Your partner for all things cycling related

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Cyclepods in rail Summer2 0 1 4

There has been huge advances in cycle parking infrastructure in the last 4 years fuelled by a growth in the popularity of cycling both as a leisure activity and a commuter option plus bike hire/share schemes. The DfT is expecting more from bidders for the new rail franchises than just an increase in the number of cycle parking spaces. As rail franchises come up for renewal it is clear that cycle-rail integration is high up on the list of franchise commitments expected by the Department for Transport (DfT) as is evident from recent ITTs.

S c o t r a i l F r a n c h i s e I T T :• To promote the benefits of cycling and station cycling facilities…including co-operation with cycle hire

schemes • The Franchisee will be required to put in place plans and proposals to report, record, monitor and

communicate to Transport Scotland the number of bicycles using both train and station facilities.

T h a m e s l i n k , S o u t h e r n & G r e a t N o r t h e r n F r a n c h i s e I T T :• Supporting the broader sustainable transport agenda including encouraging cycling • The Department requires a Franchisee who will improve the door-to-door journey experience and

encourage cycling

E s s e x T h a m e s i d e F r a n c h i s e I T T :• Proposals that support the broader sustainable transport agenda by encouraging cycling

E a s t C o a s t F r a n c h i s e I T T :• Growth in transport integration, including sustainable door-to-door journeys

This has implications for any organisation involved in bidding or operating a rail franchise. Sticking some Sheffield stands in an area of waste ground somewhere within the lease area is no longer an option. A partner is required, not just with relevant experience and a value for money product range, but who constantly delivers innovation and adds value to cycle-rail integration projects.

W e w e r e a p a r t n e r b e h i n d t h e w i n n i n g e n t r i e s i n t h e A T O C N a t i o n a l C y c l e - R a i l a w a r d s :2013 Prize for Innovation Bike & Go Abellio2013 London Cycle Parking Award for Peckham Rye Station2013 Operator of the year Southwest Trains2012 Operator of the year Southern Railway2012 Partnership Working East Midlands Trains

Look no further than Cyclepods. Friendly and amenable, we have the relevant experience having worked in the Rail industry for 4 years and installed some 6,000 cycle parking spaces. We add value by working closely with the client to ensure best fit, we offer an in-house design team, a dedicated project manager

and turn-key solutions.

cycle HubsThere is no such thing as an off the shelf “hub” and what is a “hub” anyway? Our in-house design team can arrange everything from the topographical survey, drawings for planning applications and getting it built. Basically, we offer a turnkey solution. We have worked with Southern Railway to create a cycle hub for Lewes Station. The station is in a conservation area and required liaison with the planning authorities to ensure the hub was in keeping. Site constraints also played a part. It was necessary to keep clear of Network Rail infrastructure, still allow waste disposal lorries to access the site and minimise the number of car parking spaces that were to be used. The result is a bespoke, modular construction which will increase cycle parking at the station to 100 spaces with the loss of just 9 car parking spaces.With our experience we can provide a cost-effective, usable solution which takes into account maintenance obligations to ensure a trouble-free facility during the life of the franchise.

Heathrow Cycle HubThe Heathrow Airport Cycle Hub is dedicated to promote sustainable travel options and support the hundreds of staff at the airport who choose to cycle into work. They required extra cycle storage due to the closure of the access tunnel to cyclists who can now simply park at the cycle hub and take the bus from the adjacent bus-stop to various locations around this massive airport. The Cycle Hub had to provide staff with a high-security, covered cycle storage system and opted for this 122 space two-tier system in a bespoke, opaque-walled building with our specialist key fob entry system, security lighting and CCTV.The key fob system is one of our simple but effective security options. Each member of staff

wishing to use the new system will have their own fob ensuring that access is restricted to staff only. For added security, we also installed CCTV cameras and security lighting so the airport’s cyclists don’t need to worry about storing their bikes for long or short lengths of time at the world’s busiest airport.To add a more personalised touch to the new shelter, we designed the advertising on the hub to match the rest of Heathrow Airport’s Cycle Hub branding.Cyclepods managed the project from the outset, starting with the survey and design of the hub using our in house design team, through to the installation and opening of the hub.

Cycle HireWorking with partners in the Netherlands we provided Abellio with the software required to launch their award-winning Bike&Go hire scheme. The Cycology bike hire scheme (branded by Abellio as “Bike & Go) is an ingenious variation on the bike hire schemes we have seen in cities like London.The Cycology hire scheme aims to integrate with the commuter journey and differs from mass public cycle hire schemes in a number of ways.Mass hire schemes are expensive, both to the user and to the operator. For example, to hire a “Boris” bike for 6 hours costs £35 and £50 for 24 hours! This inevitably directs such schemes to very short term hire or very casual use. In contrast, our Cycology system is low cost to operate and therefore can be delivered at a low cost to the user. For example, a full day’s hire in the Bike & Go scheme costs £3.80. It is this cost structure which supports the Cycology aim of providing an integral service to the commuter, either at the business end of their journey or the home end, or both! The price of £3.80 is very competitive with a bus and far cheaper than car parking. It will also take some strain off car parking facilities. Customers sign up as members via the website and register their credit card details. Annual membership is £10 and they receive a membership card in the post. Each time they wish to hire they simply present their card, either to an automatic key dispenser or a manned terminal.

Bike & Go in its first 10 days recruited 50 members with only 16 stations in operation. Subject to membership recruitment, and the numbers of bikes at each station, we calculate that each bike needs to be rented once or twice per week on average to break-even. This is writing capital costs down over a three year period.

The key, which is unique to each bike, is issued and the details of the hire captured on the Cycology back office system. The customer is encouraged to return the bike to the same location and then the process is simply reversed. At the end of each month the customer’s credit card is debited and an invoice provided, detailing the hires made during the month. Keeping the schemes simple and straightforward to use will attract commuters who don’t want to hang around at the start or end of their working day waiting for a complicated procedure involving telephones and punching in numbers. Simplicity will also encourage leisure travellers who might be put off by long winded instructions or feel that it’s only for regular rail users. For organisations looking to start a hire bike

scheme we are proposing three levels. Each level can stand independently of the other two or can progress organically from one level to the other. We have priced them clearly and simply with no hidden costs just as we believe the schemes should be. Our solutions are already in everyday use, successfully, in the United Kingdom but also in the Netherlands and Belgium too. As the scheme is membership based it would be possible to use an existing card, such as ITSO. The Bike & Go scheme is starting with 10 bikes at each location; the numbers are determined by the operator. The bikes we recommend are Dutch style, with integral locks, and which are very strong and puncture resistant. They can also be stored in regular cycle parking stands.

Intermediate Level:As an alternative to the scanner, an automatic key dispenser can be deployed. These cabinets can both dispense keys and also accept them at the end of a rental. The key cabinets work in the same way as the scanners. The renter offers up the smart card to the reader on the cabinet and a key fob is dispensed. When the rental is over the smart card is offered up to the machine and the fob is accepted back into the machine. The cabinets have proved very useful and successful at the busier stations as regular users can make the transactions quickly, if the staff member is involved with other clients or there is a queue at the booking office window.

Starter Level:Station staff, or possibly retail units or community rail partners, operating at the station can be issued with a hand-held scanner, with which they will scan the membership smart card and then scan the key fob of a bike. This simple action will identify which person is taking which bike and at what time. On the return of the bike, the procedure is reserved and the transaction will be terminated. This is a very low cost way of getting the scheme off the ground

In the NewsSweating in the gym on a stationary machine, looking alternately at the wall and the calorie counter does not really count as riding a bike. So yes, I was a little nervous at the prospect of cycling along busy roads full of people, traffic and cobbles."Have you ever been around a city on a bike before?" I was asked as I met with the project and business managers of Bike & Go, a new national bike hire scheme which launched last week in Liverpool's Central Station. Suffice to say, I hadn't. But within five minutes I was saddled up and experiencing the city from a completely different perspective. It was brilliant."We believe in the whole journey concept. The customer's final destination is not usually at the station itself, so we have provided a means of getting them those last few miles," The Bike & Go scheme, backed by MerseyRail, Greater Anglia and Northern Rail, aims to give rail travellers an additional means of getting from the train station to work, to visit family or friends or to simply explore somewhere new. The UK's first major national bike hire scheme is modelled on a similar concept in the Netherlands called OV-Fiets, with at least one important tweak. The Dutch bikes are single speed, but I was very grateful to have seven gears to get me up and down hilly Liverpool. -Xantha Leatham of the Guardian newspaper

Our EasyLift+ is the next generation in two tier cycle storage. For two tier to be successful both tiers need to be user-friendly. The EasyLift+ is the only two tier whose upper arm reaches all the way to the floor. This means that cyclists do not need to lift their bike to load it on the upper arm. Not all cyclists are of the lycra-clad “urban-guerilla” variety with expensive bikes. Occasional or fair weather cyclists, older cyclists or those with little upper body strength who tend to have older, heavier hand-me-down bikes find this feature really useful especially when they find out that it is

power assisted which means that they don’t have to lift the combined weight of the bike and the upper arm. The EasyLift+ is already a tried and tested product, Netherlands Railways has installed 65,000 EasyLift+ spaces across their network! We have already installed over 4,000 EasyLift+ spaces at railway stations for Southern Railway and Southwest Trains over the last 2 years. We have now installed 330 spaces at London’s Waterloo Station.

Cyclepods installed 192 Easylift+ Two Tier racks and shelters at Chichester Station for Southern Rail; more than doubling their previous storage on the same footprint.

Easylift+ Two Tier Storage

London Waterloo StationCyclepods were contracted by South West Trains on behalf of Network Rail and Transport for London, to provide additional cycle storage facilities at London Waterloo Station, the country’s busiest rail station with over 96 million entries and exits per year. With the massive increase in cycling in London over the past few years, they wanted to provide the most efficient storage solutions available.As the main contractor for this significant project, Cyclepods were responsible for the design, build and installation. We undertook a topographical survey, identified the specification, designed the layout. This ensured a smooth process from conception to completion.The storage solution of choice for Waterloo was our two tier bike racks – the Easylift+ – considering the very limited space available at the station this was the best option to provide the additional secure cycle parking spaces required at the station.We undertook the necessary ground work requirements for the project in one of London’s busiest environments without disrupting the day-to-day running of the country’s busiest transport hub and working with Network Rail lighting and CCTV contractors we delivered a seamless project.

The result is a state-of-the-art cycle parking area which provides the secure and space-efficient cycle storage necessary for commuters, cycling enthusiasts, tourists and the general public, at our capital city’s busiest railway station.

Waterloo Station

330 Easylift+ spaces were installed at London Waterloo Station by Cyclepods for South West Trains, Network Rail and Transport for London.

We took the project from conception to completion.

Our Streetpod was specifically designed for the railway. We wanted to design a product for non-secure environments such as inner-city low-footfall railway stations or a high street environment that would only require one lock to secure the whole bike. The Streetpod went through a rigorous independent testing process to achieve Secured By Design status. The British Transport Police asked us to undertake additional testing to satisfy them with graffiti and fire resistance. We were able to demonstrate that graffiti can be washed off with fairy liquid in warm water and a kitchen sponge and that lighting a fire in the Streetpod using newspaper will burn without any damage to the Streetpod.

75 Streetpods were installed at Tonbridge Station for South Eastern, providing 150 cycle parking spaces

Police Approved Cycle Parking

A Streetpod was installed amongst standard bike racks at East Midlands Trains (EMT) head office to allow EMT to show directors and visiting station staff the product before a trial at stations. Whilst the Streetpod was on trial there was an attempted theft of a bike from the Streetpod which failed but a bike in the Sheffield stands next to it was stolen. This resulted in the cancellation of the trial at some EMT stations and in the purchase of 200 Streetpods during 2010-2011. East Midlands Trains have purchased even more Streetpods for more stations during 2014, confirming their trust in the product.

14 Streetpods at Kettering Station for East Midlands Trains

We have designed a wide range of both single-tier and two tier parking shelters that are robust, stylish and yet functional. Cabling can be run up the legs of the shelters thus avoiding the need for unsightly trunking. Our shelter roofs are designed in such a way that algae, tree sap or rubbish can’t be seen from below and thus avoiding service quality fails or high level maintenance.

Shelters

Traditional SolutionsIt’s important to remember that no one solution fits all. We are therefore also able to provide a complete range of cycle parking solutions for areas which require short-term, temporary or indoor non-public cycle parking. We can supply Sheffield stands, toast racks, vertical and semi-vertical parking and lockers where and when required.

Sheffield stands installed at Selhurst Station

what our customers say:“After using Cyclepods for the first time I was very impressed with their professional wayof working, the installation from the start to completion was seamless.”Paul Best - Project Manager - Southern Rail

“Cyclepods products ideally tackle the issues of providing an stylish space solution that isalso cost-effective and maintenance free.”David Smith - Architect - Patience and Highmore Architects

“The 200 Spacepods are popular with our staff and are well used on a daily basis. Theyare practical, easy to use and their design allows for a number of racks in a limited space.”Kate Pemberton - Workplace Manager - KPMG Head office, London

“We installed the Streetpods at our school a few months ago and they have been reallygreat. We have found them very secure and the overhead cover keeps the bikes dry. Wehave lots of different bikes here - mountain bikes, road bikes and electric bikes and theyhold all of them!”Penny Warren - Cycle champion - St Anns Special Needs School, Merton

“The pods are used regularly by both male and female cyclists who always speak positivelyabout their function. They also provide a great visual message about sustainable travelwithin our organisation and are regular talking point amount the local community.”Fiona Daly - Environmental Manager - St Barts and the London Hospital

“Spacepods are an elegant, environmentally friendly and extremely efficient solution wherespace is limited. We have installed 189 Spacepods at our new London HQ and they areproving extremely popular with staff.”Luke Dodd - Director of Facilities - Guardian News and Media

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