However, this £500,000 has been spent on providing cycle parking for only 200 bikes. That's an eye watering £2,500 per cycle parking space. People using this high-quality facility will have to pay £100 or £200 a year to use it. So this is an expensive, executive cycle parking facility that will benefit a few well paid cyclists, like the city council leader, but make very little difference to the number of people cycling in Manchester.
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Update:
A source tells me that by mid December this very expensive facility (which has been extensively marketed) had only attracted 36 members. That would work out at over £10,000 per cycle parking space!
"an expensive, executive cycle parking facility that will benefit a few well paid cyclists"
ReplyDeleteDon't forget it also benefits Bruntwood, the developer who built it. Coincidentally, Bruntwood also happens to provide the chair of the board for CityCo, the quango that directs MCC on development like this across Manchester.
I too cycle to work and park my bike in a secure underground facility in whitwoth street where I work. This is free and at full capacity of about 80 bikes for almost the whole year. Nobody with any sense would pay £100-200 pa to use the city tower hub. Plus to get a space ad-hoc is near impossible too. Badly planned and executed, benifits very few and ticks political boxes. What a waste!!!
ReplyDeleteI just signed up as I am always worried about locking my bike up in Manchester as I often see dosens of wrecked bikes in Manchester each week, I'm far from rich but they offer a basic £1 per visit option (bought in banks of 10), as I only visit once a week I think it may be worth it just to get a locker so I don't have to carry my pannier round with me.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what it's like yet but I'll find out on Saturday.