Thanks to Selina Stewart (@newstreetbikes) for highlighting this problem.
Has anyone used the new bike racks at New Street station yet?
Sure, from the outside the new part of the station looks all glossy but delve a little deeper into the caverns and you will come across the dungeon that has been allocated to house the bike racks.
Dark, gloomy and miserable – not just the bike racks but it seems the outlook for cyclists commuting and generally cycling into Birmingham and parking up at the new New Street station.
Network Rail are of course fighting their corner in this argument. In a recent Birmingham Mail article, they are stating that “Our work at New Street is far from over and, as a result, there are some temporary arrangements in place, including new cycle parking facilities on the new Moor Street link.”
They also claim that cyclists would eventually benefit from “improved lighting, security and accessibility”, but could not say where the cycle racks would be located.
According to their plans, the station will have a total of 160 cycle spaces in 2015.
You would imagine that this would be music to the ears of local cyclists and if you could believe a single word of the corporate “spiel”, then I too, would be jumping for joy.
But like me, other cyclists find it hard to believe we have to put up with locking our bikes in some dingy alleyway for another 2 YEARS.
And don’t just take my word for it – Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, (@LordPhilofBrum) Labour peer and the party’s shadow deputy leader in the House of Lords has weighed in with his opinion. He has branded the cycle racks as a “disgrace”.
So what do you think? Is it fair to put up with these “temporary” measures from Network Rail for 2 years? Have you used the new bike racks? If so, what did you think?
Leave a comment. I have a feeling this subject is far from over…..
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