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Cycle Parking Suggestions

These are the suggestions that the Cambridge Cycling Campaign made to the County Council Transportation Department, in response to a request in the Cambridge Evening News for suggestions.

Before listing our suggestions, we requested that any new parking be in the tried-and-tested form of Sheffield racks. We've found that the "curly" stands used recently in St. Andrews Street only provide a single support/locking point, and are therefore not as satisfactory as the Sheffield type.

We also felt that existing some existing areas of cycle-parking were little-known, and therefore under-used (for example, Corn Exchange Street, under the Lion Yard car park) and so we requested better sign-posting of facilities which are not immediately visible.

In each of the locations listed, we considered shop loading space, drain covers, and whether existing features (such as railings) provided sufficient parking space.

Location	Notes
Castle Street/Kettle's Yard.	Fix rings to the wall along the side passageway.
Christ's Pieces / North-east corner	Add racks at the corner close to the pedestrian crossing across Short Street.
Christ's Pieces / Pike's Walk (by Bus Station Café)	There is a definite need for much more parking here. Can the existing area be extended? Re-examine the existing layout.
Christ's Pieces / Milton's Walk	There is plenty of space on the grassed area along here, although any racks here should probably be well-signposted from either end.
Corn Exchange Street	Add some more to the existing parking, preferably avoiding broken glass from the recycling area.
Gonville Place	On the pavement outside Lloyds Bank. We feel this is the highest priority of all the locations we list. There are two locations, one near the traffic lights, and the larger, less visible, one in an alcove closer to Regents' Terrace.
Gonville Place	By the telephone boxes at the end of Regents' Terrace.
Green Street	Why are there double-yellow lines between the existing V-grips and the Sidney Street junction? Extend the existing area towards Sidney Street, preferably with Sheffield racks.
Green Street / Sidney Street junction	North side of the junction: Add 5 more to the existing racks in front of Sainsburys. (We realise that the smaller-sized paving slabs are there to allow delivery vehicles, and that this precludes the addition of many more racks. South side of the junction. Add racks here, and move the litter bin next to the new racks, to remove obstruction for pedestrians.
Guildhall Street	At the end of the road, outside River Island shop: put, for example, two rows in the street (avoiding the drain cover) Also, two of the existing V-grips against the Guildhall, are currently blocked by the vertical supports of a notice board. This notice board could probably be mounted differently to remove the obstruction.
Guildhall Street	in front of St Georges House - although numbers will be limited by the presence of an emergency exit.
Hills Road	Outside Spencers Stores, at the corner with Glisson Road
Histon Road, Nasreen Dar Supermarket	There is a lot of space on the slabbed area. I know that some of this is used for display of vegetables, etc by the shop, but I think it ought to be possible to add 1 or 2 stands there anyway.
King Street - north side.	There are two blocks of shops which have brick supporting pillars at the front and very little bike-parking space nearby (e.g. Heffers Art shop). Whilst we realise that the area between these pillars might be privately owned, we feel it would be worth pursuing the possibility of adding stands there, or at least fixing lock-rings for bicycles to be locked to. If the space between the brick pillars is privately owned, then stands could be placed in front of the pillars. There is already precedent for this, in that some of the pillars have either rubbish bins, free-standing shop signs or a car-parking signs.
King Street - south side.	In front of Giulio's shop, on raised brick area, or on pavement beside it.
King Street/Malcolm Street	West side of the junction; there is pavement space to add more to the new-style ("curly") stands.
Laundress Green	May need to site on the grass.
Manor Street	East side: The existing row of 8, could be extended virtually all the way to King Street, without blocking the pavement for pedestrians, and there are no entrances to be obscured. (In some parts, the racks would need to be closer to the wall than the current stands, to avoid obstructing the pavement.) West side: There is space under trees for cycle parking.
Mill Lane	For users of the University Centre - More needed
Mill Road	Add to existing ones, wherever possible.
Park Street multi-storey car park	There is an undercover area which looks like it might have been an original entrance/exit for motor vehicles. This is now blocked off by removable (locked) vertical barriers. This area would be ideal for under-cover cycle parking. (We noted that the Friends' Meeting House stands were already full, at a time when neither it nor the Theatre was in use).
Park Street, beside Jesus Green	Add some at the end of the road (for people using Jesus Green, and for the children at the nearby school).
Park Terrace	Either side of Hobbs Pavilion
Peas Hill	Outside the Midland Bank, and in the road opposite the Arts Theatre
Quayside	There are railings which are approx. 18" high, between 3 trees. These railings are used for parking (was that the intention?) but more space is needed. Can a row of Sheffield racks be added, between the trees, in the river side of the present railings?
Regent Street	Remove one car-parking space in layby in front of Lindley's sandwich shop, and replace with cycle parking, or put a few racks on the pavement on the south end.
Regent Terrace, Existing Sheffield racks, by Pizza Hut	Rearrange these, to make two parallel rows, and move the racks slightly close together. There is currently a lot of wasted space.
Senate House passage	Fix metal rings to the wall.
Sidney Street	Add a row outside Boots, whilst still leaving loading space.
St Mary's Hill/Market Hill junction	Add two on the Market-side of the phone boxes. (Cannot add more due to the profusion of drain/utility covers)
St Tibbs Row	Add more under the car park.
Sussex Street	High priority - there is lots of space here.
Trumpington Street	Some needed near Browns
Trumpington Street	On the ledge alongside Corpus Christi college, add some lock-points.
Trumpington Street	Remove one car parking space in front of Ben Haywards, and replace with cycle-parking.
Victoria Road/Stretten Avenue junction	Outside the BlockBuster video shop, there is plenty of pavement space.
Wheeler Street	Opposite the Red Cow pub, in the 90[ring] alcove in the Guildhall.
Windsor Road/Histon Road corner	In front of the Co-op, there are 2 Sheffield stands, with room for more. It looks like the middle one has been removed. Why is this? Can more be added? Outside the pharmacy at the other end of this row of shops, replace the V-grips with Sheffield stands. Outside the Victoria Wine shop, add 2 or 3.

One excellent suggestion we also received was a way to make better use of space outside shops. Most shops quite reasonably request cyclists not to park in against windows, to avoid the risk of broken glass. However, a few shops (such as at the old Tatties (now Sticky Fingers) on Regent Street) have installed metal bars to protect their windows, and they have discovered that it is very beneficial for their cycling customers. There is a natural limitation on the number of bikes left, because people don't lock their own bikes on top of other peoples'. Could this practice be actively encouraged, in places where the pavement is wide enough?