School bicycle shed crammed with bikes.

A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

Anyway, at first only a couple of bikes were placed there over several
days and I thought, " Oh yes they are continuing to be dropped off by
the school run as usual". How wrong was I? Passing the same school
today I saw that the large shed was literally crammed full of bikes.
Sadly though the teachers' car park was also crammed full, as usual.
Not a good example to set those young and eager cyclists who will no
doubt migrate to cars at the earliest opportunity when they are old
enough, to then cram our roads full as well.

Doug.

"Doug" wrote in message
...
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

Anyway, at first only a couple of bikes were placed there over several
days and I thought, " Oh yes they are continuing to be dropped off by
the school run as usual". How wrong was I? Passing the same school
today I saw that the large shed was literally crammed full of bikes.
Sadly though the teachers' car park was also crammed full, as usual.
Not a good example to set those young and eager cyclists who will no
doubt migrate to cars at the earliest opportunity when they are old
enough, to then cram our roads full as well.

At our local secondary school, there were a lot of complaints that there was
nowhere for pupils and staff to store their bikes. As part of a recent
re-furb, some bike storage racks were installed. Now the storage racks are
full.

On Oct 6, 3:02*pm, Doug wrote:
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

Anyway, at first only a couple of bikes were placed there over several
days and I thought, " Oh yes they are continuing to be dropped off by
the school run as usual". How wrong was I? Passing the same school
today I saw that the large shed was literally crammed full of bikes.
Sadly though the teachers' car park was also crammed full, as usual.
Not a good example to set those young and eager cyclists who will no
doubt migrate to cars at the earliest opportunity when they are old
enough, to then cram our roads full as well.

Let's hope that this and other schools don't go about imposng such
ridiculous 'elf'n'safety requirements around those who want to cycle
to school that it scuppers the demand (as has happened in some places
in the past).

As for the teachers, remember for them it's just a place of work, and
they are no different from any other person going to work somewhere.
Hopefully a good portion of the pupils at the school live in the local
catchment area, and so would be within cycling range. Whereas some of
the teachers may also be, there are 101 reasons why many of them will
live much further away (can't afford to move, spouse/partner's place
of work is elsewhere, etc, etc), and driving to work is the most
sensible option for them.

Phil W Lee wrote:
"mileburner" considered Wed, 6 Oct 2010
16:04:19 +0100 the perfect time to write:


"Doug" wrote in message
...
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

Anyway, at first only a couple of bikes were placed there over
several days and I thought, " Oh yes they are continuing to be
dropped off by the school run as usual". How wrong was I? Passing
the same school today I saw that the large shed was literally
crammed full of bikes. Sadly though the teachers' car park was also
crammed full, as usual. Not a good example to set those young and
eager cyclists who will no doubt migrate to cars at the earliest
opportunity when they are old enough, to then cram our roads full
as well.

At our local secondary school, there were a lot of complaints that
there was nowhere for pupils and staff to store their bikes. As part
of a recent re-furb, some bike storage racks were installed. Now the
storage racks are full.

This is the situation almost everywhere.
Schools, railway stations, shops, offices, cafe/restaurants, colleges,
pubs, village halls - just about anywhere that people may conceivably
want to cycle to show this evidence of huge suppressed demand, with
spaces filling as fast as they can be installed.

Its not huge suppressed demand you ****, its voiciferous cyclist pressure
groups. Cycling acounts for only 2% ojourneys & push bikes are cheap as
chips - if more wanted to cycle they could - but they don't.


--
Dave - intelligent enough to realise that a push bike, like a skateboard, is
a kid's toy, not a viable form of transport.

We need to be converting car parks, as you can get about a dozen bikes
into the space allocated for each car.

Doug wrote:
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

How much are they charging the cyclists to park their push bikes there?


--
Dave - intelligent enough to realise that a push bike, like a skateboard, is
a kid's toy, not a viable form of transport.

Doug wrote:

Not a good example to set those young and eager cyclists who will no
doubt migrate to cars at the earliest opportunity when they are old
enough, to then cram our roads full as well.

Yup, when they grow up they will choose a viable form of transport, having
outgrown their childrens toys.


--
Dave - intelligent enough to realise that a push bike, like a skateboard, is
a kid's toy, not a viable form of transport.

On Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:13:37 +0100, The Medway Handyman wrote:


Yup, when they grow up they will choose a viable form of transport,
having outgrown their childrens toys.


Oh the fun and joy of not being grown up!


--
67.4 percent of statistics are made up.

On Wed, 6 Oct 2010 19:27:35 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Phil W Lee wrote:
"mileburner" considered Wed, 6 Oct 2010
16:04:19 +0100 the perfect time to write:


"Doug" wrote in message
...
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

Anyway, at first only a couple of bikes were placed there over
several days and I thought, " Oh yes they are continuing to be
dropped off by the school run as usual". How wrong was I? Passing
the same school today I saw that the large shed was literally
crammed full of bikes. Sadly though the teachers' car park was also
crammed full, as usual. Not a good example to set those young and
eager cyclists who will no doubt migrate to cars at the earliest
opportunity when they are old enough, to then cram our roads full
as well.

At our local secondary school, there were a lot of complaints that
there was nowhere for pupils and staff to store their bikes. As part
of a recent re-furb, some bike storage racks were installed. Now the
storage racks are full.

This is the situation almost everywhere.
Schools, railway stations, shops, offices, cafe/restaurants, colleges,
pubs, village halls - just about anywhere that people may conceivably
want to cycle to show this evidence of huge suppressed demand, with
spaces filling as fast as they can be installed.

Its not huge suppressed demand you ****, its voiciferous cyclist pressure
groups. Cycling acounts for only 2% ojourneys & push bikes are cheap as
chips - if more wanted to cycle they could - but they don't.
What research have you undertaken to support this conclusion?

On Wed, 6 Oct 2010 19:28:20 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Doug wrote:
A school near me has recently undergone a facelift, during which an
actual bicycle shed was installed. Those old enough would remember a
time when such bicycle sheds were commonplace but with the advent of
the mass car culture they seemed to disappear almost completely.

How much are they charging the cyclists to park their push bikes there?
Could you suggest a price and would you make it similar to what car
drivers should be charged in croydon where they cause gridlock outside
schools by parking on the pavement, double yellow lines and pedestrian
crossings? This restricts the passage of other motorists by reducing
it to a single lane road.

"Peter Keller" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:13:37 +0100, The Medway Handyman wrote:


Yup, when they grow up they will choose a viable form of transport,
having outgrown their childrens toys.


Oh the fun and joy of not being grown up!

Indeed, when I was 14 I would cycle 15 miles a day, including school and
paper rounds. 38 years later I do 25 miles a day and now and again ride down
the streets I used to deliver papers, listening to the same music! The
tragedy is that I saw a figure yesterday on a pavement that looked like a
middle aged man with a stoop and a big pot belly. On close up, it was a
teenage boy. Terrible.


--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/