Cycle parking costs nearly five times as much as car parking

A new report finds that across London, a family of four would pay on average nearly 5 times more to park their cycles than a polluting petrol car.

The average cost of renting a space in a cycle hangar in London in £57.90, meaning a family of four would spend on average £231.60 a year parking four cycles, which is 4.6 times the average cost of parking a petrol car (£50) and seven times an electric car (£29).

The research by Fare City found that Islington Council charges up to 14 times as much for a family to park four cycles (£429) than a small petrol car (£30).

Charles Critchell, Managing Director of FareCity, said: ‘As this report makes clear, London boroughs must not only redress the inequity between the cost of parking a cycle versus parking a car but go further and faster to ensure that current demand for cycle hangar spaces is met, and that future demand is nurtured and provided for. If Londoners are to be encouraged – and enabled – to cycle, then secure residential cycle parking is a minimum requirement that boroughs must now prioritise.’

A new Clean Cities billboard campaign shows awkward places where people are forced to park their cycles as a result of high costs and limited spaces.

From a wardrobe to the balcony and even in the toilet, the social media campaign #ThisisAwkward is highlighting the usual places people are forced to park their cycles, with more than 60,000 people across London on a waiting list for a secure cycle hangar space.

To coincide with the report, a billboard is running in Islington, where the cost of a cycle hangar is nearly double the London average, and another will run in Southwark, which has the largest waiting list for cycle hangars of any London borough.

Oliver Lord, UK Head of Clean Cities Campaign, said: ‘This report shows that in some areas the situation is more than awkward, it’s just ridiculous. Cycle parking should never cost more than car parking. We’ve got it the wrong way round. Income from car parking, especially polluting vehicles, should be used to fund affordable and secure cycle parking.

‘Who wants to cart their wheels up three flights of stairs or salsa past their wheels when going to the loo? Cycle hangars are a hugely practical way for councils to help people be less dependent on their cars, which is essential to tackling London’s toxic air.’

Shadia, who lives in Islington, said: ‘I love cycling in London, but am forced to pay more than 100 pounds a year for a cycle hangar place in Islington – roughly twice that elsewhere in London – because it’s not feasible to carry my cycle up three flights of stairs and put it in a flat that’s too small to house it. It would be cheaper for me to park a car outside my house, where’s the logic in that?’

Photo supplied by Clean Cities Campaign