La Vita è Bella Life is Beautiful. La Vita es Bonita. 美麗人生　

242愛的鼓勵 7訂閱站台

就節能減碳而言，推廣城市裡的單車通勤是一個狠好的辦法。但是就每一個單車車主而言，單車遭竊是個揮之不去的威脅。城市裡的公共自行車服務似乎解決的車主擔心遭竊的問題。

曾在Discovery節目介紹「未來交通運輸」裡聽引言人說：「一個進步的城市應該把更多的道路面積分配給行人、單車、大眾運輸工具。」真是很有道理啊！過去這二十年來，台北市很多道路的中央分隔島被縮減或移除，人行道也被大面積縮減來增加車道。郝市長設了一條單車道，占用部分車道，因規劃不良引起很大的反彈。如果有更多人騎單車通勤，那麼台北的空氣會好很多，也可以多幾條林蔭大道，在把原本縮減的中央分隔島做回來。

倫敦的公共自行車的車站，有的還被置了淋浴間，置物櫃(Locker)，看來是很完善。而原本停十二輛汽車的停車場改成停放腳踏車後可以停一百五十部單車。4 x 14 = 48 < 150 同樣的空間可以服務更多通勤者。

這篇報導旨在請民眾告訴政府在何處設公共自行車的(停)車站，並沒有對倫敦的公共自行車系統作介紹。



Tell town planners where cycle parking is most needed

Convenient and secure cycle parking will encourage more people to commute on two wheels. Now you can help decide where it's needed


Mayor Boris Johnson at the launch of the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme on the South Bank, London. Mayor Boris Johnson at the launch of the Barclays cycle hire scheme in London. Its huge uptake has demonstrated the latent demand for cycling in the capital. Photograph: Matt Crossick/Empics Entertainment

Something wonderful is happening in London every weekday: something that should be indicating to politicians and civil servants that they'd be mad to cut cycling expenditure now.

Each morning, thousands of commuters pick up what's been dubbed a "Boris bike" from the outskirts of zone one, to ride into the city centre. Within walking distance of Euston, Waterloo, or King's Cross, and the racks are empty.

During the evening rush hour, the signature flashing lights of hire bikes head back the other way, emptying the docking stations in commercial districts such as Mayfair, Soho and Farringdon and filling those near mainline stations.

To cope with demand, Transport for London is even shuttling trailer-fulls of hire bikes in the opposite direction.

We at the London Cycling Campaign think it's fabulous that thousands of people have chosen to add cycling to their commute, demonstrating the vast latent demand for cycling in London and, dare we suggest, in many other British cities and towns.

It's not hard to find Londoners who had never used a bike previously doing it so regularly now. Tanya Gudgin, who commutes to Soho by picking up a hire bike from Victoria, told us: "I'd never ridden a bike in central London before, but now I do five days a week."

Judging by the staggering number of cyclists seen on the capital's roads in recent weeks, it's not too fanciful to suppose that a large number of the 20,000 cycle hire journeys per day are new ones.

One thing that makes the hire bikes so popular with commuters is that once they dock them in the station they can relax: there are no thieves to worry about, and no massive locks to carry.

At peak times the scheme is running to capacity, but none of the solutions mooted (more docking stations, free minutes for going against the flow) is as satisfying or as logical as the most obvious answer: make it vastly easier for thousands of people to bring their own bikes into the city by providing places to store them safely.

At the Guardian Media office in King's Cross, one-quarter of the staff cycles to work. This has been achieved by filling the basement with racks, and providing showers and lockers.

At London law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an entire former car park is now decidcated to cycle parking. Space taken by a dozen cars now hosts 150 bike spaces in a secure compound. There are lockers, showers and a vast drying room, and even bike-servicing facilities. Not surprisingly, more than one in 10 Freshfields staff cycles to work.

Yet many central London workplaces provide little or no secure parking places, meaning cyclists must choose either to leave their bike unattended for many hours during the day (if they can find a space), or to leave it at home. With bike theft at record levels, many potential cycle commuters are forced to choose the latter.

No branch of government has yet grasped the solution: convenient and secure public parking in central London and around transport hubs (like that found in Surbiton) needs to be the rule not the rare exception.

Cycle parking standards for new buildings are far too low or not enforced. In Cambridge the regulations demand one bike space per university student; in London it's one for every eight. The new Shard skyscraper near London bridge will have just 250 cycle parking spaces for up around 6,500 potential workers.

To counter inadequate provision of cycle parking at thousands of popular destinations, the London Cycling Campaign is launching a Cycle Parking 4 London website so cyclists can tell decision-makers where cycle parking is most needed. To cope with current demand, the capital needs tens of thousands more stands in and around public buildings, stations, offices and people's homes.

The fact is (as has been shown elsewhere) that if you build great cycle facilities in the right locations, people flock to them. To those of us who want to see cycling grow in London, with all its benefits to public spaces, health and the economy, that is truly wonderful.

• Tom Bogdanowicz and Mike Cavenett work for the the London Cycling Campaign

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/07/cycle-parking

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