St Albans City beats every station in the country for number of bike rack spaces
St Albans (PRWEB UK) 26 July 2013 -- First Capital Connect (FCC) is delighted to announce that St Albans City railway station has more cycle parking spaces than any other station in the UK – even those in large cities such as Cambridge and Birmingham.
The recent installation of covered two-tier racks in the Ridgmont Road car park of the station has taken the total number of places to park bicycles to 1,150.
This has almost tripled capacity at the station compared to when FCC took over the Thameslink franchise in 2006. St Albans is one of FCC’s key commuter stations on the Bedford to Brighton Thameslink route.
Across the network, FCC has increased the number of bicycle parking spaces since 2006 by 111.3%, from 2,110 to 4,458. New racks allow cyclists to securely lock their bike around its frame and many spaces are now also covered by CCTV.
FCC’s Integration and Partnership Manager Larry Heyman has been particularly successful in securing £1.5m of funding during the franchise from local authorities and the Department for Transport to supplement FCC’s own investment.
Larry said: “With more and more people choosing to cycle to the station to get to work, we are working hard to keep up with the growth and provide our customers with enough spaces to securely lock up their bikes.
“We hope that this will encourage even more people to do the same!”
Keith Jipps, Customer Service Director for First Capital Connect said: “We’re really proud of what we have done to promote cycling – and to have more cycle spaces at St Albans than any other in the country – including major stations like Birmingham New Street and Cambridge – is a real achievement.
“The railway is the greenest form of public transport so it makes perfect sense to encourage more of our passengers to travel to our station in an environmentally friendly way – one that reduces congestion and pollution in our communities.”
Dave Holladay, CTC, the national cycling charity’s public transport spokesman said: “There is a good working relationship between First Capital Connect and local cyclists, which has seen steady growth in provision for cycle parking.
“The steady and impressive growth over just a few years has delivered this nice surprise of being able to point out to First Capital Connect that they run the first UK station to have 1000 cycle parking spaces. At St Albans cycling has proved especially popular, as journeys to the station by bike can avoid the traffic congestion and get to the station by more direct and faster routes.
“Many also save money by no longer needing a car for this trip, and releasing car parking space for others to use. The facilities are further enhanced by the regular attendance of a 'pop-up' bike servicing hub at the station.”
In 2012 St Albans City station was highly commended in the National Cycle Rail Awards “station of the year” category. FCC has also funded free high security bicycle locks and security marking kits that British Transport Police have been using to educate cyclists in the proper was to securely leave their bikes.
FCC’s commitment to cycling also sees it regularly sponsor local charity cycling events, including the Rotary Clubs of St Albans cycle ride that raised £14,000 for charities.
ends
Notes to editors
First Capital Connect (FCC) operates trains from London to Bedford, Brighton, Wimbledon and Sutton on the Thameslink route and Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn on the Great Northern route.
It manages 73 stations and approximately 180,000 people travel with FCC every weekday – 95,000 on the Thameslink route and 85,000 on the Great Northern route.
St Albans City station is one of the busiest on the Bedford to Brighton Thameslink route with over 6.5million passengers passing through its gates every year.
Roger Perkins, First Capital Connect, http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk, 0845 4700 789, [email protected]
Share this article