored. If there is room, spaced-out is always more user-friendly."
The way that people use the cycle shelters mirrors the above TFL statement. Based upon this, it is suggested that a new shelter be installed with the stands installed to best practice and that the existing cycle stands be moved to this design.
References
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/resources/cycleparking/guide/
http://beta.ctc.org.uk/files/cycleparkinfo.pdf
Are you private or public?
It all sounds a bit "You owe me this and you're not providing what you need to provide". When in fact they don't have to do anything.
Have you tried "The current stuff is really appreciated, but is there any chance of some more racks?
Thanks,
P7Pro"?
Link to the TFL stuff as a handy guide, rather than using it as some kind of legally binding document to bash them with.
portlyone - It's a private company. There's @ 1000 people on site.
bails - It has to go through a formal procedure to get funding, which is why I've written the way I have. Otherwise it would simply get thrown out.
bails - It has to go through a formal procedure to get funding, which is why I've written the way I have. Otherwise it would simply get thrown out
Ah righto. Those pesky, bureaucratic, pen-pushing [s]public[/s] private sector organisations 😉
Your local county highways department may have funds to put into it, worth asking.
How many car spaces are there?
I found a useful question to be "How does your corporate 'green/eco policy' allow X car parking spaces but only Y bike spaces?"
(I'm currently trying to persuade a local council-run [i]leisure[/i] centre that they should really provide at least one bike rack in the acres of car park)
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You could add a couple more sections I would have thought, both relating to the benefits to the company of having staff cycle to work. Firstly the health benefits to their staff - healthy worker bees are more efficient, less days off due to illness etc. Secondly, it will improve their image regarding sustainability. Is there car parking on site? Is it tight? Perhaps by encouraging people to cycle this might free up some spaces? You need to tell them why it is of benefit to them.
We petitioned our employer on the basis of reducing our carbon footprint and meeting some ISO standard (can't remmeber what standard it is though).
It worked...but they built something that wasn't fit for purpose and 3 bikes got nicked in the first two weeks...and this is all under the noses of the police who work in the same set of offices as us!
where in the country are you?
enduro-aid - The company is based in Yorkshire.
What's TFL?
Edit: Googles, oh, I'm not in London so have never heard of them.
ok well if its a yorkshire based company then the following document wont actually have any power but i would imagine there is a english equivilent
I work for a scottish local authority in the transport section and the above document is our cycling "bible" as it were its our starting point for all cycling works
its got a pretty big section on parking
i sent one recently after getting crap for parking outwith the designated zones from HSE (a facility wide email asking whos bike it was - to which i replied to all with the facts 😉
just sent a photo of the overloaded bike rack
and said my insurance stipulates that my bike is locked to a secure structure with an approved lock , your provided bike rack is not secure(wasnt bolted to the floor) and neither is it at all possible to use my approved bike lock with it. So i locked my bike to the railings for security.
result . New bike stands with more capacity 😀
[i][b]22[/b] cycling spaces ([b]10[/b] in the shelter near to the smoking area, [b]8[/b] in the shelter near to the post room and [b]6[/b] on posts without shelter protection near to the post room[/i]
I would get the figures right first 😀
Do they provide adequate free car parking spaces ?
If so, buy a cheap van, dump it in the car park and use it as a secure bike store. 😛
I'd try and spin it so it looks like an advantage for the company too.
Often when applying for jobs, under "benefits" you'll see the Cycle To Work scheme mentioned, so clearly employers can be aware this attracts people to the company. This way they'll be able to add "secure cycle storage" to the list too, its certainly something i look for.
Its actively being advertised as a perk for roles in the city...
http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2011/02/the-latest-city-perk-secure-bike-parking.html
Id repeatedly drag it through the office and leave it somewhere near the bosses office.
That will soon get it pushed through sooner id imagine
Blimey. We have 20 spaces for 80 staff.
Some more useful stuff about parking provision/design here:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/resources/cycleparking/standards/city.html
As mattromans and others have said, the benefits to the company are definitely worth emphasising - less demand for car parking spaces (poss. tax saving?), healthier staff, reduced carbon emissions etc. There is good data showing that active employees take fewer sick days - can't remember the source but your HR department will probably have targets about the level of sickness absence and finance will definitely be able to tell you how much it costs the business so spending a few quid on bike racks will be a drop in the ocean by comparison.
It's been mentioned once, but find the Travel Plan Officers in your Local Authority. With funding all but withdrawn from schools, the travel planners are now looking at commercial organisations, and may well have some funding. At the very least they will be able to help you put a case together.
Set up a BUG - Bicycle User Group. Gives a load of you one voice to confront managgement with.
As well as the health benefits (direct saving sick pay) there are productivity gains (oxygen running round the brain king of thing).
There were company tax incentives too for secure storage, changing, washing & drying facilities. Used to be easy to check these on the HMRC web site.
Green travel plan. Eco policy. Breeam? BUG. Promoting health benefit etc.
1m spacing fine between the Sheffied hoops - 1.2m is a bit OTT. 800mm use to be norm but not Breeam compliant.
Have a look at someone like Broxap and put forward a suggestion through a user group such as BUG