Here is the letter that Clive Andrews wrote.

Inadequate cycle parking at front of station

Lack of cycle parking at front of station results in overcrowding on pavements as bikes are locked to railings on nearby streets. Cyclists are not aware of parking at inconvenient rear of station.

Parking a bike anywhere in central Brighton is becoming near impossible : I was told off recently for 'fly parking' ie locking my bike to a signpost... Southern should reinstate the parking at the front of the station immediately.

I've experienced this very same problem and will happily add my name to the campaign. The alternative for me was wheeling my bike into the enquiries office - not a good idea on a wet day.

Oh, also - I expect you're aware that Bricycles has been campaigning on this issue: http://www.bricycles.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145913&Itemid=52.

There's a link on that page I didn't know about, which allows you to request cycle parking from the council: http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1170574

"Each request will be considered carefully, taking into account both the suitability of the suggested site - and also which locations offer the greatest benefit to the largest number of people."

If you have no joy, how about dropping Bricycles a line and finding out if they have any more action planned?

When I used to cycle to Brighton station (for my daily commute to London) one of the biggest problems I encountered was that the front of station spaces were clearly being used for permanent bike parking by local residents. Obviously very handy for them and no easy system to implement preventative measures). Old, rusty machines that rarely if ever moved/changed. I used to turn up at 06:40 and would often be faced with having to chain my bike up on the front of station railings because of absence of bike parking. I spoke to the station about this and they said they acknowledged this was so. They said they were doing something about it, like warning/removing obvious non-movers after a certain period, but I never saw any noticeable benefit. I think any cycle parking scheme for station users (not local residents) should consider how they might ensure that it is only usable by station users. Regards, James (commuting from Newhaven now, much nicer and more civilised).

Problem is that Southern fails to manage cycle access & parking. The use blunt diktat of Policing , rather than the market driven options.

1) there is a demand for cycling to catch trains at Brighton station
2) it has a value - conveneince, reliability, cost - savings on £900+/year in car parking.
3) in this market there will be a premium for secure places and convenient roll in and leap on train against fiddling to find a space and lock-up the bike
4) some (around 20% typically) of the bikes are not in daily use (potential hire market as in OV-Fiets model)
5) some passengers pay £800-£1200 for add-on London Zones which would be saved, and big time savings with folding bike or bike hire in London - worth around £4/day for typical commuter spent on bike alternative.
6) managing all cycle parking better will identify dumped bikes and know the users (survey postcode catchment - check on whether bike is dumped or user on holiday)

Following my previous ongoing efforts by email, I have received a reply stating that the previous 80(ish)-place racks posed a security concern, as a device could be placed in the pannier of a parked cycle. I have replied, asking how, if this is really considered a risk, it can be overlooked in plans to install a new forty-place rack later this month.

Surely the same is true with even one bike parked there? It wouldn't ever need to be parked, someone could just leave a bike leant against some railings.

It's not as if having 80 spaces vs 40 reduces the risk - unless some terrorists with more than 40 bike-bombs turned up and then decided to go somewhere else instead as there wasn't enough parking for them...

20 years ago I was pointing out to the management at major rail stations that they needed a common template for wording of 'conditions' for cycle parking on their premises in much the same way they posted detailed conditions for car parking, but even Network Rail with just 19 stations is still failing to co-ordinate a simple, and basic standard poster/sign with the following.

Liability disclaimer - or appropriate theft/damage note
A clear message about not leaving any closed bag or package on parked bicycle (fixed baskets and bags must be left open and visibly empty) - bags left on bikes may be treated as suspect packages. (I have tut tutted with BT Police officers on high risk stations which don't have this instruction displayed and have many bikes with closed bags parked.
A clear detail on the length of time a bike may be left without obvious regular use, and the action with will be taken on bikes so identified (best way is to wrap a parcel label around the tyre - if the bike is used the label comes off)
A clear procedure for bikes which are parked in the wrong place - clamping and a release fee is first resort - cutting a padlock without first warning you that your property is being destroyed is criminal damage, Scotrail staff wrote off a £300 bike which 'offended' their parking 'rules', when locked to a rail outside the station (possibly not even on their premises), whilst the owner was in the station bar waiting for a later train - he originally thought the bike had been stolen and it took many enquiries to find out who had 'removed' the bike with unreasonable force
A process for dealing with bikes which are removed - generally these should be treated as lost property, and the contact details/process should be posted for the benefit of anyone returning to find a bike missing

And for a station like Brighton a simple and basic option of registering every regular user's bike, which brings in a huge raft of useful options - regular users get a secured area, there is a postcode review of where cyclists are riding from (and possibly how often - some may be prime candidates for a bike hire option), bikes left for a long period could be checked by contacting the owner, bikes damaged or causing a problem can be dealt with by an initial call to the owner etc.

Bags are important In 72 years we have had only 4 declared bike bombs on the UK mainland, all involved a device carried on the bike - not the bike itself (although it is possible to make a bike into a bomb, but the technology, skilled personnel and materials required for this make it a poor value for money, and more readily detected, compared to crude use of industrial chemicals by low skilled and expendable operatives, operating from any type of premises). John Adams did a very good paper on this as a study on risk earlier this year.

Southern display a lack of competence or diligence in the regular patrolling they will be doing at a 'sensitive' site like Brighton if they have not developed a protocol to deal with bags left on parked bicycles, other than by banning the parking of bicycles.

In terms of hazard reduction as well this is a 'fail' - with perhaps 60-80% of cycle traffic arriving at Brighton Station via the porte cochere at the head of Queen Street the hazard is the flow of cycles through a busy concourse being pushed by the riders, and often in a hurry to get parked and then return for a train, repeating this in the evenings by cutting through the returning crowds with their bikes on the way home. A seminal study by TRL with many thousands of hours studying the use of cycles in pedestrian areas noted that riding the bike was actually less likely to create the conditions for a collision than pushing it - they recorded only one cycle-pedestrian collision between an adult cyclist and a child with a note on the unpredictable factors in this event.

The detail of capacity to move the large volumes of people through Brighton Station is equally significant at peak times when peak demand to park bikes also occurs. The most efficient way to move traffic is a homogenous single mode with roughly similar performance - thus you will shift more trains if the fast non-stop ones can run on separate tracks without having to fit in with slow stopping trains, and ideally like a metro system, all the trains run to the same pattern. So to shift large volumes of commuters it helps to provide fast high volume walking capacity for people with minimal luggage walking at 4mph or faster, and for cyclists the separation of a parked bike from the rider before they go into the scrum on the concourse is a benchmark model its is being delivered this way at Waterloo, and York and a few other stations, It could work brilliantly at Brighton - either from the porte cochere, or the vast unused roadway under the boarding on Platform 7-8, which can be entered from Trafalgar Street - a route which conveniently offers a cycle route connection from the East side of Brighton, and an unused part of the station which could potentially generate a small revenue from providing some of the parking to subscribers offered higher security, and a direct bike to train route, without having to go outside and 'upstairs' round the streets. This was considered in outline for the Adonis-inspired plan for cycle facilities at Brighton
but has failed as Jaime Lerner knowingly points out the lack of a feature of successful projects - if you want to get it done - do it now

PS Southern has an annual stakeholder conference on Monday in Gatwick - any further background folks might wish to contribute?

Another Jaime Lerner quote. If you want to deliver value for money knock a zero off the available budget, if you want to see real innovation knock two zeros of the available budget.

To which I might add to see real creativity do it with no cash available at all!

I received the following reply from Southern, adressing my query:

Dear Mr Andrews Thank you for your email of the 31 August 2011. We are now able to advise that funding has been secured to redevelop Brighton station so this will be an opportunity to fundamentally review how the station can be used to best effect for all users. Looking specifically at the very valid point you raise regarding the new racks vs old racks in relation to security, as part of our agreed security process with Transec, Station Staff carry out regular security sweeps of all station areas. By scaling back the number of racks in the vicinity of the station entrance and consolidating them, this does ease the task of carrying out checks effectively as the new racks are going to be doubled up there is less of a surface area to check. I would like to point out that the new racks are temporary and subject to ongoing review as part of the redevelopment works at Brighton. If you have any further queries or requests please go to our web-site at southernrailway.com. Alternatively, you can ring our customer service team on 08451 27 29 20, where one of our colleagues will be more than happy to assist and support you in any way we can. Yours sincerely, Customer Service Manager

Key point seems to be: "We are now able to advise that funding has been secured to redevelop Brighton station so this will be an opportunity to fundamentally review how the station can be used to best effect for all users.". Sounds interesting.

The new racks have been installed. 40 spaces on a double-decker rack, virtually hidden from most passengers' view, and reached via a less-than-obvious route behind some fencing and some police vehicles. With no signs pointing out the new concealed facilities, it's no real surprise that the bulk of Brighton station's cycle parking still takes place around the railing and lampposts of Queen's Road.

Whereabouts are they, Clive?

Ah - just seen the photo - near the ladies' loos? Better than it could have been, for sure.

The racks are regularly filling with bikes, but of course, which such a meagre number of spaces, weather-beaten bikes are still cluttering the railings and posts near the station.

I still don't understand the positioning of the new racks. Their position means cyclists must ride through the taxi queueing system I can only describe as a scrum. Taxi drivers (perhaps understandably) aren't used to sharing this space with cyclists. Last time I rode through this area, I witnessed two near-misses - one of which involving me.

And *still* no straight answer from Southern about why the old space needed to be cleared. Perhaps they have plans for retail units, but don't want to admit to it?

I have heard, through email, of Southern's view that their new arrangements are satisfactory. It seems we differ on this, so I am not anticipating this problem being resolved as I would like.

I wish Southern were being more open about their plans and intentions for the area at the front of Brighton station.

It seems now that Southern is using the area formerly occupied by bike parking for various food retail concessions. While I have no objection to this in itself, why were Southern not straight with us if this was the reason behind the bike rack removal?

Meanwhile, the new, much smaller, multi-storey rack by the police station is almost permanently full...