Over the last few years, the UK has seen quite a growth in active travel provision. From cycle lanes to scooter trials, we've been quietly impressed with the see-change which is slowly leading to a  revolution. Heck, there's even a government agency in existence now (Active Travel England would have been unthinkable just a few years ago!). 

However, why is there not more secure cycle parking to complement the great work being completed elsewhere? 

Based on our experience we've compiled the major challenges stopping a widespread network of secure parking taking place, alongside our proposed solutions. 

1. Challenge: Even simple cycle parking is expensive

Firstly, and this an obvious point, genuinely secure cycling infrastructure is costly. And in a number of ways.

While you might think that a simple stand bolted into the ground shouldn't cost too much, there are other factors involved. Not simply just the cost of the frame, or the fee of an installation company. There's the time spent in local planning departments, to find the right micro location, and get approval for both the budget and then the works. 

Solution: Remember, we live in a world which is set up to simplify car parking - and adding anything else is a challenge. While this may change (hello, Lambeth Council's forward thinking Kerbside Strategy), even installing a simple stand still requires a lot of time, effort and money. 

Can anything be done to speed up this process? Are current standards taking up too much time to be rolled out at pace?

3. Challenge: Advanced spaces cost more & get used by less cyclists

There's an additional challenge to this. The example above talks about a Sheffield stand, but those pieces of infrastructure aren't suitable for every type of journey. For residential, or workplace settings, where a cyclist will be away from their bike for a long period of time, different types of parking are required, such as cycle hangers, train station Hubs, or our app-based lockers. We call this type of parking infrastructure advanced because they are provide an superior level of security compared to the humble Sheffield stand. 

However, these facilities have their own kryptonite. Their greatest strength - the security they provide - is also their greatest weakness, because this security reduces the number of people who can use them. This then creates a tension for forward thinking organisations who want to provide more parking. Do you invest in Sheffield stands which are open to everyone, but not useful for every type of trip, or in advanced parking which is far costly and will be used by far less people in the community?

Solution: This is a tricky challenge, and one that we have thought long & hard about. The best value for money solution will be one that both maximises security & be open to everyone. This is why our secure bike lockers are integrated with our app - allowing for multiple cyclists to use the same piece of genuinely secure infrastructure, increasing usage & providing genuine value for money. 

4. Challenge: Installing is easy. Managing is hard

It's certainly not sexy, but managing cycle parking can be trickier than it sounds. Good cycle parking should be instantly accessible to everyone & every bike, all the time. 

How does a council or other organisations achieve instant access to everyone who wants it for a cycle hub? Traditionally, cyclists have had to join a waiting list, apply for a key fob, and wait for it to be sent out. So instant access isn't well, quite instant. Which means less people use the facility for less trips. 

The other option is to pay for a staff member to be present at the Hub to facilitate security and access. But again, relying on a human rules out these facilities being open 24/7. They have to sleep after all!

Solution: Having managed our own Spokesafe Hubs, we've built a system which automates as much of the above as possible while keeping security a priority. Our locations are all open all the time, available to any member of the community and designed so that cyclists can choose a space which is right for their vehicle. This solves the management equation - our system is flexible enough to be used in all kinds contexts. 

5. Challenge: Potential demand is hard to measure

There's good examples of cycling parking in existence where it is easy to measure. Train stations, for example, are a destination that we intrinsically know should be used regularly - people get the train after all. Residential areas are also an easy (but all to rare) win. But shopping centres? High streets? Workplaces? The potential demand for these examples are much harder to measure, and much harder for cyclists to ask for. 

Plus, matters are made further complicated because it is only active cyclists organisations are likely to hear from. What if you wanted to cycle to work and there was no feasible route, and no parking at the end? Not only might you not bother, but no one will never know where they need to invest. 

Solution: If train stations are low-hanging fruit, supporting organisations to get these more challenging decisions right is the next step. We're trying to solve this in our own small way. You can suggest a location here. Whilst this doesn't go straight to your local authority, we aggregate this information and share it with local councils, transport organisations & other bodies when trying to determine interest. 

Should a local authority, landlord or transport organisation find it useful, we'll come back to you and ask for a specific micro-location too. 

Challenge: Network level thinking is required

Experience with cycle lanes shows that great transport infrastructure only becomes truly useful when it is connected to other pieces of great infrastructure. While a wonderful segregated cycle lane is a welcome addition, its use becomes vastly enhanced as soon as it connects to other cycle lanes. 

Why? Because, for many, a cycle lane that covers 50% of your journey will be used 0% of a time. No one is catching a bus halfway to ride the final half of their journey, and vice versa. 

But is this same thinking being applied to secure parking facilities? While one secure parking place is great, it will only be used for a portion of an individuals daily trips. For instance, if Sandra has a secure place to park her bicycle outside her flat, then that is great. But if Sandra doesn't have a secure place to park at work, then she won't be able to cycle work. 

And if Sandra doesn't have a secure place to park in her high street, while doing the weekly shop, then she won't use her vehicle for the weekly shop. 

To truly unlock the potential of active travel, system level thinking of parking spaces is required. And being able to access a space at just one location won't unlock widespread use of active travel. 

Solution: This is hard to tackle, and we certainly won't solve it on our own. But we've made a start. Every cyclist who signs up at Spokesafe can access every single location on our network, at their finger tips. We're ready to roll this technology out on a wider scale, working with councils, transport bodies & others to determine exactly where they need to install best-in-class infrastructure to enhance the number of trips their community makes. 

And there we have it. The next time someone asks you why there isn't more secure cycle parking spaces, point them to this article. Truly useful cycle parking is hard to get right; it's expensive, managing is time consuming, demand is hard to measure and individual projects aren't connected. But have a little bit of sympathy for your local council too - this is more challenging than it first appears, and many years of experimentation will be needed to build a sustainable parking network fit for the golden age of micromobility.