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@blue_fleet
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.