Bike hangers, bike parking for residents, councils, ....how bored am I right now?

I'm a Lambeth resident and have just had a questionnaire through the door from the council about proposals to build some Cyclehoop bike hangers in our road, these ones:

http://www.cyclehoop.com/product/bike-lockers/bike-hangar/

Security wise there is no mention of any secure standards like the gold/silver standards of bike locks, and from the above link 'its galvanized mild steel construction with a gas sprung door and perforated side panels offer a safe and effective way to protect bikes from tough weather conditions and vandalism' is not exactly convincing me they are anything but rain covers, let alone giving the impression they are safe to put a nice bike in. Also I am sure I recall hearing, maybe even on here but I can't find any links, that there have already been cases of these hangers being broken into, anyone have any details on this?

Also the letter states the hangers open onto the road. All the ones I've seen so far open onto the pavement, and in fact the pictures on the top of the questionnaire all open onto the pavement too. I hope this is a typo, but if not it seems a bit of a safety risk to have access only on the road side.

In terms of costs Lambeth are proposing one bicycle parking space costs, and I quote '£42 per year with a £25 refundable key deposit. The £42 charge pays for the inital set up and key ditribution as well as maintenance and support for the whole year'

Each hanger has 6 bike spaces and they are proposing 3 hangers for my road. How many keys are they likely to issue for each hanger do you think? Will my key only fit one hanger or will I have access to the others on the street. The more keys are given out for each hanger the less secure they are and also, assuming they give out more than 6 keys I may not even be guaranteed a space. And I have 4 bikes, so whats to stop me paying for one bike space but keeping my other 4 bikes in there. How can the council stop me doing this? Will I be expected to supply details of my bikes to the council? Would I trust the council to keep this information safe and secure? No.

I've sent these questions to the guy running the questionnaire so we'll see what the official response is.

I did do a search and there were various security threads but nothing specifically on council provided bike parking for residents, pretty niche huh, I know nothing can stop the merge-a-tron so I will bow to his power.

Is your council doing anything similar and what are your thoughts on these? Compare and contast. As it stands I can't see me being happy to leave my bikes in them, and I'm currently carrying bikes up 3 flights of stairs every day which I would'nt miss at all.

One point with these hangars is they're very expensive to use, compared with parking cars on the road.

Not sure about Lambeth - but my borough tends to charge about 100 a year for a residents' parking permit. Or nothing at all for zero-emission vehicles..

You can fit 2 hangars in one parking spot - so that's 504 a year the cyclists are paying for that spot.

If councils want to encourage cycling (as with other zero-emission transport), they will need to make the price of using these parking spaces a little fairer, compared to the prices motorists are paying... (which are hugely subsidised, if you look at the commercial market for parking spaces in these areas)

Good point. Just checked and apart from the tiny/zero emissions vehicles which are free, the Lambeth permit scheme is based on car emissions/engine size and seems to range from £117 to £260 per annum.

Lewisham are also emailing residents asking for nominations for locations for these.
Obvs I asked for one outside my house.

Sounds like progress that any car space is being turned over to bike parking. Would be keen to see some of them up here in islington. Has anyone got one? Any feedback?

Thought I'd bump this thread as a bike hangar has shown up around the corner from my place - no warning from the council so I've probably already missed out on a space. Any opinions on how secure they are?

What do they do about people pissing on them, graffiti all over the outside, vandalism and things like them getting set on fire? This all happens to bus stops and I can't help feeling that while your bike might not get stolen, it's pretty vulnerable inside one of these.

There's a similar kind of lock-up cage scheme at Teddington station, a really big one. On the station it doesn't seem to attract much vandalism. That said; a) it's Teddington and b) I had a really good point but I forgot what it is. I'll have to come back later when I remember, damnit.

What do they do about people pissing on them, graffiti all over the outside, vandalism and things like them getting set on fire? This all happens to bus stops and I can't help feeling that while your bike might not get stolen, it's pretty vulnerable inside one of these.

All of these may well happen on occasion, but the only occurrence I've ever heard of was when the one in my street was graffitied on. It was cleaned off by the Council a couple of days later and while the small traces of white paint left are enough for you to tell that it happened if you know that it happened, it's a clean enough job that most people would never spot it.

Most of the bread bins are in quiet residential streets and not in the kind of busier (no pun intended) locations where bus stops typically are--and where people get bored/are drunk/despair of their existence.

I've still not heard of a single instance of people breaking into one of them. There have been plenty of break-ins into the kind of private storage bin/shed that many people have put into their front gardens, but not with the public kind.

There's a few in LBWF. I haven't heard of any people pissing on them or drawing spaffing cocks.

Thanks all, I'll apply for a space - though it looks like it is full already.

I'm looking into having one installed outside my work place in Peckham, now that my bike's been squished by the boss's dozy brother in his car (he was in a strop for a day and took three to apologise) and then banned from the premises due to it being a hazard (ffs!)

My suggestion that it will most likely get stolen if left outside the nearest stands by the Jobcentre all day, however good my locks are, was scoffed at. Then I was asked why I couldn't walk or bus to work or "just give it a go leaving it outside". Sure, I could if they buy me a new bike - but it's the principle!!! >>>> rant thread

Sorry to hear that. Did you have it on the nearby Sheffields? Or does the lock-up at the back belong to the shop?

No scope for installing one on the high street or in the little side street. The only space I can see appears to belong to an estate? If they're on board it should be possible, but without them I'd say it's nearly impossible to get anything in there. :(

I've never heard of a hangar not exclusively reserved for residents

Or were you thinking about another location that I've missed?

I've still not heard of a single instance of people breaking into one of them.

Here's your first, not sure if there are more. I've been on the waiting list for an empty one near my house for a few weeks so was checking whether that's common on Twitter, the complainer's paradise. Looks like they're not as secure as made out.

Having said that, they certainly offer more protection than a cycle hoop on a busy junction in a crime hotspot.

The ones in Hampstead are always empty - you should move there.

Will it make them reply sooner? The one nearest my house is also empty.

The one near my house (not in London) has already been the focus of a lot of barely-suppressed middle class rage - apparently there's a waiting list and it's mostly cluttered up with kid's bikes and stuff that never turns a wheel. We're talking allotment-level bitterness here

I must admit that the bike I have in the bike hanger on my street is my spare one which doesn't get a huge amount of use.

Turns out Cyclehoop are just naff at replying to applications. Called them up and had it all sorted on the same day.